Yacht Club Rant

[Kettlewell]

Unfortunately, this is typical of the way things go at yacht clubs and many other organizations--look at our Congress!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Unfortunately, this is typical of the way things go at yacht clubs and many other organizations--look at our Congress!

bet no crap like this happens at the gun club!

[Kettlewell]

bet no crap like this happens at the gun club!

You would lose that bet.

[sailorboy1]

link didn't work ,,,,,,,,,,,,,someone shot it maybe, then tried an anchor to it and dropped into a holding tank

[Kettlewell]

Sorry, fixed the link, but apparently it isn't all that safe to hang around yacht clubs either.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

so just crying and whining here!

That the sad thing. Here you can't be banded for crying and whining.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Kettlewell

Sorry, fixed the link, but apparently it isn't all that safe to hang around yacht clubs either.

So if I understand that story it is more likely to get it by a bullet at the yacht club than at a gun club!

[Greatketch33]

This is post that is educational. Many folks have their own thoughts regarding partnerships. Some partnerships work and some do not.

Many business dealings are built on relationships. My first thought upon reading the first posted message in this thread was that this is not an issue of money or rules. It is about power. It it easy to think that a club ( that does things their own way ) quickly took a dislike for an outsider who tells them how much better the club can be. If the club president and OP were best friends, one can see how a solution could be made quickly. Instead, we hear the club using leverage to squeeze on OP. Is the club really hurting for several hundreds bucks? It's possible but not likely.

Another part of this story is communication. Most problems are caused by no communication, or miscommunication. Herein we can see lack of communication between partners, between partners and club owners, not enough communication in rules, etc..

Why does a partner leave, and not communicate status or plan to rectify the situation?

Why does the club not work out agreement with the potential long term customer?

I thank the OP for the post because it brings to the surface the complexities that can surprise one, even with the best planning and intentions.

[TeddyDiver]

So many good reasons to stay out of yacht clubs and sail instead :-)

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by mr-canada

He may be out of country for the winter every year, but hes always around in the summer and puts in a lot of volunteer hours, he enjoys being part of the yacht club. Part of the reason he sold me half his boat was so the boat would get the tlc it deserves when he is away and so he didnt have to sell all of it and lose his spot and seniority.

He leaves his wife for a whole winter alone and struggling by herself with the problems he left behind??
MmmmmWhat a gentleman!

And if this is such a small town why not bring the check instead of mailing it and deliver it hand to hand personaly? Would have save you a lot of trouble

[hellosailor]

"The hesitation with just leaving the club is that $1600 of my money evaporates into thin air."
That's what it is there for: To ensure that either new members have money to burn, or that they will spend $1600 worth of their time considering what they are joining and why they are joining, before they enter the club.
Bottom line is that you are pissed at yourself, not the club, because you bought into two marriages (the club and the boat partner) without finding out who your new spouses would be. Not to be cruel, but that's on you. Next time around I expect your eyes may be more widely open?

If I really liked the club, I would ask the commodore or whoever is running things to sit down with me and discuss the situation, as most yc's are hungry for members and eager to keep the ones who will pay their bills. Assuming that "your music" or something else hasn't put you on the short list.

And if you have anything similar to the US equivalent of a small claims court, where you pay a nominal fee and appear without counsel, it might pay to file an action against your boat partner for his negligence or misfeasance in failing to pay the club fees, resulting in the effective loss of your entire investment as you wre locked out. Of course that would be part of a larger issue of getting out of the partnership, and you've never mentioned whose name(s) the boat is or isn't titled and registered in.

You've got a mess to deal with, but that's why some folks pay lawyers to look over contracts before they make committments, and others do background checks and have pre-nups drawn up. You trusted, you got burned, there's a limited choice of what you can do now. Pick a choice and move on. If you want to stay with the partner and the YC (and if they want you to stay) then you need to get on a business basis with the partner, make sure money is allocated ahead of time and there are penalties for misbehavior that can be enforced. Can't do it? Then get out now.

From the YC's requirement about being a municipal resident, I'd ask about their charter. It is very possible that the "city" chartered them, or gave them access rights, conditional to the club providing a resource for residents. In which case there's nothing you or they can do to change that. Except of course, you can move there.

[mr-canada]

Note, my gripes were that the YC people were not following their own charter/bylaws, not that I wanted to get around them. But I digress because I've stated these things before in the thread multiple times.

I have my keys now; moorage is paid, my partners' wife endured a lot of rudness and stupidness (ie. "I wont give out keys until I know the check has arrived..." "Well the check was mailed a week ago, have you checked if it is there?" "No, I havent checked if it has arrived". "When can you check?" "I dont know I am too busy to check if it has arrived" "But you wont give me the keys until the check arrives, and it should have arrived, can you check?" "No, call me back later") but one way or another I do have keys.

The plot thickens in this inflexibility for another reason. Another boater didnt get his keys and his plight totally illustrates the reason for a little bit of flexibility when dealing with things on the water.

Small town. Man's brand new home has a major fire, a lot of damage. He is living in a hotel with his family. YC wants new fresh copies of insurance (you have to provide it upon becoming a member so it definitely was handed over at one point). Guy can't provide it because his house was mostly consumed in a fire (and you can imagine his life is likely consumed in dealing with the fallout of a major house fire and living out of a hotel). They wont give him his key. Long time member - local resident so not an associate like me - moorage and dues all paid in full. No key, no way.

Well man is trying to sort himself out and goes down to check on his boat but can only do so from the distance of the public docks. Notices his boat is still there floating but cant access the docks so can't see much more than the big picture. Figures all is OK, leaves and goes home.

3 hours later.. His boat sinks. Not just a little, it was entirely filled with water and listed to 90 degrees. Only thing that kept it from going straight to the bottom was a bunch of helpful members tying it up tight to the docks on all sides and trying to lift it up. Apparently a scupper or something malfunctioned in cold weather and she took on a slow but serious leak. If he could have checked on his boat in person, he likely would have noticed that the cabin and engine compartment were filled with water, and that there were four to six inches of water on the deck ( whaler ). Boat is a wreck now, spent a whole day submerged until marine services could use a winch on a tug to hoist it up enough to drain it with a huge sump pump. Had to be towed to a boat launch and fired on a trailer. The whole cabin was literally underwater, VHF, sounder, nav equipment, radar, everything. Talk about a crappy month for that guy.

Should he have provided them with another copy of his proof of insurance? Sure. Should he be withheld his key when everyone at the yacht club knows of his tragic house fire, and prevented from checking on his boat over that? No.

There are times when a little flexibility goes a long way. My situation pales in comparison to his. I was just withheld my key due to someone not paying for their slip because I happen to be a half owner of the boat. I was concerned that I would need to check on the boat as I'm running a heater and dehumidifier on there and if something happened like a slow leak or excess condensation building up in the bilge because the dehumidifier bucket filled that something might catch fire. Hence me ranting about not getting my key, for that reason as well as the principle of it all.

On the water nearly anything can happen. If your car is in impound, its extraordinarily unlikely that it is going to suddenly be buried in a sink-hole. If your boat is floating, there's a million things that can can happen that need attention; from slow leaks sinking it or destroying the engine, to fuel leaks that could cost thousands in fines and harm the environment.

When i was sitting there on my boat after offering to help, I thought to myself that wouldnt it be just annoying if the poor guy who's boat sank sank because he couldn't get his key and check on his boat, but I wrote it off as too unlikely that the very situation I was telling this YC president could happen actually happened. When They raised the boat and I went over to help and hand pump and weight the bow so the sump pump could keep pumping, I found out that yes, he was withheld his key for a dumb reason too.

Really tragic for him. Just an annoyance for me.

[kthoennes]

You know I've been browsing this thread from time to time and something never has sounded quite right to me about a lot of it. Why would the yc purposely be a bunch of jerks? Why would you persist in dealing with this giant hassle? And now the story about the house burning down and the owner who can't submit proof of insurance because it burned, and so he can't visit his boat and it sinks. Gee, guess he forgot he could easily call his insurance company and get another copy in about five minutes. I'm calling bs on this whole thing. The longer it goes on, the more flaky it sounds. We're getting spin.

[Doodles]

I'm beginning to think mr-Canada just likes to see his words in print.

Does anyone really care anymore?

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by Doodles

I'm beginning to think mr-Canada just likes to see his words in print.

Does anyone really care anymore?

We are contented members of a Toronto area yacht-club (no we're not rich), and I've had the opportunity to visit most of the other Toronto-area yacht-clubs (as a guest of a member, or a reciprocal, or as a tradesman doing work on boats) and I haven't seen a club that matches the description. But there are lots of small clubs in the general area.

I dunno what to think. It does seem like the original complaint is still that "the club didn't cope gracefully with my edge-case, complicated situation".

We don't have much else to go on, Mr C... I do hope you can put it behind you, either make peace with the given situation, or get your own boat and put her somewhere you're happy with. $1700 isn't expensive if it teaches you something.