Demand for moorings plummeting?

[oldgit]

Nope !

Still 3 year waiting list at our club for moorings, good pick up in new membership applications over last couple of years especially 2017.
Think that clubs have to offer what todays new entrants and old hands demand...... or........continue to decline.

Easy secure access to boat preferably with power and water and very importantly a really good family social scene both ashore and afloat.

Suspect that some of the comments in this thread give a very good indication as to why some clubs are on the skids.

 

[[70521]]

It certainly requires a different mindset to a sailor; for soul-less and near skill-less convenience to be one's mantra is rather sad, and I don't imagine a person truly into sailing would be satisfied with a rib or other speedboat.

I think it is more about this

 

[Seajet]

Rather more like this I suspect, ' anyone can open a throttle '

 

[Seven Spades]

Where do you get this left wing mumbo jumbo? Baby Boomers are no more responsible for inflation inthe 70's (I was a child) than you are responsible for Brexit. Most of the problems we have today were caused by Tony Blairs demographic change and profligate spending. The failure to control the population growth of this country together with the very low rates of inflation and the huge increase in SDLT and university fees has had a huge impact on the housing market. Without house price inflation people have to actually pay off the debt insted of it being eroded by inflation. Gordon Brown almost single-handedly killed the occupational pension when he started taxing pensions, and that was before the lack luster stock market performance.

We have had a series of simply terrible chancellors since the days of Howe and Lawson. They were the last two chancellors who understood how to tax neutrally and fairly.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Re: Nope !

Still 3 year waiting list at our club for moorings, good pick up in new membership applications over last couple of years especially 2017.
Think that clubs have to offer what todays new entrants and old hands demand...... or........continue to decline.

Easy secure access to boat preferably with power and water and very importantly a really good family social scene both ashore and afloat.

Suspect that some of the comments in this thread give a very good indication as to why some clubs are on the skids.

Humm well when I lived locally to the Rochester C C for many years and indeed had a near neighbour a senior member of the club, might say that it was regarded as a Local Businessman's Boat Club where the social and accompanied cruises were a great attraction for some who qualified for membership.
Yes indeed I would endorse the claim that as a Boat club it has had successfully manouvered itself into a premier boat club in the Kent area. As a club it has its Club House plus moorings most easily accessible sittuation ,well done

 

[dgadee]

Where do you get this left wing mumbo jumbo? Baby Boomers are no more responsible for inflation inthe 70's (I was a child) than you are responsible for Brexit. Most of the problems we have today were caused by Tony Blairs demographic change and profligate spending. The failure to control the population growth of this country together with the very low rates of inflation and the huge increase in SDLT and university fees has had a huge impact on the housing market. Without house price inflation people have to actually pay off the debt insted of it being eroded by inflation. Gordon Brown almost single-handedly killed the occupational pension when he started taxing pensions, and that was before the lack luster stock market performance.

We have had a series of simply terrible chancellors since the days of Howe and Lawson. They were the last two chancellors who understood how to tax neutrally and fairly.

Right wing mumbo jumbo, I suspect.

 

[oldgit]

Re: Nope !

Yes indeed I would endorse the claim that as a Boat club it has had successfully manouvered itself into a premier boat club in the Kent area. As a club it has its Club House plus moorings most easily accessible sittuation ,well done

Suspect that a wry smile would be raised at the term "businessmans club" by the vast majority of both members and committee.Many of whom are engaged in the much derided "education and caring" professions.
Do believe we have a couple of self employed folks on the committee the rest are employed or retired.

It is noticable that many RCC members have passed their enjoyment of boating to their children who have subsequently become active club members and keep boats on our moorings.
Not usual for crews to comprise of grandads,sons and daughters plus grandkids and various hangers on taking part in club cruises.

 

[Seajet]

Re: Nope !

Same happens at our club, at least three generations sailing together.

While any club will have cliques, nowadays they seem a lot more moderated ( a term I despair of here ) and are more regarded as simple friendships.

If you ever wanted to have a good boat at relatively low cost and get a little friendly guidance and / or help, now is the time; if I've learned anything in life, it's that nothing stays the same, so grab the opportunity with both hands.

 

[Flynnbarr]

Re: Nope !

Suspect that a wry smile would be raised at the term "businessmans club" by the vast majority of both members and committee.Many of whom are engaged in the much derided "education and caring" professions.
Do believe we have a couple of self employed folks on the committee the rest are employed or retired.

It is noticable that many RCC members have passed their enjoyment of boating to their children who have subsequently become active club members and keep boats on our moorings.
Not usual for crews to comprise of grandads,sons and daughters plus grandkids and various hangers on taking part in club cruises.[/QUOTE

I suspect the key to your success are the very cheap moorings.
Good on you all and nowt wrong with that etc but what would an equivalent mooring with cheap fuel on site,drying out grid ? etc cost compared to what RCC charges?

 

[Seajet]

Re: Nope !

At our club members can dry out for the square root of zero £ and go and get fuel from the place 1/4 mile away, if that's too much like hard work then nip into the local marinas for a short stay - 2 hours - or an overnighter.

During winter ashore there are loads of electric and water points.

 

[Poignard]

Re: Nope !

Apparently golf clubs and bridge clubs are also having difficulty attracting young members. So my wife, who indulges in these strange practices, informs me.

 

[oldgit]

Re: Nope !

I suspect the key to your success are the very cheap moorings.
Good on you all and nowt wrong with that etc but what would an equivalent mooring with cheap fuel on site,drying out grid ? etc cost compared to what RCC charges?

we have a fair proportion of club members who moor away, some well away, ie have moorings on the upper Thames,some who moor on the upper Medway above the lock are also loyal members of clubs up there. Several moor in boatyards and clubs close to us ( Cuxton/Elmhaven/ Port Medway and SYC ) a few are in the local posh marinas.
A very popular boatyard,The Pelican opposite charges prices very similar to ours but we have many of them as club members, some say too many. The gits do have a crane
With around 20 social events and over a dozen cruises organised both for old hands or folks wishing to expand their horizons ,the club officials work hard to offer enjoyable boating.

 

[Capt Popeye]

Re: Nope !

we have a fair proportion of club members who moor away, some well away, ie have moorings on the upper Thames,some who moor on the upper Medway above the lock are also loyal members of clubs up there. Several moor in boatyards and clubs close to us ( Cuxton/Elmhaven/ Port Medway and SYC ) a few are in the local posh marinas.
A very popular boatyard,The Pelican opposite charges prices very similar to ours but we have many of them as club members, some say too many. The gits do have a crane
With around 20 social events and over a dozen cruises organised both for old hands or folks wishing to expand their horizons ,the club officials work hard to offer enjoyable boating.

Humm well my how the Club has changed over the years, in my day during the 1960s it was mainly local Council and Business managers / owners what with the various rituals on and off the water plus the Harbour Authority beating bounds or something.
Re the Pelican Boatyard across the river and the Temple Boatyard I recall next to it, they were mainly House Boats and scrap yards all drying out berths on the Medway Mud.
My times have changed, best of luck to the RCC in accomplishing the changes and keeping afloat

 

[SimonFa]

Re: Nope !

Apparently golf clubs and bridge clubs are also having difficulty attracting young members. So my wife, who indulges in these strange practices, informs me.

As a golfer and bridge player I can confirm her observation. When I played cricket in the 80s and 90s we had the same problem.

 

[BarryH]

Re: Nope !

I was offered my mooring ata reasonable price so I purchased it. I do get emails from the harbour authority informing me that there are moorings available, which, I understand, has not been the norm in the past. I have no idea why the decline in demand, probably the disposable income people have has gone down.

 

[capnsensible]

Re: Nope !

Everyone's gone to the sun.

 

[RupertW]

Re: Nope !

Everyone's gone to the sun.

Yup, young sailors just upgrade the boats they charter and reduce the number of people they crowd onto a charter boat as they age. There is no natural point when they would decide to abandon the sun for a far smaller older boat in a picturesque local harbour with limited sailing backwards and forwards from base.

 

[[70521]]

Re: Nope !

ALL clubs and societies are suffering lack of new members, society has change. We just need to work in the environment that we have. If you enjoy sailing great the water will be less crowded and perhaps marina's might drop their prices (for when I get too old to have the boat on a swing mooring).

 

[oldgit]

Re: Nope !

Medway Mud.
My times have changed, best of luck to the RCC in accomplishing the changes and keeping afloat

Still copious amounts of mud round here.

and change will happen,despite the guerilla war activities of some of our more "mature" members to prevent progress into the 20th century.
Getting in credit card facilities nearly provoked a riot
Sometimes just a case of sitting on the river bank and waiting, according to an old Chinese proverb.

Suspect that some clubs will not adapt until it is to late.

 

[Seajet]

Re: Nope !

Clubs which don't adapt will either become very exclusive or vanish !

I've been frankly amazed by the way our club and others in Chichester Harbour have adapted, we now have many more ' fun on the water ' activities ( with sailing boats, we haven't prostituted down to ribs ) and social events - there were always social gatherings among cruisers, now the dinghy lot are very active and go and bother other clubs regularly.

There was a low dip a few years ago with very good, expensive dinghies and the odd cruiser left to rot - partly due to budgets, mainly I think down to illness or people popping off and the relatives left clueless as to what to do - but the switched on clubs seem to have a handle on this now, following the RYA guidelines we don't end up as a storage place for old boats, one way or another they go, best case being to charities working with people who otherwise woulnd't get the chance to sail; a forum member here gave his cruiser to such a project.