Helen Wheels wrote:
"however, one slightly interesting NEW youth sub-culture seems to be the
(wait for it...) yachty kids. this sub-culture seems to exist along the
coasts of Britain. the kids all wear yachty clothes (NOT surfy)and hang out
in sailing clubs and go sailing all the time. they don't have any particular
bands to be into, except perhaps the ones who look like fellow yachties.
they aren't all rich-kids either. this sounds
extremely tame, and i wonder if it has anything to do with the health,
exercise and fitness obsessions in the 80's? in fact, my brother has
become one of these yachty-kids, and 'y-k' is my name for them as
they haven't got their own name as they don't yet realise they are a
subculture! bizarre!"
I don't know if the two are related, but I spent about six years of my life
(! which is about a third of it) alongsode the American variation of this
culture on the Connecticut coast. From my observations they were generally
spoiled kids (nothing wrong with that, mind you) whose fathers worked in New
York while they went to posh boarding schools. Most of them in the early 90s
were bored enough to develop strong links to hippie culture- but indeed,
this subculture, over-priviliged hippies, was in itself a phenomenon. Kids
with BMWs, Saabs and Land Rovers whose back window was coated in Allman
Brothers stickers- Students at Philips Exeter academy doing mushrooms and
discussing Kerouac in their spare time- kids who spent the better part of
their youth following Phish around (they could afford to, why not?) and then
disappeared into an Ivy League school only to reemerge years later with a
haircut, a suit and an apprenticeship at Smith Barney. J. Garcia's death was
a sad day at the East Coast yacht clubs, while the Beatles anthology was a
noticeable but frustratingly ignorable blip- much more impressive was the
Steve Miller Band's thousandth tour or the emergence of an exciting new
group led by someone called "Dave Matthews."
Yes, they also sailed, and a lot of them were quite good at it. It's been
called a rich man's sport and of course the actual boat and its
transportation to and from neighboring wooded, racially exclusive
communities can be pricey. Birkenstocks didn't hold very fast to a
fibreglass deck and thus the popularity of the Teva was born. I actually saw
one regatta where a kid had outfitted his eight-foot, easily capsizable rig
with a stereo system. You could hear the Dead, the Samples, or the
occasional Fishbone (odd that!) from across the racecourse. Of course,
nothing impressed the overtanned debutantes at the regatta dance more than a
young heir of long, honey-streaked hair shaped by a Mount Gay (a rum company
that sponsors yachtingm actually) baseball cap, outfitted to the T by J.
Crew or Eddie Bauer, smelling of that certain intangible mix of salt water
and musk. The kids who were really good at it eventually went on to the
University of Rhode Island and wasted the family's money away with
back-breaking schedules that alternated nautical adventures with alcoholic
blackouts. URI eventually banned liquor to save its name, so I don't know
where they go now.
Anyways, Helen, Wightians, coastal Angles, be afraid. And if you ever have
kids, don't think you're doing them a big favour by getting them mixed up in
this. Although I can only imagine the differences.
"i can see why they named after members of the Small Faces, but what puzzles
me is that i can't recall The Kinks ever wearing bowling shoes!"
Saw Pete Quaife pulling an All Night Stand down the alley last Thursday at
League Night. It was the End of the Season so he decided not to Come Dancing
with Annabella, Monica, Arthur and Lola and tried Something Else. He was
very Well Respected down there- his bowling scores passed around by Word of
Mouth- and when i talked to him it was his Second Time Around. Face to Face,
he was Acting Nice and Gentle all day and all of the night, and was a
Destroyer on the pins, a really phenomenal cat, asking "Who'll be the next
in line?" although they told him "You can't win." All of my friends were
there, so I said "See my friends" and he gave the people what they wanted.
We took pictures of each other for my picture book, I got him Under the Neon
Sign ("this is where I belong") back to front. It was an unreal reality, the
people were asking "did you saee his name? did ya?" and I said "So long."
I'd have to say if the whole music thing doesnt work out it could be
Something Better Beginning for old Pete.
drew.
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
______________________________________________
Faster, stronger and able to send millions
of emails in one click: the new Topica site!
http://www.topica.com/t/14
