Gentrification and Jobs.

It seems there's been an effort to remove boats from the Eastney foreshore this week. There's a post about it on Facebook. 

Ostensibly to remove abandoned boats, but I feel sad for those that get caught up that have legitimate reasons for having a boat on the foreshore. 

By all means pick up boats that have never had a mooring, but there must be some leeway for those repairing damaged boats. 

For instance, in my case Sprite was on the shore after breaking her moorings and at the time I didn't have the money or the means to install a new mooring. It took a few months to get all the required bits together. 

Then I had my dinghy taken off the shore by the council. No arguments, the dinghy was gone. At that point, the sour taste made me give it up. 

One thing that Langstone harbour was, was a last chance for those of us with very little in the way of funds to be able to still own a boat and enjoy sailing. Sadly that seems to be being taken away. 

I note that the harbour mooring fee has almost doubled since I sold my boat and of course there's the relentless pressure not to put your boat on the shore for repairs.

And sadly that's what I saw coming when I sold Sprite. The last bastion of the Skint Sailor in the Solent appears to be pricing us out of the game. Sadly it looks like the poorer people don't have a voice on the Harbour board and the voices with money are calling all the shots. 

Sadly it seems that there isn't anywhere for a legitimately poor sailor to sail in the Solent. 

Surprisingly the same money issues are plaguing the top of the sailing tree. The problems surrounding the Americas Cup seem to stem from the amount of money it takes to host the event and the lack of money available at the moment around the world.

New Zealand has refused to pump public money into the next event, Jim Ratcliffe has pulled out the Ineos team, three-time winning skipper Peter Burling has left Emirates Team New Zealand.

It's like the end of an era.

Are we seeing big shifts in the sport of sailing across the board? 

I get that feeling. There is something in the wind and sailing will not be the same again. Companies involved in sailing need to prepare for the coming storm. Owners need to start preparing for hard times. 

The costs involved in sailing have got to the point they are practically unsustainable. Not just for the skint of pocket like me, but also the richer end of the sport. Marina fees, engineering work, even the price of equipment on the boat, all are unsustainable. 

A decent instrument package can run to many thousands of pounds. That's out of the reach on even mildly well-off sailors. 

I fear there are a lot of jobs in the sailing industry that are now poised on a knife-edge.

The money just isn't there to sustain them.