Reply to Children's activities that are a money pit

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Nothing is more expensive than horses. Not even close. [/quote]

Sailing.[/quote]

Actually, sailing is cheaper than horses, at least at the level that teenagers do it.   At America's Cup level, yes, sailing is more expensive. A laser is not cheap, but it's not as expensive as a competition-level horse.  The problem with riding is that having a really good horse is essential (unlike most sports where talent can overcome the quality of the gear), and you are competing with people with serious money.  Town and Country did a story a couple of years ago about young women riders, and most of them were the daughters of billionaires.  The "poorest" young woman was the daughter of Bruce Springsteen.  [/quote]

Sailing camps and lessons aren't expensive.  Owning a sailboat is expensive.  There is always something that needs to be fixed or replaced.  Slip fees can be costly.  Sailing the boat is cheap.  We take off on a Friday afternoon, sail for a while, find a marina or just drop anchor, and enjoy a beautiful night on the water. Sadly, our kids don't like it as much as we do.[/quote]

I was pp, and we have owned cruising sailboats and are well aware of the constant maintenance hassle (the person who said sailing is like "standing in a cold shower tearing up $100 bills" was correct).  Since the topic was youth activities, I was commenting on competitive youth sailing, which generally involves small "one design" boats.  The cost of owning and maintaining a boat grows geometrically with the size of the boat.  A twenty foot daysailer isn't cheap, but it's usually stored on the hard, and maintenance costs are (relatively) minor, as you can mostly handle them yourself.   A wise old sailor who raised his kids on boats once advised us to switch to smaller boats while the kids were young, and he was right.  Kids seem to find sailing about on small boats much more fun than cruising in a big sailboat.  We sail a small boat, and we have friends who are in to horses, and there's no comparison of the cost.  In any case, if we bought a big sailboat, we'd at least have a place to stay over the weekend (you can't do that with a horse!).  [/quote]

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