A volunteer is someone who didn't understand the question

snowleopard

snowleopard

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3 years ago at a club AGM they asked for a volunteer to take on the vice chairman role. Thinks I - this is a good way of getting to know what's going on without getting dragooned into jobs that involve work like secretary or treasurer. It was only when other members started referring to me as the next chairman that I realised what I had let myself in for. And last night it happened. I now find myself having to run the club for a while or at least till I can find a plausible reason to palm it off on someone else.

Meanwhile I'm looking for entertainments for our evening meetings of which we have half a dozen over the course of the winter. Usually we have a speaker but the scope is limited as the club doesn't have a lot of funds to pay them.

Any suggestions for boaty-related entertainments?
 
That sounds a difficult number,I assume you are getting a designated parking space for your troubles.Form a sub comittee and delegate if that does not work err.....ask Dylan winter to a talk on building a punt and slip him a tenner.
 
snowleopard said:
Meanwhile I'm looking for entertainments for our evening meetings of which we have half a dozen over the course of the winter.
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a) Settle the calendar at one time. Don't add to it piecemeal

b) Farm out the entertainments to others, don't say "Yeah, I can organise that"

Otherwise you may find that 6 weeks running you are the entertainment committee.

How do I know.......................? :o
 
mogy said:
,I assume you are getting a designated parking space for your troubles.
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Ho ho ho. We don't have premises and the subs are a fiver a year - per boat. My kind of club :)

While we're on the subject, we're always on the lookout for alternative venues so if you know anywhere in SE Cornwall with a function room big enough for 2-3 dozen people and of course a licence the info would be gratefully received.

We are the Tamar Multihull Association. Currently owning a multi isn't a requirement. Several of our members aspire to proper boat and others have owned them in the past. Owners of half-boats can of course expect to be gently ribbed.
 
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a tenner

mogy said:
That sounds a difficult number,I assume you are getting a designated parking space for your troubles.Form a sub comittee and delegate if that does not work err.....ask Dylan winter to a talk on building a punt and slip him a tenner.
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blimey

how cheap is that?

I would not leave my house for anything less than £12.50

of course getting a bus down to the Tamar might cost a bit of extra money but I would be very happy to cover my own travel costs in the cause of spreading the all round excellence of duck punts

actually...... a duck punt cat...... hmmmm

Dylan
 
snowleopard said:
Any suggestions for boaty-related entertainments?
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You have my sympathy. I was daft enough with my first club to take on the job of treasurer after only a year. I thought it was an honour sand that they had wisely seen my obvious merits. They had seen something it's true. My gullibility! :D

Anyway, the local sailmaker will usually give a FOC chat on sail maintenance or setting - to advertise himself. Ditto the local rigger. Try international piants for a chat on antifoul and boat painting. Try the MCA / RNLI for boat safety. Have a colregs quiz or ( if you think that a bit taxing) a nautical quiz. New members night? Anyone done a long and interesting cruise they can talk about. We had a very successful evening about cooking on board

Just had Scott Quinnell doing a chat at our club. He was a half decent rugby player but is an even better stand up comedian. Maybe a bit far for you and certainly very Welsh boyo. But bloody funny. particularly about the English rugby team and Austin Healey :D You might find an equivalent.
 
Delegate, delegate and delegate - oh, and don't forget to delegate! You are now 'Management' and as anybody knows, that means you don't have to work, only ensure that others are :D
 
Bosun Higgs said:
You have my sympathy. I was daft enough with my first club to take on the job of treasurer after only a year. I thought it was an honour sand that they had wisely seen my obvious merits. They had seen something it's true. My gullibility! :D

Anyway, the local sailmaker will usually give a FOC chat on sail maintenance or setting - to advertise himself. Ditto the local rigger. Try international piants for a chat on antifoul and boat painting. Try the MCA / RNLI for boat safety. Have a colregs quiz or ( if you think that a bit taxing) a nautical quiz. New members night? Anyone done a long and interesting cruise they can talk about. We had a very successful evening about cooking on board
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Some good ideas there. We had the local sailmaker this year but I'm sure some of the others will work. I'll pass on the colregs quiz as a past chairman held a Master's ticket so I doubt the rest of us would get a look in! We occasionally have a visit. In the past we have gone to the Met Office, Falmouth Coastguard and Plymouth uni's ship simulator.

An in-season event I've run a couple of times now is a 'safari supper' where one boat hosts each course. It works well with cats as there's room for a good-sized group.
 
We once had a rigging expert give lecture and demo at our club, all good ,but the best part was the splicing session on 3-part and multi plait ropes, nowadays perhaps the state of the art dyneema rope shackles would be of some interest.

ianat182
 
Trolley Autotests. I used to organise these for the Laser2000 CA Nationals. You need a launch trolley and a large area - beach or car park - sand castles or cones, design the course with 'garages', some of which are driven into, others reversed into - against the clock. BBQ afterwards.
 
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