Club membership opportunity

[Spuddy]

I've put this on the East Coast Forum but reckoned that others might be interested as well. After all, anyone thinking about the Solent might be tempted by the fact that the Medway has more mud and more power stations plus a devil of a lot cheaper.

Our club - Hoo Ness Yacht Club - on the Medway - always has vacancies for members ( subject to an interview of course) but I thought it was worth letting the folks on here know that we have several vacant moorings for new members. They are in the river so need tender access, although we have a club launch to use for a quick in and out. Some are swinging moorings - a couple of which dry out at low water so suitable for shallow draft or motorboats and at a cheaper rate. The remainder are on trots - fore and aft buoys to tie up to. Ashore we have a club house with a programme of social events and bar at the weekends plus a scrubbing dock and standing ashore for longer duration boat tinkering or storage over winter. The club run cruising rallies and a racing programme for those so inclined.
It's important to know that we are a self-help club and do as much work ourselves voluntarily - members are expected to join in and help out. A recent new member had looked around some other clubs but joined because he said ours was particularly friendly and welcoming.
Quite a few of our members come down from London or even farther afield - the M2 is not too far away. The Medway itself is a good river for first ventures on the water with the Swale and the rest of the East Coast just outside.
More info here plus contact details http://www.hooness.org.uk/index.php

 

[jerrytug]

I can vouch it's a friendly place, what's the coup with the marina Spuddy, can you still use it for the trot boat or is it off limits? cheers Jerry

 

[Spuddy]

Marina itself has changed hands as you prob know, Jerry. The club has a slip of it's own but keeps trot boat in marina next door on a pontoon cos it's easier to get in and out and on and off there.

 

[BarryH]

My boat came from Hoo Ness, I have been trying to find the previous owners. You never know, it might one day return....

 

[Spuddy]

Tell me the name of your boat, Barry, and I'll ask around among the longer-established members.

 

[nigelmercier]

Our club - Hoo Ness Yacht Club - on the Medway - always has vacancies for members ( subject to an interview of course) ...

Is it just me, or does "subject to an interview" make you think you wouldn't want to join it anyway?

 

[James_Calvert]

Is it just me, or does "subject to an interview" make you think you wouldn't want to join it anyway?

It's a curious thing, the YC membership applicant interview...

When we became erstwhile members of Hoo Ness, back in the mid '80s, there was no interview. To join, you turned up at a weekend when the bar was open and got the duty officer to propose you and someone else hanging around to second you, your application was stuck on the noticeboard for the requisite period (presumably in case someone wanted to raise some valid objection) and then after the next club committee meeting you got a letter saying your application was successful subject to receipt of the membership dues (and joining fee).

If you did know people already at the club, you could get your application onto the board without any intervention from the club heirarchy. For some reason, this unsettled the "powers that were" a few years later, and the requirement for an interview was brought into being.

I don't really know the background to that unease, perhaps it was that the club owned the freehold and wanted to strengthen safeguards to the existing membership's interests.

Whatever...

But I think all the interview amounts to is to give the club an opportunity to explain its ethos and for prospective members to satisfy themselves that indeed it is the right sort of club for them. I guess one of the points that a club like Hoo Ness would want to get across is that it is not a commercial organisation and the services that the club provides are as a result of efforts by the membership themselves and do not simply arise as a result of paying your mooring or lay-up fee.