Attracting new non-club members to a cruise in company?

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PhillM

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I am part of the committee arranging a cruise in company this year. I wont post specific details for fear of upsetting the mods.

I would like advice from anyone who has joined an event like this about how they found out about it and what attracted them?

For those who have not, is there anything that would put you off ? Anything in particular that might attract you?
 
We as a club have for the last couple of years done a few cruise in company events each year. They range from over night trips to long weekends, they are really good for new sailing members or members with little experience/ confidence. We are based on the Humber so the tidal timings can take some getting used to.

the main thing we’ve found is to keep it simple and allow for the fact that some of us actually still work so time is a challenge. Our most popular is a simple trip over night to Hull, needs careful tidal timing and lock entrance, so very useful to gain confidence also members find their partners will join them when otherwise on their own they don’t.

to widen the interest speak to local clubs, not everyone likes racing.

Ultimately, don’t make it long and complicated as those who would do this sort of trip would probably prefer to do it on their own anyway.
 
I started arranging them for our club. The first thing was that some boats had never travelled far before so from St lawrence bay in the River blackwater we had saturday/ Sunday cruise to brightlingsea a couple of times with a meal in a restaurant saturday evening so that we had a social and everyone got to know each other. that helps with longer cruises if everyone is at ease with the rest of the party. Plus for longer trips smaller boats could not go or did not feel at ease. So doing some shorties first did not make them feel like the poor relatives because they had already done something.
A couple of boats broke down so we had a boat ready to do a bit of towing into brightlingsea & repairs & mothership home.
The next thing I did was arrange a 5 day trip to Boulogne via Dover, Boulogne ( stay 1 day) back to ramsgate & then home. for the bigger experienced crews
I gave a talk about the navigation, 2 months before the event & many more attended than actually went on the trip as they said that they enjoyed my talk on how to cross the Thames estuary & enter the ports & cross the Channel. I made sure the tides were good.

I really worked hard & embarrassed them into attending. It was a fantastic success with meals in Boulogne & various booze ups. A boat would not do the Channel so met us at Ramsgate & we booked the Itallian under the Royal temple for another meal
One thing we realised we had to watch was expense. Some owners were lobbing money around like there was no tomorrow & a couple felt really worried when the whip went round.
We now have a rule. at the start, if you do not want to go in the whip you say so & NOBODY queries it. it is accepted . NOBODY makes any comment.
You have to plan well in advance, We have had this years' meeting already. We have invited a member from the River Crouch because although he is not on our moorings, he sails a Phantom in our open meetings so we all know him.
So far we have done longer cruises to
Ostend
Boulogne
Dieppe
The D day landings in Normandy( complete with hire cars & going to the parachute drops etc from Le Havre)
We have a Dutch cruise organised for this year along with other crusies

I have constructed a web site Website which is for mooring holders not just club members & we have even said MOBOS can come ( but none yet!!)
In this site there is a cruising section and the programme for the year has been published. more shorties are planned on an ad hoc basis
Cruise plans

Hope that helps
By the way, we have moorings available & we are taking bookings for 2020-- Check the web site
 
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Quandary said:
I did one once, a long time ago and never again, it is easier herding cats and they cause less bother.
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You have to have someone as a focal leader or cruiser class captain, otherwise they will wander off. you suggest to them what they are going to do & where they are going at the start of each day. You do not give them the chance to start wandering. it is an art & that person has to use their personality. In most cases they like one to come up with a plan. But it only works for up to 7 days & if everyone is occupied when in port. Once it becomes a committee you have lost it. It is the same with all group gatherings
 
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We have a lead boat that does the rough passage plan and indicates timings but we expect each boat to decide for themselves how they want to get from AtoB, in reality we find they tend to get into small groups. We try and avoid formal planing and instruction and expect route planning to be done by each boat, as this we feel can lead to extended responsibility's by lead boats. The cruise in company rather than flotilla is important. We do find it good if the lead boat sorts out visitor berthing
 
One comment that gets quoted regularly at events & in the bar at any meeting refers to a comment i made at the end of the first lecture
I finished by saying :-
" Now remember lads , This is a cruise in company, ---It is not a race"
Then, as i took a sip of beer, I was heard to say " But i am going to get there first"
So at numerous events & things " It is not a race" has become the motto.
We always have a bit of a competition with the slowest boat leaving early ( sometimes before it is light) without letting us know so he gets a head start
 
I haven't joined one before Phil, but it occurs to me that while I probably know where and what I want to do and eat in the Solent's waterside towns and villages I have no real idea when we get further afield, and just use the least possible effort to end up where most other boat people go. As a contrary example, there's the Restaurant Le Panoramique a couple of miles inland from Barfleur and St Vaast which has spectacular views (I know, you'd never have guessed) which I haven't been to for years but was extremely good and we'd never have found it without a tip off from a local.

If I knew that someone had done the homework and found great places that I'd not seen before, and maybe arranged minibuses to get to them then I'd be more inclined to overcome my reservations about joining in with a bunch of people, most of whom I don't really know. Maybe use these pages to get that info?

And yes, why not make at least one of the legs an official unofficial pursuit?
 
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I would of thought that attracting new non-club members would be difficult, how do you intend to advertise it, other clubs notice board, here, boat yards, marinas, where else?
Do you have any restrictions on boat size?
Are you just looking for just boats or is it also open to any odd bod who wants to crew?
You will obviously need to state when, duration, destination and cost.
 
I think you have to be clear what the point of it all is?
A get together for people with a common interest, more like a rally away from your home port works well.
When you start trying to travel in company it can quickly get messy.
If I want to be told what time to leave and all that, I might as well join a passage race.

Different people always seem to have different time restrictions. Different boats make different amounts of progress. When you start adding pressure of keeping a flotilla together, the hassle could quickly outweigh the benefit of being together, which is essentially really only in port anyway?
That and taking photos of each other's boats....

If I 've got a week holiday, and I want to go to say Plymouth Sound, I want to make progress if I can, but if there's not much wind I might choose to stop at Weymouth say. I would not want to be messing up a great deal of planning by doing that, neither would I choose to motor pointlessly for 12 hours just to meet a schedule.
What I do tend to do is keep in touch with people who are going in roughly the same direction at roughly the same time and try to meet up for a couple of days out of a fortnight's cruise, but it really wouldn't matter if our paths didn't cross, we'll see each other soon enough around Hampshire.
 
In Scotland we used to have a commercial one called 'The Malts Cruise' it was very popular with European boats but everyone local who visited distillerys had to get their schedule so as to avoid them. They actually persuaded the wee visitors marina in Port Ellen to give them exclusive use and turn away any boat not flying their flag. I had several arguments elsewhere when their early boats tried to tell you not to use berths or moorings they were trying to keep for their mates. Probably a bigger problem in Scotland where harbour facilities and marinas are limited. Then there was the notorious Medway Scottish cruise, fortunately they only came once, very determined to reassert control of the colonies.
As a member I get notice of all the Moody Owners Assoc. cruises and musters so it is easy to avoid them.
In West Scotland, cruising is about exploring, getting to wild places so different to the South where there are massive marinas, I can see the advantage there if you want to stick to popular locations.
 
For beginners, a cruise in company is more of a psychological boost than a real help, since once you are out on the water you may well be on your own and every skipper must be prepared for this. We did out first foreign cruise in company and in pre-radio days ran into fog. Fortunately, a few years of groping around in the Thames Estuary had prepared us for this. Nowadays, with radios, and maybe AIS class B, isolation may be less of a factor but must be taken into account. I wouldn't want to put anyone off, but they shouldn't be embarking on a passage they can't do on their own if needed.

The social part of a c-in-c can be great fun, but can occasionally have the disadvantage of making members reliant on each other, when one of the pleasures of a cruise is making new friendships. Also, there is a maximum desirable size for a group. I have sailed with groups from two to twenty two and would say that twenty two is far too many. People tend to form cliques and the atmosphere is less enjoyable. Freedom is important to many people and in successful groups boats have been free to come and go as they please.
 
As said above, yachts have varying performances and draughts, so a "cruise in company" usually means saying "We'll meet for a drink in such and such a pub"! I've done several cruises in company organized through the Scuttlebutt forum in the Clyde; the usual arrangement was "Meet at the Cumbrae Watersports Pontoon on Friday night, have a drink and a quiz in the bar and then we'll decide where to go after that once we see what the weather's doing" They were always very successful; attendance varied a lot, but there were generally a few regulars. No club necessary!
 
Our longer cruises work because we form a close knit group before we go, by doing the shorter cruises & by other activities.
Laying moorings, cruiser dineretc.& they are not just club members, but mooring holders who do not have to be be club members, but in the end they see the light & join.
Something like the Scuttlebutt might involve some who are not so well known & may not mix so well if "shy" That makes it harder to keep them all together as well.
As for being on your own, VHF helps & we range from 25 ft to 45 ft & the 28 ft has towed a 40 ft more than once, to great embarrassment as the 28 always seems to end up towing someone, because it is following behind "picking up stragglers." I am dreading ever needing his services :unsure:
 
Our club run cruises in company from Conwy and they're well attended. Some are longer to the Isle of Man, some short around Anglesey with BBQ on beaches etc. Sometimes, although they're called cruises, a few may want to turn them into a race but that's just for those who want to participate, the rest just pottering along which is fine. Everyone meets up later for a beer, sometimes for a meal.
 
I always contact non club members about our clubs planned cruises in company via the rapidly expanding "Sailing and Cruising" Regional closed facebook groups.

We do this for four main reasons.
1 To alert any other non members or local clubs of our intentions. This can help all to avoid overcrowding small popular anchorages or small harbours.

2. To give non club members a chance to join in and see if they like the company and the activities and antics of our club and members.

3. To give relative newcomers some support and advice and encouragement to join in for both local weekend cruises and long distance holiday cruising.

4. To encourage M&M's (Marina and Mooring queens) to try out the sport of dropping the hook and hopefully staying put overnight in a remote anchorage for the first time.

We use Whats app group to communicate amongst our club members both long term arranged plans and short term spur of the moment weekend intentions.

A new group can easily be created dedicated to just those on a cruise including non members.

It keeps the radio traffic down and enables exchange of info, timings, pictures and usually a good dose of good natured banter and pish taking. Hopefully without causing offence!

The club whats app group is also used for gaining tailored "local advice" on all things boating related and the larger the group the greater the retained knowledge of the group. (Just like YBW!)

Works for us and we have seen a good growth of people taking part and going on to joining our club. Our club membership is now the highest it has been for some time.

We have completely failed to encourage anyone to join in any pure competitive racing .
Eating out, Walking, BBQ's and Fishing are always part of our activities on short or long hauls. There are always a few who enjoy a drink or ten.
Enjoying the area and the company is always the main objective.

Shared experiences good and bad will and have promoted long term close friendships for people who enjoy boating collectively.

Steve
 
anoccasionalyachtsman said:
As a contrary example, there's the Restaurant Le Panoramique a couple of miles inland from Barfleur and St Vaast which has spectacular views (I know, you'd never have guessed) which I haven't been to for years but was extremely good and we'd never have found it without a tip off from a local.
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There's always benefit to be gained, in France, by heading a couple of streets back from the seafront/main drag, and looking for where the local tradesmen and families go for lunch.

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zoidberg said:
There's always benefit to be gained, in France, by heading a couple of streets back from the seafront/main drag, and looking for where the local tradesmen and families go for lunch.
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Definitely, and not just in France. But that restaurant is out of town, and not far off equidistant from Barfleur and St Vaast, and a stroll around the streets (with multiple boat crews in tow) wouldn't have found it. I suppose I'm realising that in the old days I should have carried tourist guides as well as all the pilot books, and on our last trip West that the internet and a taxi would have found somewhere near Dartmouth that actually cared about food - if I'd thought about it....

Anyway, my point was that if the Phil makes a point of telling me that he's found somewhere a bit special (and not just food, just something away from the norm) then I'm far more likely to be there than if it's just another seafront nosh and pub crawl.
 
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