Will trawlers disappear?

[psneeld]

Don’t where this 60% comes from. Been sailing for over 3 decades. For the people I know and myself number is more like well <10%.

Wait till you do some time in the ACIW in Oct headed south or Apr/May headed north....you might have a different opinion.

For every 10 sailors I know, bet 9 of them have never been 100-200 miles offshore. Maybe once or twice as crew on someone else's boat.

 

[Art]

Don’t where this 60% comes from. Been sailing for over 3 decades. For the people I know and myself number is more like well <10%.

Hippo

Having read some items from you... You seem not the usual "cut of cloth"; regarding pleasure-boat sailor boat owners I've known.

 

[Woodland Hills]

One thing we marveled at in the Bahamas was all the sailboats with their sails up. It was so odd to see these with cloth hoisted up on their aluminum poles after being on the AICW. They do look very colorful with all those different colored 5 gallon jugs strapped to their rails as they motor slowly along though. I am guessing it must get annoying having to wait for all of those bridges to open for their masts when they never use them for anything.

Having been on the Chesapeake and now Long Island Sound we see more sailboats being sailed, mostly as daysailers or weekenders.

 

[HiDHo]

IMO trawlers will continue but fuel may restrict there use as is the case with most gasoline powered cruiser/ trawler size boats right now and for the last forty some years.
Sailing will continue basically unchanged as it has for centuries or more because it truely is the best of being on the water. Setting sails and receiving direct input thru a tiller as the wind draws you along with only the bow wave sound has to be experienced to understand sailing.
1%’ers for the most part consider dropping a few hundred dollars a day for fuel pocket change and will buy 6 and 7 figure yachts with as much horse power as can be stuffed aboard. Why not if you earned it, enjoy it !

 

[Slowmo]

Isn't this all getting pretty far off topic for a boating forum?

 

[Hippocampus]

Maybe I’m wrong but let’s look at sailboats
Dinghy and trailer sailors -either no engine or a small outboard rarely used
Day sailors - have the auxiliary but it only go out if a nice day for sailing. Engine on in and out but not during.
Racers- if there’s an engine only used to get to the starting line and back from the finish line (if different)
Weekend warriors- May motor sail to windward but otherwise majority are under sail.
Cruisers - except in the “ditch” under sail. Decrease wear and tear and save money. Nicer with less noise.
Liveaboards- either don’t move at all or same as cruisers.

Yes my view of the world is distorted by my experience. But still think that 60% is a gross overestimate. On coastal power a few go out to the canyons to fish. Some long distance folks play ocean currents or run rhumb lines. But the majority are never out of sight of land. There’s a whole lot of coastal and blue water sailors who routinely are out of sight of land. The AICW is avoided like the plague by many sailors. Those who use it are a very small segment of the total sailing public.

 

[psneeld]

Not necessarily true about coastal sail cruisers (sure local bay and small boat sailors actually sail).

Many will power up when the wind dies or shifts on the nose.

One big factor is whether the crew is on even a loose schedule or totally free to do what ever.

Avoid the ICW? Not sure how many miles you travel it every year, but for the last 20 years, I have well over 20,000 miles cruising/delivery (25+ trips) between NJ and Florida...plenty of motoring sailboats.

 

[friz]

To the OP - Doubtful. We still have not been able to get rid of sailboats.

 

[HiDHo]

Isn't this all getting pretty far off topic for a boating forum?

OP “Will Trawlers Disappear “ seem like a good discussion so far.

 

[Art]

OP “Will Trawlers Disappear “ seem like a good discussion so far.

I agree!!

Nearly anything having to do with water has to do with boats in one way or another!

 

[Nomad Willy]

Don’t where this 60% comes from. Been sailing for over 3 decades. For the people I know and myself number is more like well <10%.

On the west coast US from Seattle to Juneau+ the amount sailboats sail is perhaps > 5%. Can’t imagine anybody trying to float 10% over coffee. Only those that sail in a 3mph breeze. And if/when they get to Juneau they “need” to power back and they log high milage days south to beat the early fall gales.

 

[Fletcher500]

My .02:

The majority of sailboats in SoCal that are not day sailing in the bay are motoring. Nothing wrong with that. A small engine pushing a very efficient hull form along at displacement speeds. Whatever works.

My sailing experience was over 30 years ago with a Cal 20 that a buddy and
I owned. We took it to the Channel Islands and had some fun adventures. Haven’t been on a sailboat since.

I would say the average age on here is about 55 to 70. Yacht clubs in our area have a similar demographic and are always looking for younger members and recruit them with reductions on the initiation fee to spur interest.

When my wife and I eventually stop Boating we will sell the boat because our kids won’t want it. We have had great trips as a family, and still do, but they are not interested in the maintenance and time to keep a vessel running which is fine because they have other interests.

The Mil and Gen groups are not as interested in boating as the Boomers. That is a very general statement and there are obviously lots of exceptions (like the increased boating activity due to COVID) but I think it’s accurate. They were brought up in a different environment and have other things going on. Again, all good, and people should do what they enjoy on their time off.

Trawlers may not disappear, but I think the amount of younger people doing it will definitely decrease over the next few decades.

 

[Hippocampus]

Agree many do the AICW. But please accept even going to Q tip land or chicken harbor Bahamas many do not. Even this Fall Salty Dawg has over 200 sailors enrolled in spite of Covid. Assume the same for the Caribbean 1500. Probably >3 times that are not in either rally. Was on the phone this AM with someone helping organize the SDR and expect more to join.
Some use the ditch from Norfolk to oriental. But outside for the rest. As said AICW is a small fraction of sailboats. Even a fraction of those escaping winter.

 

[psneeld]

I totally disagree... I feel many snowbird sailors and sail loopers use primarily the ditch to see what it is and prefer the comforts of marinas, anchorages and calmer conditions than offshore.

I have been and hung around hard core sailors...raced some too. Owned sail for half of my 55 years boating.

Much of those 55 years I was also employed on the water looking for wayward sailors or others......saw a lot of bare masts along the way even offshore...like every day it wasn't a broad reach or better.

Here...not just my opinion...

https://www.spinsheet.com/sailing-the-icw

That said, don’t be deterred. If you do take your sailboat down the ICW, you won’t be alone. Sailboats account for a hefty proportion of the recreational boats that travel the waterway each year, according to the Atlantic ICW Association. Many are captained by snowbirds, who head south in late fall to sail off Georgia and Florida.

 

[Hippocampus]

As said before don’t disagree with your experience of the ICW. That’s definitely what’s done there. That’s not the whole world nor even the only way to go go south. Many folks do the Atlantic gyre. Many folks snowbird to the islands. Neither ever see the ICW.
Have done the whole ICW in a GB. Have done parts in my last sailboat. Hated it. One of the reasons now looking to buy full displacement rather than semi. Are a fair number of people who feel the same.

 

[bligh]

25 years ago, no one thought wind and solar would be viable for power stations without massive incentives.

Funny, that's exactly how wind and solar operate here in California.

 

[KnotYet]

Funny, that's exactly how wind and solar operate here in California.

That's how you get infrastructure upgrades. Railroads, highways, waterways, etc.
Hopefully the government will stop funding the boondoggle called nuclear energy, too.

 

[bligh]

Don’t where this 60% comes from. Been sailing for over 3 decades. For the people I know and myself number is more like well <10%.

In the pacific northwest, the 'holy grail' of North American cruising areas, sailboats are called 'stick-boats' for a reason. There is hardly any wind and they motor around everywhere. And in the SF Bay area (and most of the west coast), the wind blows like hell- but only in one direction. So that means 50% of the time is by motor . There are a lot of sailboats for sale in Mexico for a reason, they all have to be motored back up the west coast which is a grueling voyage against wind or current even under power.



On the other hand, day sailing is quite reliable.

 

[OldDan1943]

As said before don’t disagree with your experience of the ICW. That’s definitely what’s done there. That’s not the whole world nor even the only way to go go south. Many folks do the Atlantic gyre. Many folks snowbird to the islands. Neither ever see the ICW.
Have done the whole ICW in a GB. Have done parts in my last sailboat. Hated it. One of the reasons now looking to buy full displacement rather than semi. Are a fair number of people who feel the same.

(Confused look)
Ummm, errrr, are you saying you did or did not like to do the AICW?

 

[Frosty]

From what I understand... sail boats [in general] travel some 60% of the time under power??

I would think that's only applied to coastal cruising? For example, I "sailed" from the Gulf Islands up to Prince Rupert, and that was only about 20% under sail due to the nature of the Inside Passage. Similarly going up the ICW was 100% under power. But those were very small percentages of our time on the boat as a whole.

Except for Inside Passage/ICW, I'd say the rest of the time we sailed about 98% of the time (we entered and departed anchorages under power).

One factor is that we really couldn't have motored 60% of the time. With 40 gallons of fuel onboard (so let's say 30 usable), it would have been impossible. In addition, motoring was noisy and much of the time we had to steer (the horror, but autopilot tended to break often). Under sail, blissful silence and no need to helm (wind vane).

Anyway, not trying to say my experience is going to change statistics. My guess is that your statistic is true, but only for a certain percentage of sailboats (so if all sailboats were included, the percentage would be much smaller). Lots of sailboats are out sailing like we were, and many don't even have engines (think of all the Lasers, Snipes, or what-have-you).

That's one reason I'm interested in a Trawler. If I'm going to be motoring, I want to be on a motorboat. Motoring a sailboat is not that fun, whereas sailing one is lovely, IMO.

 

[Frosty]

(Confused look)
Ummm, errrr, are you saying you did or did not like to do the AICW?

I believe he's saying he strongly disliked it. Therefore he wants to get a full displacement powerboat, which would enable him to still do "outside" passages, and thus avoid the ICW when desired.

 

[FF]

The hassle with the AICW is unless a boat can fit under most bridges the boat speed is reduced to the motoring snow bird sailboat pack speed , about 6mph.


The bridge tenders wait till a gaggle of boats will use an opening , so getting there ahead of the pack is useless , unless you don't require an opening.

 

[OldDan1943]

I believe he's saying he strongly disliked it. Therefore he wants to get a full displacement powerboat, which would enable him to still do "outside" passages, and thus avoid the ICW when desired.

I guess I am spoiled. I brought down my N46, hyd stabilized, from LI,NY.
I will agree, those night outside passages were great. Put it on AP, sit back, drink coffee, watch the stars... the bow dropping down, water up against the PH windows..... stars stars stars. No one out there except for me and the boat..... I convinced the paid captain to go to bed.... LOL He came running up when the boat began to dip into the wave.....he just knew something was wrong..... I convinced him, the boat could handle it. He went back to bed.

I doubt if my AT could do the same night passages....

 

[Hippocampus]

Think Frosty got it right. Friendly with people who have done western Mexico, South Pacific, Hawaii then home to Seattle. Know we use the Gulf Stream to go north and the more coastal countercurrent to go south. If going to the islands leave from the north east and straight shot. European friends use the Gyre to ( biscay, azores, windwards, us east coast, north of the high, home) get around. We’re not talking about 1%ers either. Everything from home made steel and 40 year old boats to Pogos and mini transats.
Wonder if other past or present cruisers would chime in. My experience is Americans are the least likely to cruise. Proportionally to population we are the fewest with even our neighbor to the north more likely to get on a boat and go. We seem to lost that need for new horizons that drove us across our great land.
There are very few places in the world you are alone. Even in the National forests it’s rare. Planes overhead. Quads or dirt bikes on the double track within hearing. Folks walking the trails. Once you’re off the shelf there are no fish so no fish boats. Even pelagic fish are very rare. Time and fuel is money so the shipping channels are well defined and comprise a very small amount of ocean. There’s a peace and beauty you find there. No light pollution so the night skies are magical. Bad weather is actually very rare. Much talked about and planned for but still rare. They say a man who has gone to sea is ruined for land. The ICW is land to my mind. It’s a job. You wake in the morning and dodge bouys or poles. It gets dark you sleep. You are constantly in proximity with other boats . You rush or wait to make your bridge or tide. Requires attention to the point that the sense of tranquility you seek is lost even in the monotonous sections of seemingly never ending scrub on either side. Understand many people love it. But it doesn’t make me a bad person because i don’t. Whatever floats your boat.
Been talking with people who have transitioned to power or started that way. There are a host of fine quality used boats fully capable of ocean cruising. Many are within the budget of non 1%ers. People I’ve talked with are ex military, semi retired engineers, retired trades people, academics and such. Some continue to work remotely. Unlike the very young couples we met raising children on board while sailing the power folks seem to be in the mid 40s to 70s bracket. But they aren’t the bond coupon clipping mega yacht crowd nor trust babies. I don’t think the 1% comment holds water once you leave NEB and Hinckley yards.
End of rant. Sorry

 

[Art]

Been talking with people who have transitioned to power or started that way. There are a host of fine quality used boats fully capable of ocean cruising. Many are within the budget of non 1%ers. People I’ve talked with are ex military, semi retired engineers, retired trades people, academics and such. Some continue to work remotely. Unlike the very young couples we met raising children on board while sailing the power folks seem to be in the mid 40s to 70s bracket. But they aren’t the bond coupon clipping mega yacht crowd nor trust babies. I don’t think the 1% comment holds water once you leave NEB and Hinckley yards.

End of rant. Sorry

No need to be sorry Hipp.

Different wallets in different pockets.

Each to their own! Yours to you - Mine to me - Others to their own!!

 

[OldDan1943]

So long as there are the old 1 and 2 cylinder fishing boats, there will always be trawlers.
I dont think "WE" have anything to worry about for the next 2 or 3 generations, at least.

 

[O C Diver]

Going offshore is way overrated, as nobody ever chooses to stay there, once they've been there.

Ted

 

[AusCan]

Interesting discussions going on.

I'd love to have a look at the boat traffic on the ICW one day just to see the boating culture. I'm sure it affects what type of boats people buy.

In this corner of the world, there is very little protected water, and hence very few recreational trawlers. In my marina, there are currently none, unless the term is very loosely applied to include my motorsailer and a few other boats.
The majority are express cruisers (~40%) and sailboats (~50%). The express cruisers are rarely used and tend to leave the dock only when the seas are glassy, which is not often. The sailboats are used far more than any power boats, and almost always under sail. One trawler styled boat showed up last year a couple slips down from me. The inexperienced couple took it out once in non-glassy conditions. It sold a few months later.

Outside the marina, the majority of watercraft are not sailboats or cruisers, but little 10-12 foot aluminium fishing boats. They'll be there when the water is too rough for the 40 foot express cruiser. Also kayaks, SUP's, kite surfers etc. These are the ones getting maximum value out of their on-the-water investment.

 

[rgano]

Going offshore is way overrated, as nobody ever chooses to stay there, once they've been there.

Ted

Since I now have the choice, I want to sleep in a still bed. I had enough sleepless nights bouncing around in the Navy and merchant Marine where I had no choice to last a lifetime.

 

[OldDan1943]

Since I now have the choice, I want to sleep in a still bed. I had enough sleepless nights bouncing around in the Navy and merchant Marine where I had no choice to last a lifetime.

Bunk straps or hook your feet over a pipe. PLEASE dont ask me how I know.