How much do pro sailors get per day?

[cbulger]

The minor leagues are here already. Dragon and J/70.

My point is that the "pro problem" is the deception that the owner is the skipper. "Deception" is a great product especially when you sell luxury items that make rich guys feel better about themselves. Deception is embedded in the sailing treat pros and amateurs and this works for some and drives others away.

For the J70 and Dragon to fit the typical minor league - we would have owners who typically don't set foot on the boat anymore than Bob Kraft takes the field for the Patriots. Just like in the AC or SailGP. Owners still get treated like royalty by their sailors and they get to hold the trophy. But there's no deception or confusion about who is the real athlete.

Of course, you could buy a team and then drive yourself (or let your kid drive) just like Formula One.

 

[montey_burns]

What exactly is the "pro problem"? It doesn't seem like the Pros or the Owners have a problem and it seems like they are both consenting adults?

Perhaps we should focus on your "Ego" problem? Which inevitably leads to the "Mommy" problems conversations. The world is a harsh place and egos get bruised when a bigger fish steps in to show you how small of a fish you really are. You can cry about that or you can STFU and grow.


I always imagined being surrounded by a bunch of pussies would be a lot more glamorous than its turned out to be..

 

[Bump-n-Grind]

ok, so I'm just some PHRF hack from bumfuck nowhere, I've learned how to drive a boat pretty well, and I've sailed in a fair amount of races on the Chesapeake Bay, Caribbean, and in the UK.
I've had paid pros on my boat for 2 regattas. I cannot, in 35+ years of racing, say I've witnessed anything that would justify me paying someone to crew on my boat again. Just because someone claims to be a pro does not mean they are any better at what they do than some of my home grown talent. I've hired coaches many times, ordinarily they do not race with us.... some of them, on occasion, have become a part of my crew but they did not get paid to race with us, they wanted to, and during the race, they may offer up advice to crew on how to do things better, I think that's in their nature.

I've said this many times in other threads when someone comes in with a new(to them) boat and asks where they should spend their money. "Spend it on a coach in a non racing environment". The value of the coaching is lost in racing situation. You can't stop and evaluate something that goes wrong during a race. In a coaching situation you can stop, analyze what happened and come up with a solution. All that shit needs to be ironed out before the start. The coaching sessions moved us up from the bottom to mid-fleet in a season, and put is in serious podium contention in 3 years. I also had the luxury of a fairly consistent crew. And none of them ever overstated their capabilities before they joined the team, myself included. I know what I don't know. I'm lousy at tactics. Our best seasons were when I had a dedicated tactician on the boat. He was not a paid pro.

For my money, a good tactician, who comes out because he wants to sail and spend a day on the water with some fun people , is worth more to me on the water than some egomaniac that thinks he shoulda been in the last two Shitbox Intergalactic Championships but couldn't because of a conflict with visitation with his demon spawn.

If you want to race, find some people you like to sail with. Get everyone on the same page with regard to expectations. There will be some people who learn very fast, and some that never will. Someone that can't trim a jib or a main for shit might be a great pit person.. Work on your boat handling skills together. Hire a coach but don't race with them.
clean the bottom, replaced frayed lines, dont use WD40 on deck hardware.

Or just keep contributing to the arms race.

 

[LB 15]

Home grown teams that win are the soul of yacht racing

Every fleet has a few

You haven't spent much time at the Cruising Yacht club of Australia have you? A Corinthian crew haven't won their race since twin pole gybes were in fashion.

 

[LB 15]

I always imagined being surrounded by a bunch of pussies would be a lot more glamorous than its turned out to be..

The closest you wil ever be to being surronded by a bunch of pussies is when you watch porn on multiple screens.

 

[M@AYC]

The people who have a problem w/ pros on sailboats are the people that 1) cant afford pros, and 2) have egos that can't handle losing.

 

[knh555]

The closest you wil ever be to being surronded by a bunch of pussies is when you watch porn on multiple screens.

With attitudes and comments like this, it's a wonder we aren't attracting more people into our shrinking sport, especially more women.

 

[Parma]

Now there's a good question: would you rather pay women to be on your boat.....or pros?

 

[BrightAyes]

Now there's a good question: would you rather pay women to be on your boat.....or pros?

O for sure, winches and hoes over pros any day!

 

[Curious2]

If you eliminate pros , high achievers ..you degrade the sport

it’s possible to have classes or events that are free of pros

Are you conflating pros with high achievers? Many real high achievers have no need at all for a few bucks extra and don't want to turn pro because they don't want to sail big boats and give someone else control over their leisure time.

Was sailing "degraded" years ago when amateurs were winning gold and the AC?

Why was having it "degradation" to have people like Peter Scott - an artist, war hero, TV star, glider champion, and pioneer conservationist - winning Olympic sailing medals?

What was "degrading" about Peter Mander and Jack Cropp, both amateurs, winning a gold medal on a boat they built, all the way from machining the timber into planks, making the fittings and cutting the sails?

 

[Curious2]

The unique problem we have in sailing with professionals mixing with amateurs is the fact that we allow pro’s to win a race and then pretend that the owner was the skipper. It’s as though you could win your club championship by hiring Tiger Woods to play for you.

This embedded deception turns a regatta from an amateur competition to an orchestrated entertainment event for the richest guys on the race track. The sport shrinks when the less-rich or DIY guys leave in disgust or the super rich guy gets tired of the fake adulation and just goes and buys some new clothes.

Again - don’t blame the Pro’s - they’re just meeting a demand.

We’d be better off if we could push all the “owners” into circuits like SailGP - ok, we’d need some minor leagues - owners could get their ego fix via worship from their teams and podium visits after the racing is done. Then 100% ban on compensation for crew on amateur events.

Very well said.

 

[Curious2]

Obviously pros will always be on board succesful club level programs.

That may be the case in the USA, but is it the case everywhere? There were certainly no pros in the last two yacht clubs I raced.

 

[slug zitski]

Are you conflating pros with high achievers? Many real high achievers have no need at all for a few bucks extra and don't want to turn pro because they don't want to sail big boats and give someone else control over their leisure time.

Was sailing "degraded" years ago when amateurs were winning gold and the AC?

Why was having it "degradation" to have people like Peter Scott - an artist, war hero, TV star, glider champion, and pioneer conservationist - winning Olympic sailing medals?

What was "degrading" about Peter Mander and Jack Cropp, both amateurs, winning a gold medal on a boat they built, all the way from machining the timber into planks, making the fittings and cutting the sails?

The pros I know sail continiously ..when not sailing they are in the gym

they don’t have jobs..just sailing

 

[Reference]

There have been races we’ve done, where our regular bow guy was unavailable, and the sub-in cost us enough (in ruined sails) to pay four pros.

 

[LB 15]

With attitudes and comments like this, it's a wonder we aren't attracting more people into our shrinking sport, especially more women.

Well you got a reach around from Sunseeker so there is that. Funnily enough I have never had any problem ‘attracting’ women to come sailing with me. If you are in fact a bloke, then you are doing something wrong. Your are also a virtue signaling cockhead who takes offence on behalf of others. If you are a woman (either biological or by choice) then i pity those you sail with if you take such enormous exception to a bit of shit bagging.
Maybe netball might be a better fit for you.

 

[Curious2]

The pros I know sail continiously ..when not sailing they are in the gym

they don’t have jobs..just sailing

Sure there are some brilliant and dedicated pros, but it seemed that you were implying that all high achievers were pros. There's plenty of people who have, for example, won OD world titles who have successful careers outside of the sport and are better sailors than most "pros". It would not be "degrading" the sport to change the rules to allow such dedicated, high-achieving amateurs to win all the time.

Take, for example, Lasers. It used to be that the top sailors were amateurs. Was the class "degraded" before it went pro and when people like Bertrand and Baird were winning? Now all the top sailors are pros. The boats are now probably going around the track a few minutes faster than before, but how important is that? Does it really matter that the class is now won by people who sail and train 50 hours a week compared to when it was won by people who sailed and trained 15 hours a week?

If sailing at a slightly lower level than very best is "degrading" then the "pro" races in the USA are probably all pretty degraded, because none of them are AC or Olympic level and it seems that they don't spend anything like as much time honing their game as top amateur small-craft sailors do.

 

[slug zitski]

Sure there are some brilliant and dedicated pros, but it seemed that you were implying that all high achievers were pros. There's plenty of people who have, for example, won OD world titles who have successful careers outside of the sport and are better sailors than most "pros". It would not be "degrading" the sport to change the rules to allow such dedicated, high-achieving amateurs to win all the time.

Take, for example, Lasers. It used to be that the top sailors were amateurs. Was the class "degraded" before it went pro and when people like Bertrand and Baird were winning? Now all the top sailors are pros. The boats are now probably going around the track a few minutes faster than before, but how important is that? Does it really matter that the class is now won by people who sail and train 50 hours a week compared to when it was won by people who sailed and trained 15 hours a week?

If sailing at a slightly lower level than very best is "degrading" then the "pro" races in the USA are probably all pretty degraded, because none of them are AC or Olympic level and it seems that they don't spend anything like as much time honing their game as top amateur small-craft sailors do.

The reality is that there are very few american professional sailors …

 

[knh555]

Well you got a reach around from Sunseeker so there is that. Funnily enough I have never had any problem ‘attracting’ women to come sailing with me. If you are in fact a bloke, then you are doing something wrong. Your are also a virtue signaling cockhead who takes offence on behalf of others. If you are a woman (either biological or by choice) then i pity those you sail with if you take such enormous exception to a bit of shit bagging.
Maybe netball might be a better fit for you.

That's about the response I expected, sadly making my point.

 

[Curious2]

The reality is that there are very few american professional sailors …

If you mean fully pro, I assume you're right. But reading stuff on here and looking at the crew classification in many classes makes it look as if there's a huge number of "semi pros".

 

[sunseeker]

UB

The reality is that there are very few american professional sailors …

we have better things to do with our life than be a rich guys bitch pulling ropes for a living.