Why Don’t Asians Sail?
By: Charles Li
Tags: Sailing, Hobbies And Interests, Asian American, Asian Canadian, Asian

Sailing is a fun, social pass time that is still a fairly WASP dominated activity

In this day and age, why are some traditionally western activities still severely lacking in Asian participation? There are many activities that we clearly associate as Western or even WASP (White, Anglo-Saxon Protestant). In many Western cities the fabric of society has become quite mixed and yet some circles are still pretty monochromatic. How much of this is truly due to a segregated society? How much of this is more so just a mental barrier that we should be able to overcome?

I took up sailing in the past few years as a way to do something fun and different as well get to know a new social circle. I joined a club, bought a little beginner boat, and dove into this hobby. Truth be told, from the very beginning it was a tough step to take on this hobby. The learning curve for sailing was certainly challenging but it was also a personal challenge for me as well. People that look like me just don’t seem to sail. In a club of thousands of members, I’ve seen only 2 or 3 Asians. Sailing is not a cheap activity, though not as cost prohibitive as many might think. For Asians, a minority group in western society with its fair share of upper middle class families, you would think there would be greater representation. It must not just be a cost barrier then.

I spoke at length about this with my friend Eric about this as he’s a big fan of another WASP activity, hockey. Eric used hockey to better understand what it means to live in Canada. He learned all of the team names immediately upon arriving and gradually learned all of the skills needed to play. Eric is not the norm though. Hockey is so stereotypically Canadian, and yet so many of us have never tried playing it, or don’t even watch it regularly. While also not a cheap sport to partake in, there are many accessible ways to enjoy hockey. It’s the only sport consistently shown on the national, free TV channel. If you compare the crowds at a hockey game versus a sport like basketball, the disparity is obvious.

What is the cause of this slow trickle of Asianness into these hobbies? Are the people that sail or play hockey insular and prevent immigrants from joining? Not really, both Eric and my experience would say otherwise. While there are always a few unwelcoming faces, most are happy to help you out. No, I’d say it’s more to do with ourselves, as immigrants, not getting out of our comfort zone. We can often get the balance wrong between retaining our old culture and embracing a new one.

I strongly believe that if you live in North America, it behooves you to participate in at least one hobby that one would consider North American. Whether it is learning to play it or simply watching and spectating as a fan, getting into one of these hobbies provides the ability to speak a common language with those around you. In my sailing experience, it’s been challenging to mix in with a group of people that talk about different sail types, wind patterns, and 1000 different words for rope. But it has also been hugely valuable. I understand North American culture so much better by sharing beers with folks who grew up on the Great Lakes. I understand now how many of our everyday terms come from sailing (your tell-tale signs?). I feel like I’m more Canadian learning to sail.

It can be too easy to just stay in your own cultural bubble or to blame others for not accommodating you. In reality, people just want to associate with others who share common interests and a common language. When we travel to a foreign country, we make an effort to learn a few words and immerse ourselves in the new culture. We should do the same in the place we now call home. By building a bridge of common interests, it makes it much harder to discriminate against others. Through common interests, we can show that we are not all that different and that we can all be passionate about the same things — be it sailing, hockey, or anything else.