Is there an advantage to belonging to a local yacht club before going off cruising?

[Gheinz]

I am a member of a local yacht club but don't currently own a boat. My intention is to buy an off shore boat somewhere in the world and begin cruising (after refitting, training etc)! I do not plan to ever bring that boat back to Canada. I'm wondering if there is a benefit to having an affiliation with a club when you are out cruising the Caribbean, Central America, South Pacific, New Zealand etc. The boat will most likely be a cat, self sufficient of course, and won't be looking at marinas very frequently (like most cruisers). Just wondering if there are circumstances I have not considered that may make it beneficial to be a member of a yacht club.

[ozsailer]

Gday Gheinz,
we had been a member of a local yacht club for close to 20 years and in reality when we cruised it was of no real benefit to us. The only time a yacht club membership may have been of benefit was when we were in Hong Kong and went to visit the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. Our club was not affilliated with them but another club near to where we live was. Only difference we had to fill out a day membership form.


Greg H
Oz

[Tomodore]

Our YC membership has been handy sailing from Seattle to Mexico but once out of the US it is not as handy. We are members of a blue collar YC and dues are low so we are happy to keep in.

[barnakiel]

If it is a sailing club then yes. If it is a social club then the benefits are of a different kind.


b.

[Jim Cate]

In our 34 years of cruising outside of the USA we've never been asked about club membership when interacting with local clubs as we traveled. The simply make you a welcome guest as an international yottie.

Oops... there WAS one occasion: for some reason we wanted to go into a "Royal" club in Auckland and were denied entry. They did ask if we were members of a small group of other "Royal" clubs (not a chance!) and the implication was that had we been so, we would have been admitted. But a garden variety membership would not have helped.

Snobby clubs with very high membership fees may all have such rules... I dunno, but then I have little interest in entering them.

Jim

[Bycrick]

Pacific coast of US. Leaving in 1999. Membership in a Bay Area club was valuable in San Diego. Got a slip at Southwestern YC that I wouldn’t have without the membership. Next was Acapulco YC, who didn’t seem to care. Then Balboa YC, the only club left in Panama. No reciprocal privileges. A small YC in Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador. Mostly a social club, so no services. Guayaquil YC wouldn’t let me in. Visited friends who weren’t YC members at the YC Callao in Lima. The people were great, but didn’t care if you were a YC member,

On balance, once i left San Diego, being a YC member wasn’t worth much.

[Fore and Aft]

I dunno Jim, I have had a few drinks at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht club and by the time they called last drinks it was pretty "Interesting"
Cheers

[psk125]

May depend upon which club you belong to. NYYC is not the same as the Brooklyn Yacht Club, even if they share the same city. St. Francis YC membership might be more useful than belonging to the Golden Gate YC, even though one is just down the street from the other. It may also depend upon the type of sailing you do. Long-distance cruisers might benefit from belonging to the Cruising Club of America more than any single US-based yacht club. Racers may find Storm Trisail Club membership useful. Despite having a small club (fewer than 300 members), other clubs in places like Nantucket, Nova Scotia, Ireland, and Scotland seem to enjoy exchanging burgees with our sailors when we pull in to their harbors. Perhaps it is more of an icebreaker on a social level than anything else. What is that worth? Could be priceless.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Fore and Aft

I dunno Jim, I have had a few drinks at the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht club and by the time they called last drinks it was pretty "Interesting"
Cheers

Well, to be honest, I don't even know where Port Nicholson is, but should we be hove up there, I'll give that club a go... if they let Seppos in at all!

Anecdote about local YCs:

Our first landfall ever in Oz was Gladstone, where we arrived in early November 1992. We knew some local yotties from a meeting in Tahiti a year or two earlier, and they kindly escorted us to the local Port Curtis YC for a celebratory drink. There sure were a lot of oddly dressed and very drunken folks whoopin' it up there... we were aware that Aussies were, uhh, different, but this was pretty extreme, and were were a bit bemused.

Little did we know that it was Melbourne Cup day... but they sure were friendly to a couple of grotty Yanks!

Jim

[boatpoker]

A yacht club membership in the Great Lakes is worthwhile as it gets you free or heavily discounted slips at any other YC in the lakes, US or Canadian.

Once out of the Great Lakes ..... nada from here to Antigua.

[redhead]

Absolutely NOT on topic, but am reminded of Groucho Marx's famous:

" I would never join a club that would have me as a member ".

[Stewie12]

We used to be members of the local yacht club and eventually went cruising to the Caribbean. When we flew back at Christmas we thought that the other members, who were always discussing cruising, would be delighted to see us. Nope. They said that we had made them realise that, because of their commitments they would never be able to go cruising. We had burst their bubble for them.

[Scaramanga F25]

On Lake Ontario and the St Laurence River, Yacht Clubs do have reciprocal privileges.

[jmschmidt]

All sanctions yacht clubs worldwide are listed in a book about the size of the New York telephone book back in the day. If a member of a club listed in the book (the info may be online today) you should be welcome as a guest. The availability of guest moorage or slips vary with the club. My club and the ones in my area, will usually give you up to two two weeks for a fee.

Once in Manila we went to the Manila Yacht Club. The guys at the desk took out the big book and went line by line until the located my club's listing. Then it was welcome aboard have a drink.

[Gmcgyvr]

Short answer - no

Sailed from Vancouver to Mexico.
No need for club membership anywhere. Save your $300 per year!

UOTE=Gheinz;3262250]I am a member of a local yacht club but don't currently own a boat. My intention is to buy an off shore boat somewhere in the world and begin cruising (after refitting, training etc)! I do not plan to ever bring that boat back to Canada. I'm wondering if there is a benefit to having an affiliation with a club when you are out cruising the Caribbean, Central America, South Pacific, New Zealand etc. The boat will most likely be a cat, self sufficient of course, and won't be looking at marinas very frequently (like most cruisers). Just wondering if there are circumstances I have not considered that may make it beneficial to be a member of a yacht club.[/QUOTE]