Are you a member of a Sailing Club......... and why?

PaulJ

PaulJ

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Without being too specific, the sailing club to which I belong is having trouble getting members to participate in sailing events.

Membership is strong but it is slowly becoming more of a "Social Club" than a Sailing Club. I want to stress that I have nothing against social members, they have always been an important part of any club and the number of boats owned by members is roughly a third of the total membership....... which I think is pretty good! We hold lots of "Events", both social and sailing, but the sailing events are often very poorly supported. For reasons of expense and convenience we dispensed with paper newsletters some years ago and send out regular newsletters and updates/reminders by email but nobody seems to read them! Are we alone in these problems?

So..... Are you a member of a sailing club and if so, why? What do you want from your Club and crucially, how does your club communicate with it's members?
 
I’ve been a member of my south coast Sailing club for 37 years.

There’s good membership numbers and social ashore but quantities of members doing Sailing rallies are small in comparison to the social side, albeit the Sailing members are also active in the social events.

We’re actively encouraging juniors as the members of tomorrow. It is very different to getting juniors into membership now than when I joined at age 13.. judging by my own kids, they want everything done for them.

And yes, the email superseding the posted newsletter gets less attention of mine as I get 50-100 of them a day at work. I did prefer the paper newsletter.
 
Member of dinghy sailing club in Northampton just to sail dinghy. Comms is via email/website
Yacht I sail is berthed at SYH (east coast) but I don't belong to a sailing club in that area. TBH I can't think of a reason why I would need to be a member of a sailing club in that area.
 
I'm a member of two clubs

Club 1 I joined so I could keep and sail my sailing dinghy there (which I did until last year) and so I can use their facilities such as scrubbing grid, bar and food services. I'm now just a member so my kids can do dinghy sailing there in the summer. Work no longer gives me enough time in the evenings to do their evening racing and I have sold the dinghy. Communication to members is largely by email and electronic newsletter, I used to read the paper-based newsletter when sent but now rarely download the electronic one.

Club 2 I joined largely to get a mooring and use of other club facilities which are very good. I have taken part in the occasional club race but it's a bit "noddy" and because I regularly race they have handicapped me out of the running to encourage the others - the result is that I give time to much faster boats. I rarely race with them now other that to show my face - Id rather race on another club members boat and get them going faster (that sounds big headed but true non-the-less). there is a monthly newsletter send out by post and also available online. I always give it a read though.
 
I am a member

Reasons. Somewhere to park the dinghy and outboard, a good bar, lectures over the winter on sailing topics, some brilliant people who are keen to share their knowledge.

Wants. Not a lot as they provide the things I want/need

Comms. email and Facebook and once a year post, but I would happily pick up any post from the club.
 
Member of a big active south coast club which is a great place to keep all my sailing toys, Kids dinghy, support boat, our racing dinghys and our Yacht, enjoy much of my free time there sailing and socialising, some say a little bit of Sunsail each weekend but that's what suits us.
 
27th year same club.

It has the same problem as all others - where can it get new members from?

The club is good at racing and known for its expertise. Would that put cruising sorts "off" or not, I don't know. As a club member, we cruise, and as such wander away from the club, so not much ability to join in the social side of the club. The club is not cheap (but does have decent facilities).

So how do other clubs get new members? What attracts them?
 
I've been a member of my South Coast club for 41 years; we joined so as to get a good mooring, though friends from work were already members which was an added attraction - over the years firm friendships with others of all ages have developed.

Cruiser ownership remains steady and reasonably active, though it has to be said the average age is steadily rising, with just a few new younger cruiser owners, though that's a good start.

The dinghy section is flourishing, especially the very active junior section, which one must hope will lead to at least a few progressing to cruisers.

It's an all volunteer club where we all help each other which appeals a lot to me compared to other stuffy ' up themselves ' clubs I've also been a member of.

Our facilities are excellent including our own boat hoist, the fees are low and I have a lovely sheltered drying mooring 5 minutes row from the shore and the locked tender pen, also two nice old pubs, a nature reserve, lovely shoreside walks and sailing in Chichester Harbour, pretty unbeatable !
 
Over twenty years. Secure site, good services, helpful full time staff, Cheap berths. I don't "participate" in rallies or races but I like the atmosphere in the clubhouse and meeting up with fellow club members when sailing.
 
I would actually like to join a club if I was near one to try it out, the social side would be more interesting to me and the odd muster, I am not interested in racing anymore and would not commit to a series or even a single event. I do have reservations about spending money and not using a club and also about not fitting in or finding out that it is a clique. Perhaps I am not the club sort at heart. Hence, I have never made the effort.
 
I believe Ullswater yacht club has an excellent membership both young and old with regular well attended sailing events, I believe it won RYA club of the year for 2017 or maybe 16. I live 280 miles from my boat, so a club membership would be of no use to me, as me to them.
It's a bit like this forum say in the lounge...How many regulars there actually still own a boat & sail? I'm sure for some it's just a social outlet to spout off. I think, if I didn't own/sail a boat, I would want to belong to a sailing club just for the social bit.
 
I belong to a club mainly for the access to a mooring. The clubs main focus is on dinghy sailing and has produced some world class sailors in the past. The cruising section runs a few rallies each summer. Overall membership is strong with reasonable numbers of younger members in the dinghy section. More worrying is the gradually increasing average age of the cruiser section: there doesn't seem to be much pull through to the section from the dinghy sailors. Perhaps is we did some racing it would encourage them but that's unlikely as most of the cruisers aren't interested in racing and there plenty of other clubs about which do offer yacht racing though the summer. Interestingly, those clubs don't have a dinghy section...

Edit
Forgot to say all communications are via email. There's a regular monthly update email, which is short and to the point, easy to read. In addition, any one off events being planed will be notified by email, often with a reminder closer to the day. Clubs duties, such as dinghy racing staff, are managed via an online system which enables you to see what slots need filling and to,put your name down: that then generates a reminder email as well. Quite impressed with this element of the club.
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My wife and I are both members of a sailing club. The have pontoon berths, a race programme and some social events and can warrant a blue duster.
We don’t use any of those and the main benefit we get for paying several hundred pounds a year is access to the clubhouse which serve excellent bacon butties.
If one thing could help us participate more it would be better (i.e. some) communication from the club about events that are planned and soliciting opinions on what else could be done. I’d happily get more involved if I had a clue about what is going on there.
 
My wife and I were members of a yacht club in Essex for several years, paid our subs regularly and read the newsletter with interest. Whenever we went into the clubhouse (including Friday and Saturday evenings) it was almost always deserted, and when it was slightly busier it appeared to be populated by a group of people who obviously knew each other very well.

We could not work out what we were getting from the membership so after about five years of trying we just did not bother to renew our membership.
 
As a teenager I used to sail on a reservoir with Aldenham SC but gave up the dinghy when children came along. We cruised for a couple of years unattached but met the then commodore of an East Coast club who said we should join and race, so I did what I was told. We raced with them and started our foreign cruising in company and formed a group of friends who we still meet regularly, after 30-40 years.

When we moved house we found that we weren't visiting the old club. We had joined a local club, so left the old one with some regrets. We don't do much sailing with our local club, mainly because we are away for up to 3/12 each summer. We often drink there on Sundays. One of the main attractions has always been a group of oldies, the Saga louts, who have all their marbles and have always been great company.

I also belong to an association locally which costs the sum of £5 per year. We sail on some of their events and go to as many winter events as possible, especially the annual dinner, which costs £37 and as much food and drink as you wish, including cheese and Port.
 
From my early days sailing dinghy’s on the class open circuit we had to be a sailing club member but very really actually sailed there. Since moving to Cruising we are members of our local club to gain access to moorings, hoist and hard etc. Very good pricing and facilities included within membership. With regard to actual events, there is regular racing as tides allow which from what members tell us is getting harder to arrange with numbers, however the clubhouse is also seen as a home from home and normally has a number of members each day milling around. Lots of informal evening events as BBQ and group meals. Regarding actually sailing events this seems to be an issue like others and can be seen at our club as two divides, working or retired with many events arranged to suit the later, this seems mostly due to higher numbers of retirees.

This may be one of the fundamental issues as sailing and working don’t always coincide easily, this is being looked at with a sub group being started to look at weekend mini cruises that are inviting newer member to take part, especially as many of these are working as well. This is also helping older members to sail when they seem to have reduced confidence.

Not sure if we would be a club member if we did not need any of the above though.
 
I'm in Helsinki, Finland so my experience may be a little different. I've been a member of the same club for a dozen years now. I joined because the club's harbour is a convenient short walk from my home, but over the years the other 'active' members have become my main social circle. I'm nowadays the treasurer and main instructor, and my wife is the commodore.

Our club has no clubhouse, which is a big lack compared to a British club. But we do have an island harbour about 4 hours' pleasant sail away through the coastal archipelago, and that's where we and the other active members tend to spend our summer weekends. All of the club committee are regular visitors to the island harbour, although probably 75% of the club's boats never go there at all.

We have a web site, an annual printed newsletter and occasional mass e-mails, but what has enormously increased communication between club members is the club's Facebook group. People ask there for crew, ask all sorts of technical questions, who knows a good rigger etc., and post there if a boat in the harbour needs attention.
 
When I bought my first sailing boat I joined a club to get a mooring.
I found that membership fell into two groups, Bar members and Sailing members.
The moorings were a long way from the club and the harbour authority gave no 'local boat' harbour fee concession if you brought your boat into the harbour to go to the club or to get an ice cream for the kids.
When I changed my boat I got a mooring in a different area. There is a local club but it is dry (no alcohol licence), the membership fee is expensive and I don't live locally, so can see no point in joining it.
I don't race, so equally no point in joining a club that has an active racing fleet.
 
A few years ago now we used to be a member of a sailing club but the problem was we lived 70 miles away (it was the closest sea going club to us) we also worked shifts so often could only get down once a month for the whole weekend. There was a criteria you were expected to put in a days work a month at the club (understandable) but it meant we just had a day to go sailing at the weekend (we had a dinghy) when others were about.
So it just did not work for our particular circumstances. Might have stayed if there was an option to pay extra and so not have to do the duties. But even if that was an option I would worry others may consider we were being anti-social in 'shirking our duties'. It sounds like whinging but at the time we were cash rich but time poor.
 
I am a member of a few clubs for different activities. One of them a sailing club. Email newsletters are dead (but you can track the open and click rates which will give you some indication of effectiveness). News letters will get read if they have something to say! Facebook has replaced them as probably the primary channel for comms. We live in a world of instant news, waiting for a monthly newsletter is absurd when you can have a an immediate conversation. I think it is often assumed to be a "young person" thing but you will find that grandparents frequently use it, as do those with offspring at university and parents of younger children.
 
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