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Why is Soaring declining
This was copied from rec.outdoors.fishing.bass. It sounds like the very
same things that we talk about when we discuss the decline of our sport. I am not saying it has answers, but it is interesting. Fred ************************************************** ************************** *************************** Great read Bob. Fishing license sales are declining which indicates a real decline in fishing interest, i.e. less numbers of people are fishing. I suspect that things are worse since our population is growing, the proportion of people fishing is declining more rapidly than indicated by license sales decline. Why is this so? A variety of possible reasons come to mind when combined, could explain the decline.. 1. Fishable water is being privatized - bought up, posted, acquired by governmental agencies, restricted by land use rulings, dams being removed, access fenced off, etc. 2. Competing demands for time - Soccer, GameBoy, offroading, skateboarding, partying, RVing, home projects and a multitude of other in and outdoor activities divert participation today from family and individual fishing. 3. Decline of the nuclear family - as divorce and separation disrupts parent/child relationships, fishing is less of a priority on weekends or other custody times. 4. Availability of more disposal income - Food needs drove fishing more in the past than today. 5. Immigration - Illegal aliens cannot get fishing licenses and legal immigrants probably have far less interest in fishing than other population demographics.. 6. Adversarial animal rightists - Are influencing the weak, timid and non-iinterested into a non-fishing mentality. 7 Adversarial vegaterians - Translate their anti meat-pholosophy into a non-fishing mentality. 8. Passing fad - The Yuppie infatuation with fly-fishng in the 1980's has past us by. 9. No new rivers - God is not making any new rivers and environmentalists and politicians are fighting adding dams and impoundments which limits new water bodies with their rapid growth and abundance of fish in their early years. 10.Waterbody management - Is NOT being managed to increase the number of people fishng, but to reduce, constrict, limit and to conserve existing or lower levels of people. Budget level maintenance is their primary goal. Little funding exists for meaningful additional researh to stop decline in fishing. 11. Fly in fishing is up - Since the demand for trophy and quality fishing exceeds the supply of domestic US fishing, more people are not fishing locally but flying out to exotic places around the world. 12. On water competition - Water skiers, kyakers, personal flotation devicers, canoeists, hikers and many other types of on-the-water or near-the-water people are degrading the solitiude many fishermen cherish and running them off the water. Bob, I'm sure there are other things which MAY contribute to the decline, but these are suggestions for starters. You listed a number of things we can do to slow the decline of fishing. They'll help. But I am convinced fishing will continue to decline. I just hope there will be some quality experiences left for my grandsons but I doubt it. Good luck! John |
#2
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I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_ magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of. Tony V. |
#3
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"Tony Verhulst" wrote in message ... I was very dissapointed with an article in the latest _Soaring_ magazine. It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring. I humbly suggest that if the SSA focused more on promoting soaring, much of the membership decline would be taken care of. Tony V. Astute observation, Tony. Bill Daniels |
#4
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Tony Verhulst wrote:
..... It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring..... "nothing about soaring" should have been "nothing about attacting and retaining soaring *pilots*". But, you get the drift. Tony V |
#5
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To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good
a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport. Changing a few nouns in the article would not make much difference. Soaring requires a lot of investment of time across several years to make it more than a passing fancy. (I've read that the average sailor owns a boat for 8 years, and then moves on to something else.) Life has speeded up, both in the workplace and on the domestic scene. Our society has opted for quick and cheap in most of its pursuits; we want to be passively entertained. Turn on the TV, do a backyard cookout, and that's about it for a large portion of the populace. Nobody does his own thing anymore; he wants someone to do it for him. The decline is not just in soaring but in all sorts of non-income producing endeavors. We have become passive and vicarious in our thrills. This shows in the tremendous weight gain in the population. On the other hand, maybe we need gliders that will carry 325lbs. in each seat. ;-) At 17:30 13 April 2004, Tony Verhulst wrote: Tony Verhulst wrote: ..... It was about the SSA membership decline and all about attracting SSA *members* and retaining SSA *members* - nothing about soaring..... 'nothing about soaring' should have been 'nothing about attacting and retaining soaring *pilots*'. But, you get the drift. Tony V |
#6
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Nyal Williams wrote:
To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport. Changing a few nouns in the article would not make much difference. Agreed. But my intended point was that the vision was wrong. The focus of the article was "how can we get the SSA to grow" where the focus should have been "how can we get the sport to grow". The article is bothersome because 1). it's the typical reaction of a bureaucracy fighting for survival, and 2). the SSA forgot why it's there. Tony V. -- I [Huck Finn] asked Tom [Sawyer] if countries always apologized when they had done wrong, and he says - "Yes; the little ones does." Mark Twain |
#7
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Agreed. But my intended point was that the vision was wrong. The focus
of the article was "how can we get the SSA to grow" where the focus should have been "how can we get the sport to grow". Point taken, and I am among those constantly lobbying for SSA to shoulder systematic PR for the sport (staff member, press room,...). However, consider Bob Wander's point from years ago already that SSA membership is the most convenient tool there is to draw people in! For a mere $64 (less than the cost of a one-time ride at many operations) and a few clicks online or moments filling out a card, new prospects get 12 months of propaganda. Like the HYCBAGP tri-fold says (originally written back in 1978 or so IIRC) "There's more, but there isn't room to say it here. What do you do next? We suggest... you become a member of (SSA)..." |
#8
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"John H. Campbell" wrote in message ... Agreed. But my intended point was that the vision was wrong. The focus of the article was "how can we get the SSA to grow" where the focus should have been "how can we get the sport to grow". Point taken, and I am among those constantly lobbying for SSA to shoulder systematic PR for the sport (staff member, press room,...). However, consider Bob Wander's point from years ago already that SSA membership is the most convenient tool there is to draw people in! For a mere $64 (less than the cost of a one-time ride at many operations) and a few clicks online or moments filling out a card, new prospects get 12 months of propaganda. Like the HYCBAGP tri-fold says (originally written back in 1978 or so IIRC) "There's more, but there isn't room to say it here. What do you do next? We suggest... you become a member of (SSA)..." So, John, SSA membership causes soaring to grow? Isn't it the other way around? I don't think I have ever known of even one new glider pilot to come to the sport through the SSA. On the other hand, hard working commercial soaring operations promoting rides to the public are probably responsible for 90% of the few new pilots we get. If they could get a little help with that promotion from the SSA, they could do an even better job. Bill Daniels Bill Daniels |
#9
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Speaking from the standpoint of someone relatively new to soaring (September
2003), I can offer these observations: 1. SSA had *nothing* to do with my becoming involved in soaring. Not only that -- during my days as a student pilot (and newly licensed pilot), it was never suggested me to join SSA. In fact, when I eventually did join SSA, it was to become a member of the ASA, so I could fly their club Grob. Four months later, I can testify that being an SSA (and ASA!) member has important things to offer that I was not aware of before, and I now encourage other student and new pilots to become a member because of the critical functions SSA performs for the protection and furtherance of our sport. (Can you say *airspace*? I knew you could.) 2. I *did* become involved in soaring after (a) witnessing a soaring operation at Wiener-Neustadt, Austria while attending a skydiving competition in summer 2002, and (commercial operations take note!) (b) having an aerobatic glider ride given to me as a birthday gift in February 2003 by a friend who heard an advertisement by Turf Soaring in Arizona. I had always had an interesting in soaring, but those two events stand out. 3. I recall reading somewhere, pardon for not remembering specifically, that a large part of the popularity of soaring in the 1960s, '70s and '80s was due to the large number of military-trained pilots, trained for WWII, Korea and Vietnam, who after their service turned to soaring as an economic alternative for getting in the air. Quite simply, these pilots have been retiring while the military has been down-sizing. It's logical that this is at least part of the current decline. 4. I also read this somewhere, and it made sense too: access and exposure to general aviation (small-market airports) by the average middle-class family is much less than it used to be. Many small airports have been closed or blocked off to walk-up spectators. We are simply not being seen as much as before, and being seen is key. 5. The litigious turn our society has taken since the 1970s, especially in the aviation industry, has simply priced too many people out of it. -tcw H304CZ "2NO" |
#10
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Nyal Williams wrote in message ...
To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport. As with any other hobby, membership in the central organization indicates what is happening in the hobby, not the other way around. Soaring requires a lot of investment of time across several years to make it more than a passing fancy. Look at this statement, soaring is another hobby, nothing more, a way to entertaining ones inner child. It, like any other hobby, can become obsessive, and the "one" the "all" when it's really only important to the one that's doing it. When it becomes an obsession, it ceases to be fun unless the reason one does it is satisfied. As far as investment in time and money, I have 44 years as a metalworker, and I'm still learning, I'll never know it all. In money, I probably have as much invested in hobby type machines as I had in that waste of money called a 1-26. (I _know_ I have, and probably three times as much.) Never before has so much been available to people that wanted to try something but found it "just out of reach" for them, and with the notable exception of soaring, never has there been so much serviceable equipment available as cheaply as it is now. So far, all of the arguments I've read here are, "sit back and hope SSA does it for us." It ain't gonna happen. Every hobby that's now flourishing is doing so because the materials and equipment are readily and cheaply available. Interest in many, the ones that are a continuous drain on resources, is declining, as is the amount of disposable income. Look at the situation as it is, not as you want to see it. Soaring doesn't need another $80k custom built hand made by gnomes or trolls in der black forest, but anything that doesn't measure up to some peoples wishes will be met with a blast of badmouth right away. Almost every sailplane made today is made with the competitor in mind, and the manufacturers aren't going to listen to any suggestion that maybe something more pedestrian might sell. Which suits the competitors quite well, and insures that the number of new people will remain small, and declining. Saying that people are "too lazy" to soar is like me saying soaring people are too lazy to try metalworking. I just made a skid plate for a 2-33 out of 1/4 inch AR plate, 3 1/2 hours pushing it through the saw to cut to size. Call me lazy if you will, but I'd rather push the steel than pay through the nose for what soaring costs, and it's just as interesting. |
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