March 8, 2011, 7pm! Don’t miss it! Officer Nominations meeting at 6pm will precede 7pm General Membership meeting with special guest speaker Nicholas (Nick) Hayes, author of “SAVING SAILING”.Nick will engage us in a conversation about what WE can all do to help our sport – and our club – remain vibrant through demographic and economic changes.
Why is something as rich, substantial and significant as sailing facing such trouble? What can we do about it?
Excerpt from Saving Sailing:
Americans have abruptly stopped sailing. Participation is down more than 40% since 1997 and 70% since 1979. Less than 1% of Americans remain self-described sailors, they are doing less of it and are enlisting fewer newcomers. Current economics are not helping.
A crucial fact: key age groups that might sustain the activity — kids under 13, women and early parents — are essentially not sailing at all. From the basic population data, it is easy to conclude that unless sailing can soon attract newcomers in all age groups under about 40 and from all genders and a wider range of income levels — something that it is not doing well today — the future of the activity is bleak.
Demographic trends hide an important truth: apart from the numbers, there are modest actions that can be taken; basic decisions that can be made by individuals or within small groups to improve the situation.
Please join us for this conversation with Nick 3/8/2011 at our March General Membership meeting with thoughts toward how we in AYC can make a difference for our club and our sport.
See you there!