Sailing styles

I am not the world’s most experienced sailor but I had the opportunity and privilege to observe Austrian, French, German and Swedish sailors and there are a few significant differences that are worth mentioning.

Let me first say that the French have to deal with the Atlantic and it can be a real bitch. It is way beyond the imagination of the average Austrian sailor and the most striking effect this has on the French is the nonchalant  attitude towards their boats. They regard them more as ships rather than yachts which translated means – so what. Scratches are meant to be on a boat, something to be proud of like scars or notches on the bed-posts and are not the primary cause for divorce or other legal actions.

The Germans and Austrians share a passion for sailing naked! This sounds really strange but anybody who has watched the lady of the yacht bending over and heaving on the anchor line while Mr Skippy is trying to stay well clear of the revolving steering wheel has serious concerns about the completeness of the SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations . But they can also be spotted from miles or rather heard from miles. Germanic skipper training has ground into them the importance about clear commands. Maybe this goes further back than the skipper training and has a more to do with the Germanic way of things, but boy do they love to shout out commands. Only yesterday I was awoken at 9 pm by a German crew coming into the harbour. KLAR BEI VORLEINE, FIER BACKBOARD ACHTERLEINE, TAMPEN AUFSCHIESSEN, until finally a sharp KLAR BEI BIER was issued and the whole harbour turned over relieved to go back to sleep.

The Swedes are a reserved lot and don’t talk a lot. This can be confirmed by watching the Swedes come into a harbour or  bay for mooring. It usually goes like this: The whole crew is in the cockpit and watches the scenery go by. About 50 meters before land or the harbour wall is being hit, a member of the crew gets up and moves to the bow, land-line in hand. Then, about 20 meters before the inevitable hard object is hit, some kind of pro-forma anchor is being dropped and the boat moves very slowly to its intended mooring spot. The person at the front is usually concentrating on talking to the boats to the left and right about the weather, water temperature, football results, local toilet facilities etc. and finally steps off to fling the land line around some bush or other object close enough for the lines to reach. This is THE SIGNAL for the barbecue to come out. There is no Swedish boat that has not got a decent Weber-Grill on board.

I love the Swedes!