Yacht clubs - Solent area

[Ripster]

I am looking for a Local Yacht club in the Solent area (pref Portmouth/Gosport) that I can join to get involved with some racing - 30'+ boats. I am specifically looking to join a club/crew for day sailing (initially) and gain more experience in sailing techniques/strategies/methods etc.

Any suggestions please?

 

[lw395]

I am looking for a Local Yacht club in the Solent area (pref Portmouth/Gosport) that I can join to get involved with some racing - 30'+ boats. I am specifically looking to join a club/crew for day sailing (initially) and gain more experience in sailing techniques/strategies/methods etc.

Any suggestions please?

Portsmouth SC have an autumn and a spring 'Parhelion' (don't ask) series, I think there are often opportunities for crews. The autumn series has just finished. It would not be necessary to join the club as the series are open, alas the autumn series has just finished.
Hardway SC does some cruiser racing.
ECA does some cruiser racing. Notably Weds eve in summer.
Then there is Hornet.
Not sure if the RAYC do much these days?
There is more serious action from the Hamble.
Also try the Chichester clubs.
For smaller boats try the Victory Class.
For longer races try JOG.
As a crew I would suggest getting involved first with a view to joining later.
A lot of boats are members at one club and race at others.

 

[PhillM]

Just joined Royal Southampton. One of the reasons is the double handed racing series.

Nice club in ocean village and a second on beaulieu.

 

[maxi77]

At the end of the day there is no easy way other than doing the legwork yourself. Clubs vary in all sorts of ways from the way they operate to the sort of people they attract. You are the only one who can make the final judgement. You need to make a list of all the clubs operating in the area you consider acceptable, phone calls or web searches may well weed out those which are wholly unsuitable, but for those left personal visits are the only way of making your choice.

 

[lw395]

At the end of the day there is no easy way other than doing the legwork yourself. Clubs vary in all sorts of ways from the way they operate to the sort of people they attract. You are the only one who can make the final judgement. You need to make a list of all the clubs operating in the area you consider acceptable, phone calls or web searches may well weed out those which are wholly unsuitable, but for those left personal visits are the only way of making your choice.

That's true, but joining a club is almost peripheral to the OP's wish to get some time on racing boats.
To do that, you have to be in the frame when owners are looking to fill their boats.
I'm not sure joining the club is the best way to do that, although the good old noticeboard still works sometimes.
If I wanted to go yacht crewing again, I would not confine myself to one club.
I would get on all the club websites and crew available/wanted forums.
Look at the umbrella organisations like SCRA, JOG, RORC.
I would contact series organisers and ask to be put in touch with owners.
Talk to owners/skippers, where do they look? Do they know of any boats that are sometimes short?
I would also look at noticeboards at all the likely marinas.
Some owners are not very club-focused, being marina based and living miles away.
I think it can be quite hit and miss, so you have to try lots of things until you find something that works for you.

 

[Georgio]

Another vote for Portsmouth Sailing Club who run a fun spring and autum series that I have raced in many times. Hardway Sailing club also does cruiser racing in and aroundthe harbour.

The other alternative is to look for a class of boat that races and get yourself known as available and willing crew, I'll drop you a PM as I may be able to help on that front.

 

[flaming]

That's true, but joining a club is almost peripheral to the OP's wish to get some time on racing boats.
To do that, you have to be in the frame when owners are looking to fill their boats.
I'm not sure joining the club is the best way to do that, although the good old noticeboard still works sometimes.
If I wanted to go yacht crewing again, I would not confine myself to one club.
I would get on all the club websites and crew available/wanted forums.
Look at the umbrella organisations like SCRA, JOG, RORC.
I would contact series organisers and ask to be put in touch with owners.
Talk to owners/skippers, where do they look? Do they know of any boats that are sometimes short?
I would also look at noticeboards at all the likely marinas.
Some owners are not very club-focused, being marina based and living miles away.
I think it can be quite hit and miss, so you have to try lots of things until you find something that works for you.

Agree with this. We're always on the lookout for good committed crew, and although we're in the fortunate position now of having a pretty settled crew and more people wanting to sail with us than we have spaces (most of the time...) it wasn't always this way! It's also very fair to say that the best crew follow the results to a certain extent, and once we started finishing regattas in the top few it started getting easier to find crew.

So positions are pretty easy to find if you know where to look. If I was starting out now I would work out the events I wanted to sail in, and to be brutally honest if you want to race boats bigger than 30' regularly in the Solent it has to be Hamble or Lymington really, then look at the results from recent events and target the boats you want to sail on. Do you want to try and get a spot on a boat that's already doing well, or do you want to try and help a boat that isn't getting great results to improve? Realistically boats who aren't doing so well are more likely to be looking for committed crew, as that's such a big part of putting together a good set of results.

As to how to then target the boats in question - the best bet used to be the event websites. In the past I've found crew from the Cowes week website, the Hamble winter series website, the Warsash spring series website, The Dartmouth Week website, etc, etc. And some still offer this service. Simply put a post up offering your services, or answer one that's looking for crew. We have many crew that either sailed with us for years, or still sail with us, that originally answered an email to sail for 1 event. However some websites (Hamble winter series for example) have stopped offering this and are instead suggesting that everyone uses sailingnetworks. From the point of view of someone actually looking for crew this is utter pants, as it won't narrow the search to people who are actively looking to sail in that event! So instead of a small targeted list to call, you are presented with what looks like half of Southern England. Good for those who are prepared to be proactive in their search, as anything that makes the owner (or designated crew finding person)'s life easier is going to be popular, and as sailing networks is pants, getting in contact with them is going to win you points. Otherwise, the owner's name is normally listed on past results, use google etc and try and find some way of contacting them. Many crew now use Facebook as a handy tool to organise crew, try searching boat names there. Bear in mind that more and more the regular crew are taking the job of crewfinding away from the owner, so facebook is often a really good way of getting rides. There are groups for solent sailors, racing sailors, occasional sailors etc, and fairly frequent "been let down, need 1 body this weekend" messages appear on all these boards.

Then once you've identified some boats to try, BE HONEST! I can't stress this enough, if you big yourself up as some sort of rockstar, then can't back that up with actions on the boat you WILL NOT be invited back. Similarly if you're too modest you won't get given any responsibility, and you may get bored. Then do the basics - turn up when you say you will. If someone doesn't turn up without any notice, they don't get another invite. Be on time (ironic coming from me, but it is important!) and have a can do attitude. Being keen, reliable and personable will get you repeat invites ahead of being an amazing sailor. I'd far rather have someone who turns up every week that I can train up, than some rockstar who I'm never 100% is actually going to show up.

We are currently pretty full for at least the winter series, but if you want to PM me I'm quite happy to pass on details of some boats that might be looking for crew now.

 

[Ripster]

Thanks to everyone for these far better than expected replies and suggestions - brilliant.

Georgio and Flaming - will send PMs - thanks