I'm not going to advocate a return to the good old days of bad teeth, ricketts and high infant mortality. Plus I'm not exactly old myself.
But.
It does seem that expectations today are somewhat different to those I had as a young aspiring sailor. I expected to get cold, tired and wet. I expected to be uncomfortable and probably nauseous. I discovered the huge feeling of achievement of an overnight passage to a foreign land, the supreme joy of riding the waves and the delight of switching the engine off to discover the sound of water wooshing past the hull.
Nowadays it seems that you must have 21st century land life imposed upon a less than modest hull crammed with gadgets. Lacks adventure, somewhat, which was the thing I was looking for. I have no wish to live like a tramp, but also no desire to turn my foulies inside out and be beaten with a soggy almanac. Surely there is a happy medium that fosters a spirit of adventure, a modest level of comfort and a desire to give nature a bit of a prod?? Is the modern person 'up for it' ? A diminishing few, I fear.
What do you remember?
How about RDF aka The Sick Box? Streaming a log, hanked on headsails, the original Shell Channel Pilot, Johnny Coote style, green buoys for wrecks, black buoys for starboard channel markers (I was VERY young), logs you actually filled in, customs visiting when you got back from France at horrible o'clock, woollen hats (yeugh), smelly oilskins, smoking in the saloon, Fray Bentos pies!!!!!
Theres a start, got any more?
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Are modern people a bit too soft to enjoy sailing as a hobby?
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