Do Yacht Clubs Allow Transients ?

[unbusted67]

What is the standard policy on transients and yacht clubs? Do you need an invitation to stay at one for the night?

[Ex-Calif]

Depends on the club. Most all will have a website and email address. You can ask them.

It's always better to arrange in advance anyway so they know you are coming. My new club only has a couple of empty slips so a reservation is essential.

[sded]

If you belong to a reciprocal yacht club (or often just one outside the area), you can usually call and make reservations or sometimes just show up. If you don't belong to another yacht club, usually they can't accommodate you because they are not public facilities.

[osirissail]

It is all over the map on letting in transients, probably controlled more by how financially strapped they are. But most will allow transients if you have "some" kind of yacht club affiliation anywhere.
- - I successfully used the "Royal Marsh Harbor Yacht Club" for many years to gain access to many yacht clubs along the US east coast. They actually have facilities in Marsh Harbor, Bahamas, but operate primarily as an internet based yacht club. There website is: Royal Marsh Harbour Yacht Club, Membership
There entry fee and yearly dues are miniscule compared to other yacht clubs. If you have no affiliation anywhere and would like to try getting access to other clubs as a transient then this is a very good deal.

[denverd0n]

To summarize, the short answer to your question is, there is no "standard policy".

[Roy M]

There is a sense of community among many boaters that hospitality should be shared. So most yacht clubs make their facilities available to folks who extend the same generosity and priviliges to other clubs. Then, there are folks who use this generosity with no intention of reciprocity by using "paper" clubs to secure free services. It tends to spoil things for folks from smaller clubs who really appreciate the ability to travel widely and sample the hospitality of other clubs. But then, we can't try to enforce good manners and honesty upon folks who really don't care that they might receive something for nothing.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

What is the standard policy on transients and yacht clubs? Do you need an invitation to stay at one for the night?

Look here, Scum-Bag: NO is the answer.

My club told Joshua Slocomb he was not welcome. This is fact and mentioned in his book!

Slocomb said that the club wanted a letter from an American yacht club, and Slocum didn't belong to any as he was previously a commercial captain.

There was also a to-do at our club because one member said Sir Frances Chitchester shouldn't be allowed temporary facilities because he was carrying 2 miniature bails of wool on his boats round the world record representative of the previous wool trade between Australia and England (and its rabble states Scotland and the other one). Thus, the member said, his cruise was one of trade not an amateur cruise.

So now you know its not just a tie about your neck and clean undies to get into our club!


Mark

[btrayfors]

Wow....such is life Down Under, I guess.

My yacht club, Capital Yacht Club in Washington, DC, welcomes transients. We try to make dock space available for any size boat -- up to and including 250 footers -- and also accommodate those who prefer to anchor in the Washington Channel, just off our docks. For a small fee, those anchored transients are welcome to use our Club facilities including dingy dock, club house, bar (half-price drinks), laundry facilities, showers, library, etc.

Our website is Capital Yacht Club

The Club is located within walking distance of shops, restaurants, the Metro, the Smithsonian museums, and many other attractions.

Bill

[rwidman]

Originally Posted by btrayfors

Wow....such is life Down Under, I guess.

My yacht club, Capital Yacht Club in Washington, DC, welcomes transients. We try to make dock space available for any size boat -- up to and including 250 footers -- and also accommodate those who prefer to anchor in the Washington Channel, just off our docks. For a small fee, those anchored transients are welcome to use our Club facilities including dingy dock, club house, bar (half-price drinks), laundry facilities, showers, library, etc.

Our website is Capital Yacht Club

The Club is located within walking distance of shops, restaurants, the Metro, the Smithsonian museums, and many other attractions.

Bill

Pretty impressive.

[svHyLyte]

In Florida, yacht clubs rarely, if ever, permit visits by people that are not members of a club with pre-arranged reciprocity or one that is a member of the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs. There are several reasons for this including, but not limited to, the fact that Florida has a large number of transients, some of whom leave something to be desired in the social graces department and by their intemperate behaviors impose on or offend members who have paid substantial sums for their memberships; the fact that many clubs are not well equipped to deal with cash or credit-card transactions and end up getting “stiffed” when an unaffiliated visitor makes an unannounced departure without settling their charges (through the Florida Council there is an arrangement whereby a visitor’s club pays the visited club for the visitor’s charges and his own club then collects from the member); and, the fact that clubs are non-profit organizations with strict legal limits on their ability to sell alcoholic beverages and by accepting the general public can be construed to be engaging in commercial business transactions to the detriment of nearby commercial enterprises that pay sizable fees for liquor and business licenses, thereby hazarding the club’s non-profit status and restricted liquor license. There are “work arounds” for the foregoing including accepting letters of introduction from the secretaries of a visitor’s non-reciprocal yacht club; or, charging a “temporary” membership fee that permits one to use club facilities; or, visiting as a guest of a sponsoring member (who becomes liable for the visitor’s charges) as well as other arrangements, but they can be cumbersome and could impose somewhat of a hardship on a club’s management if the traffic were heavy such as might be the case in places like Ft. Lauderdale (Lauderdale Yacht Club is notoriously inhospitable to non-club affiliated transients).

The foregoing not withstanding, during this period of economic difficulty, many clubs are struggling with the fact that memberships (and dues payments) are off and member food and beverage spending is down, making it difficult for clubs—particularly those in less metropolitan areas—to cover their overhead and accepting visitors is one way to help cover this slow-down. Given that, being a member of even a “vapor” yacht club can give a club a rationale for accepting unaffiliated visitors, particularly if they make arrangements in advance.

FWIW…

[dskira]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

In Florida, yacht clubs rarely, if ever, permit visits by people that are not members of a club with pre-arranged reciprocity or one that is a member of the Florida Council of Yacht Clubs. There are several reasons for this including, but not limited to, the fact that Florida has a large number of transients, some of whom leave something to be desired in the social graces department and by their intemperate behaviors impose on or offend members who have paid substantial sums for their memberships; the fact that many clubs are not well equipped to deal with cash or credit-card transactions and end up getting “stiffed” when an unaffiliated visitor makes an unannounced departure without settling their charges (through the Florida Council there is an arrangement whereby a visitor’s club pays the visited club for the visitor’s charges and his own club then collects from the member); and, the fact that clubs are non-profit organizations with strict legal limits on their ability to sell alcoholic beverages and by accepting the general public can be construed to be engaging in commercial business transactions to the detriment of nearby commercial enterprises that pay sizable fees for liquor and business licenses, thereby hazarding the club’s non-profit status and restricted liquor license. There are “work arounds” for the foregoing including accepting letters of introduction from the secretaries of a visitor’s non-reciprocal yacht club; or, charging a “temporary” membership fee that permits one to use club facilities; or, visiting as a guest of a sponsoring member (who becomes liable for the visitor’s charges) as well as other arrangements, but they can be cumbersome and could impose somewhat of a hardship on a club’s management if the traffic were heavy such as might be the case in places like Ft. Lauderdale (Lauderdale Yacht Club is notoriously inhospitable to non-club affiliated transients).

The foregoing not withstanding, during this period of economic difficulty, many clubs are struggling with the fact that memberships (and dues payments) are off and member food and beverage spending is down, making it difficult for clubs—particularly those in less metropolitan areas—to cover their overhead and accepting visitors is one way to help cover this slow-down. Given that, being a member of even a “vapor” yacht club can give a club a rationale for accepting unaffiliated visitors, particularly if they make arrangements in advance.

FWIW…

It is a good post. I had the sdame question and you answered very well.
Thank you
Daniel

[speciald@ocens.]

Our club publishes a reciprocity list. It includes yacht clubs and other types of clubs including country clubs and dinner clubs. At the listed clubs, we can have ful use of facilities - dinner, bar service, dockage, etc. In addition most clubs will give reciprocity particulary if you carry a letter of introduction from your club manager. We were given access to the Royal New Zealand Yacht Club during the America's Cup a few years back and traded club burgies with them.

[cchesley]

Yacht clubs are private organizations. I'm not a member of one. I ignore them when cruising even though once in a while it might be nice to use the reciprocity privileges on occasion.

Mega motor yachts are nice to visit aboard too. But I don't even try. I just consider them and yacht clubs the same way. Look. Say how nice (or not) they look. Find someplace else. So far, I've survived.

Now, if someone wants to transfer their membership to me, well, I could be tempted.....

[osirissail]

Personally, I think of Yacht Clubs as "exclusionary" organizations. They exist to exclude the "rif-raft" which probably includes a lot of us on the forum and even me. Even the better clubs where I have known several of the members as personal friends tell me they feel the same way about the "voting majority" of the members. In reality Yacht Clubs are private organizations formed by the members with the right to choose who they can "let in" (with a few legal restrictions against certain types of discrimination). Generally they accomplish their "exclusionary" goals by setting a high cost of joining.
- - On the other side of the coin there are Yacht Clubs which were formed more as "co-ops" where the members are looking to get a good deal on dockage. Some clubs are restricted in who can let use their facilities by their "charter/lease" from whatever organization actually owns the land/water rights that they use in some ports. This is to prevent the Yacht Club from competing with commercial marinas.
- - Normally in "lean" years membership fees start to drop or are partially waived for new members and anybody with "money" is most welcome to join. I believe most Yacht Clubs, especially in government made ports, have "rent" they must pay to maintain their lease so they tend to be more lenient or more welcoming to anybody visiting for a short time and helping them pay for their facilities.
- - It is all very variable but having a real Yacht Club affiliation or even a semi-virtual yacht club affiliation provides the reason to let you use the facilities and help pay for their costs. They might exist but I do not know of any real yacht clubs that let transients from other yacht clubs stay for free. Their members have to pay for using the docks so any transients also pay.

[hellosailor]

USSA at least used to publish a list of member clubs, and the member clubs (which in turn provide local racing organization/support) most or all honored some reciprocity. Might be worth asking them for the current situation, at least that's one large resource.