Yacht Club Membership Fees

Resolution said:
Younger members are noticeable by their near complete absence.!
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Thats cos they are still on the train home at 6.30 and probably would like something to eat, help put the kids to bed before venturing out and because the AGM is usually on a weeknight, its off to work for them at the crack of dawn.
The Ancien Régime will have been watching day time TV, quietly planning to resist any changes , arriving at least an hour before the meeting starts in order to form a defensive circle with their mates at the back of the clubhouse. :)
 
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Do all these wrinklies everyone is talking about put their names on the duty rosta and shovel mud from the slipway?

Maybe they are the only ones who have the time...
 
oldgit said:
Thats cos they are still on the train home at 6.30 and probably would like something to eat, help put the kids to bed before venturing out and because the AGM is usually on a weeknight, its off to work for them at the crack of dawn.
The Ancien Régime will have been watching day time TV, quietly planning to resist any changes , arriving at least an hour before the meeting starts in order to form a defensive circle with their mates at the back of the clubhouse. :)
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First bit definitely true, unfortunately, and why yacht club membership is often cast aside when children take natural priority (plus work responsibilities and ,for some ,school fees.)
I take issue with the Ancient Regime bit. In my current experience, we are more concerned with pushing forward changes to keep the club popular in today's changing world. And we arrive early in order to get a couple of drinks in before the boring bits of the formalities.:)
Peter
 
Doesn't really matter what time you kick off or how many free drinks you serve if it's on a midweek night and half the membership live over a hundred miles away.
 
prv said:
At 6:30 on a weeknight I’d very likely still be at work.
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If you see such meetings as largely a waste of time, or otherwise choose not to attend, fine; but arguing that you simply can't make it is weak. If it was important to you, surely you could arrange to leave work early once a year (the key is in the first word: "Annual General Meeting"), especially as the dates are scheduled months in advance.
 
Laysula said:
Doesn't really matter what time you kick off or how many free drinks you serve if it's on a midweek night and half the membership live over a hundred miles away.
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Spot on. Some clubs are based upon members who live within walking distance (ideal for staggering home after beers), but many clubs nowadays the sailing members have to travel to get there (and don’t drink and drive).
So a week night excludes a large part of the membership - and free alcholohic drinks just irritates the drivers.

A weekend AGM is generally more inclusive (though clearly with many on shifts no day is perfect for all).
 
dunedin said:
Spot on. Some clubs are based upon members who live within walking distance (ideal for staggering home after beers), but many clubs nowadays the sailing members have to travel to get there (and don’t drink and drive).
So a week night excludes a large part of the membership - and free alcholohic drinks just irritates the drivers.

A weekend AGM is generally more inclusive (though clearly with many on shifts no day is perfect for all).
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A weekend AGM is possibly a waste of valuable sailing time.
 
dunedin said:
Spot on. Some clubs are based upon members who live within walking distance (ideal for staggering home after beers), but many clubs nowadays the sailing members have to travel to get there (and don’t drink and drive).
So a week night excludes a large part of the membership - and free alcholohic drinks just irritates the drivers.

A weekend AGM is generally more inclusive (though clearly with many on shifts no day is perfect for all).
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Depends on where the club is located and how dispersed the members are. My main club is a city centre club, reasonably close to where many members work.
And at weekends the more active members scatter off to do their sailing racing/ cruising etc.

I think the problem is that AGM agendas tend to be pretty dull, interesting only to corporate nerds like myself.:cool:
 
Walther said:
If you see such meetings as largely a waste of time, or otherwise choose not to attend, fine; but arguing that you simply can't make it is weak. If it was important to you, surely you could arrange to leave work early once a year (the key is in the first word: "Annual General Meeting"), especially as the dates are scheduled months in advance.
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Yes, of course, employers are generally very willing to release people for half a day for the Yacht Club AGM, and/or it's such a good use of limited annual leave. Do get real.
 
lw395 said:
A weekend AGM is possibly a waste of valuable sailing time.
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True, but a weekend AGM in winter has to be the best option no ?

Or maybe have the AGM scheduled on every weekend throughout January and February dependent on weather. It actually goes ahead on a Sunday with 2 days notice once there is a reliable forecast that will stop almost everyone from sailing :encouragement:
 
If the members can't agree on the date, timing or whether or not free drinks are included at the AGM.....how are you ever going to get a decision on for example selling off part of your club's land, building some houses and constructing a new clubhouse for around £2m?!
 
AGM attendance or lack of.

Something else to consider is the grim determination to prevent any change from the olde guard vs mantra of newbies, We are more interested in actual boating than AGMs and “If you wait by the river long enough.......
 
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Re: AGM attendance or lack of.

Little Grebe said:
Or alternatively hiking the cost of one of the club's facilities to service the loans for a new clubhouse :rolleyes:
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Yes.....lets sort out the free drinks and date of the meeting first...Filibuster that issue for a while...!

oldgit said:
Something else to consider is the grim determination to prevent any change from the olde guard vs mantra of newbies, We are more interested in actual boating than AGMs and “If you wait by the river long enough.......
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Change is good, I like it!

20 years ago I'd have struggled to join the YC I'm a member of and thankfully it has changed. The problem I see now is that many yacht club's income is largely financed by moorings and the associated bits - winter storage, lifting, scrubbing, yacht cradle, tender and outboard storage etc. That's where the real meat of the income is and unfortunately it's a shrinking pool of people.

Answers I can see are - don't take your existing members for granted, be fair with fees and charges, diversify into other water based sports on the same premises and encourage grass roots participation.

And recognising racing isn't the only thing you can do with a boat.....
 
Re: AGM attendance or lack of.

xyachtdave said:
The problem I see now is that many yacht club's income is largely financed by moorings and the associated bits - winter storage, lifting, scrubbing, yacht cradle, tender and outboard storage etc. That's where the real meat of the income is and unfortunately it's a shrinking pool of people.
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Marina-type costs are the real meat of many a club's expenses, too. So if/when demand decreases, a club should perhaps consider other alternatives.
 
Re: AGM attendance or lack of.

I poodled along to my club's AGM. I am not much of an AGM person. The item which gave rise to some agitation concerned an agenda item that the subs would not be increased. Some people thought there ought to be an inflation increase but because this was not on the agenda that had been circulated a majority thought that it should not be passed, on the basis that members who were not present would not have been expecting it. It all seemed very reasonable.
 
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