Is this bringing Corinthian Confusion?

The confluence of paid participants in recreational sailing has raised the stakes in many corners of the sport. Pondering the topic is WM Nixon for the Afloat publication:

The vast majority of club sailing enthusiasts need never trouble themselves with the ins and outs of the various levels and definitions of Corinthian and Amateur sailing. It’s basically simple enough at our home-port level. Most Corinthians pay to sail, one way or another, while Pros get paid, and that’s about the height of it.

It remains so for race-winning Corinthians even if their personal outgoings are minimal, as can be the case with a generous skipper who covers some expenses and rewards success with celebratory dinners at his or her expense. That said, one could imagine those boats that have been beaten beginning to grumble about “benefits in kind”.

We don’t have space here to refer to the various paid positions within the marine industry – in all its permutations – that can result in a sailor being defined as some grade of professional. All we know is that when a preliminary list was first published quite a few years back now, “Sailing Journalist” wasn’t on it.

We didn’t feel too badly about that, or pretended not to, even when there were those who sardonically opined that any boat carrying a sailing hack in the crew deserved to have her handicap figure beneficially adjusted downwards. – Full report