Have you seen the wild-looking, new race boat purpose-built to bring the America’s Cup back to American soil? I came across it after reading about the revolutionary, wing sail-powered trimaran that convincingly won the 33rd America’s Cup for the BMW ORACLE Racing team.

The team became the first American outfit to win the trophy since 1992 in a boat that was quite a departure from the standard America’s Cup style of long, sleek, mono-hull sailboats that have dominated the racecourses set forth since the first America’s Cup challenge in 1851 when an American team (New York Yacht Club) won the trophy from a British team and managed to retain it for an incredible 113 years before losing it to an Australian team.

Stay with me here—I know I’m talking about sailboats and a sailboat trophy in a powerboat blog. New designs, hard-fought races, a trophy that is the oldest active trophy in the international sporting arena (pre-dating the modern Olympics by 45 years) and the fact that it’s just good old-fashioned man/machine vs. each other and the sea, makes it especially fascinating—even to some powerboaters. Because of those reasons, I’m intrigued to catch up on what’s going on with the America’s Cup challenge from time to time (when someone actually challenges for the Cup).

So to my point—I’m in Starbucks buying an over-priced cup of coffee (that’s a whole other blog altogether), and I notice the guy in front of me is wearing an America’s Cup T-shirt. Being the friendly chap I am, I strike up a conversation about the American team’s new tri-hull design. He admitted he hadn’t followed much of the America’s Cup but he did own a 45-foot Catalina sailboat. He asked if I owned a boat. The first thing that crossed my mind was “Here we go, get ready for the snide remarks.”

I said: “Why yes, I do own a boat, though it’s a powerboat.”

And like clockwork: “Oh, a stink pot huh?” he replied.

I chuckled and said, “Yeah, to make matters worse, it’s an offshore powerboat.”

He looked at me with disdain as if I just wiped dog poop on his pant leg. “Oh, one of those,” he said dryly.

I replied: “Yeah, you guys don’t seem to like us performance boaters too much.”

He answered simply and without hesitation. “No we don’t,” and he turned to get his coffee without another word.

I had to laugh at this type of attitude. The rudeness and udder disparagement that I’ve seen many sailboaters display is jaw dropping to say the least. I like to think of myself as a friendly boater. I go wide and slow down when near skiers, wakeboarders, other boaters, etc. And I wave to almost every boat I pass. My theory is: We’re all out on the water to enjoy the day, no matter what your mode of transportation is.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve run by a sailboat (safely), waved as I passed and had the captain or others on board flip me off in return. I find that type of behavior extremely offensive, and more to the point, it pisses me off. I’ve more than once turned back, slowed up next to the sailboat and asked, “Did you just flip me off?” The shock and confusion of actually being called out on their antics is pretty priceless. Most of the time, they start yelling about something they are always wrong about (at least from my experience), usually having to do with a speed limit.

I don’t see the contempt from performance boaters toward sailboaters as I do vice versa. Many performance boaters I’ve spoken with about this topic actually enjoy sailing. I guess in the end, it’s nice to know that my fellow boaters—the powerboating crowd—are friendlier, more polite and more pro-boating than this other group of seemingly grumpy, miserable sailors.

I just don’t understand the hatred shown toward us by sailboaters. Is it that we’re too loud, too much faster or most likely just having more fun? I don’t know. But I will say this: Keep waving and smiling at those you pass. And of course, from time to time, don’t pass an opportunity to pull up next to a sailboater and ask why they feel it’s OK to flip you the bird.