Be advised this is a rant
I was 50/50 on a
boat. Became an associate
member of the YC it was moored at when I bought in so I was authorized to have a key to the docks. Cost me near $2,000, $1,500 of it a non refundable initiation fee. No voting rights, no moorage rights. Only thing my two grand bought me was access to a key.
I made a post about this next segment before, but to recap. They changed the
dock keys and when I went to pick up the new key they refused to give it to me - because my partner hadn't paid his part of the moorage. It was a bit infuriating because I wasn't even allowed a slip and my dues were paid in full. They said until he pays his part of the moorage, no key for me. Making matters even more complicated he was out of the country for 8 months a year in
Mexico. Eventually we got it figured out after much adoo. You'd think if I wasn't entitled to a slip then they couldn't restrict my
membership based on someone else's slip.
I advised the YC that if the moorage was ever late on the slip to inform me so I could sort it out before it became a problem because the partner was in
Mexico 8 months a year. They didn't. They would mail the invoice to his house, his wife would save his mail, and nobody knew the better until his wife was getting angry
phone calls from the (volunteer) treasurer about late moorage. Typically this would happen the week before
Christmas. We'd always get it sorted out by mid January. Normally I'd drop a check at the YC and cover everything and sort it out with my partner later.
Then the YC changed their policy. New policy was
only the holder of the slip could pay for the moorage and
only the member could pay for their membership dues meaning now we had to submit two checks. Why they cared where the
money came from I'll never completely understand.
Money is money, like who cares. This made matters even more complicated in going between Mexico and two cities in
Canada getting all the money in different places so the "correct" checks were making the "correct" payments.
We made it
work as frustrating as it was for everyone involved.
Then my partner had open heart surgery and during surgery died of a stroke. It was totally unexpected as he as strong as an ox. I was left trying to figure out where his wife wanted to go with our co-ownership arrangement but I gave her space and time to sort out his affairs and figure out what she wanted to do.
The
motor on the
boat is pooched so it wasnt going anywhere. The YC made me get an additional $2MM third party liability when I became an associate member which I got but after the
motor died I let it lapse. My partner had $2MM liability on the boat and the only damage a moored boat could cause is if it sunk and took the
dock finger down with it. I wasnt about to have $4MM in third party liability on a stationary moored boat. You could buy 100 of those dock fingers for that kind of money they arent anything fancy and the boat is solid.
Then of course the same old garbage comes up with the moorage. My now deceased partners wife was loathe to look at his mail for obvious reasons and she started getting angry calls again from the (volunteer) treasurer. I gave her the moorage money and she paid it by check (because they wouldn't let me do it). Exasperated and frustrated with this boat she just forfeited her YC membership and told them she wants nothing more to do with it which is understandable given the circumstances.
One of the requirements for moorage at this YC is that you need to live in that city to have a slip. I rented a place there in October as it's only an hour from where I
work in anticipation that something would end up coming up over all of this. I had paid my membership dues by check with my new address on the check months prior to all of this.
Then I get an
email saying I need to show proof of
insurance within 24 hours or they will impound the boat because now that my partners' wife rescinded her membership the boat is uninsured. This is within 48 hours of her rescinding her membership.
They are also suggesting that I do not qualify for moorage because I do not meet the residence requirement. I told them to look at the check and the envelope, and I end up getting grilled about the postmark on the check because it was mailed from somewhere else. What is this gumshoe private eye? I mailed it from a postbox near my work. The return address and the address on the check are within the residency requirements. Who cares what postbox I put the check into.
On top of all of this, it's January 10th, minus 10 degrees C outside and stormy. I mean come on. I just found out that I'm the proud sole owner of the boat, that I need to buy
insurance. Threatening to impound the boat and forcing me to move it and I have 24 hours? Gumshoeing on my residency requirements? I mean come on have some clemency. It's not like there are people clamoring to get on the
water in the dead of
winter here, the YC has empty slips and everything is covered in snow. Give a brother some time. Like maybe until the end of the week?
Adding insult to injury there was an extreme windstorm and on facebook I asked a
liveaboard to check on my dingy that was on the bow to see if it blew off. Apparently it was blown off just before
Christmas and someone put it on the dock near the
dinghy dock, not that I would have known. And the YC was giving me grief about that and how I neglected to deal with it. It's been snowing for three weeks in sub zero
weather. What, I'm going to go for a casual stroll along the docks during the holidays in blizzard conditions with 40kt winds? Of course I am not lounging on the docks. Ugh.
Now they want my rental agreement, insurance practically my first born child. And all of this because one of their long term members (20 years)
DIED. It's unbelievable. There is no money owed just an insurance matter to clear up and a
dinghy to pick up and put away. I even put in my 8 volunteer hours pressure
washing the docks in the torrential rain 2 months ago.
There's a sidebar story. I mentioned my problem getting my dock key when they changed the locks. Another fella had a similar problem. His house had burned down and he and his
family were living in a
hotel. He came to get his key and they refused to get him his key because he couldn't show proof of insurance. Never mind that his house had burned down, no POI no key. Guess what happened later that day? He came and looked from the wharf to check on his boat, but couldn't access the docks. Later that day his boat SUNK. Something about a scupper got stuck and it rolled over, destroying $25,000 worth of new
navionics he had installed. If they had just had some clemency and let him have a key because his house and burned down, he would have noticed it was taking on
water and fixed the scupper.
It seems at this YC the crazy comes out after the holidays. Like these ladies volunteering have nothing better to do than to make everyone's lives miserable. My late moorage is the least of their problems. An
email went out and
64 people were late in paying their moorage. Mine was already paid. Honestly they should know better seeing as its a god awful time to send out bills December 1st just before Christmas. And the e-mails are awful. The final sentence was "If anyone wants to terminate their membership then send notice to the Commodore". What a way to treat your members.
Sorry about the rant but I had to just get it off my chest, and it's not really safe to go around my YC ranting, lord knows that would only cause more problems.
END RANT
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