Yacht Club Rant

[Alecadi]

Originally Posted by 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.

And you forgot about the partner leaving his wife alone for the whole winter in Canada when himself is gone for better weather!,
I never got the whole story seriously... All b.s

[mr-canada]

I wish the story was BS.. Buddy who's boat nearly went to the ocean floor probably wishes this even more than me.

But I've got my key, insurance, moorage is paid and now I can happily go and spend weekends on my boat so my need to rant is over. I updated the thread because of the irony- with the guy's boat sinking and all.

As for the "why would the YC purposely be a bunch of jerks"... Well that is a really, really good question. A new board came in last fall and that's when myself and a variety of other members started noticing that a club that was always about being friendly to eachother started going weird. They started spending money like water (a la my embroidery / net frustrations, seems they would rather blow cash than use members for volunteer hours like before) hence they blew a wad of cash on a new lock system so they could crack down on late moorage payments from people.

Im going to ride it out until next fall and see if the new board that comes in is better. So far, anything would be better than these people. The old board was great. I'd run, but with my associate status I'm not allowed to run nor vote.

I've put myself on a waiting list at a nearby marina, and if my name comes up and this BS has become the rule rather than the exception then I'm buying the partner out and moving the boat.

[David M]

Choice is a good thing.

[Triton318]

Originally Posted by Normanby

Come to lovely Tassie, the teenage mother capital of Australia!

Really? What's the explanation for that? (Not becoming pregnant...I know how that happens.)

[Richard_W]

Originally Posted by mr-canada

As for the "why would the YC purposely be a bunch of jerks"... Well that is a really, really good question.

I have seen this ... in provincial Canada ... unfortunately. I've had a similar experience with people who were given power to provide the service, and instead they exercise that power to control and regulate outside of their mandate. It's a human thing ... a complex of inferiority, perhaps, resulting either in spectacular achievement or extreme antisocial behavior.

It might be too late given the past history ... but try to stroke them the right way ...

[rgscpat]

It does also seem that the club leadership has opened the potential liability door a bit wider if they prevent a member who is paid up from accessing the member's boat, and in the mean time the boat sinks.

[mr-canada]

Originally Posted by rgscpat

It does also seem that the club leadership has opened the potential liability door a bit wider if they prevent a member who is paid up from accessing the member's boat, and in the mean time the boat sinks.

Thats what I was thinking. I dont think he's going to go after the club for damages but his insurance company might when he explains how his boat went from floating fine to sunk and they start asking questions like how often he checks on the state of the boat and why didn't he notice that it was filling up with water.

unfortunately. I've had a similar experience with people who were given power to provide the service, and instead they exercise that power to control and regulate outside of their mandate.

Yeah. :-( I mean if it was in the bylaws of the club that said, "members or associate members who are involved in a partnership on a boat will be held jointly responsible for moorage or membership due arrears of other involved partners" or something to that effect I would have just bit my lip in my own circumstance. In a blanket case that would cover both myself and the fella who's boat sunk it could have been worded as simply as "associate and full members must provide copies of their insurance annually and failure to do so or be involved in a partnership where a partner has failed to do so will have their membership priveliges revoked until all involved members are up to date and out of arrears, including removal of access priveleges such as keys".

However there is nothing even remotely close. A previous commenter put it pretty plainly and simply. An associate member cannot obtain moorage, vote, or run for the board, so therefore this associate member (ie. me) has paid a considerable sum basically for a key. So to hold my associate membership hostage due to the tardy payment of another member is quite simply a violation of the contract that I have with the club, the fact that I was a partner on the boat is immaterial as the slip was held by an entirely different member.

I was at the docks last weekend joking with another member (you need to be sponsored by two members to get in) about how it made just about as much sense if he had not paid his moorage for them to revoke my key because he sponsored me (my partner was my other sponsor).

And to have the person in charge of doling out the keys shriek at my partners' wife when she had paid the moorage and was trying to obtain both of our keys that "he doesnt even live in this town, I have no idea how he even became a member" demonstrates a pretty clear lack of understanding of the rules of the club on the part of these people, as it pretty specifically states that an associate does not need to live in the municipality, but does not get moorage nor voting rights.

To be honest, I think that the founders of the club set up the bylaws in a really smart way. It saves the moorage for those in the town so people from nearby urban areas dont fill up the docks with boats. But it also allows for associates who basically get no rights at all to pay a considerable sum and put in volunteer hours to the club, all of which is good for the club without allowing the club to be taken over by non residents.

But unfortunately, when people either have little understanding of the plainly stated rules, make up the rules as they go along, or ignore the actual written rules, and toss in an attitude of inflexibility, tempers will flare and grave accidents can and will happen. And in what is basically a social club with moorage, that means drama and rumour mills ablazing.

There were a lot of long time members down on the docks the day that that guy's boat sunk, whether it was because they got a call or just a fluke, and they didn't look very happy. Former and current board members shaking their heads. It was quite common knowledge that the fellow had had a really rough month with the house fire, and likely more commonly known than even I thought about the arbitrary and draconian style with which the keys were being withheld. One member commented to me that despite having fully paid moorage and membership as well as insurance documents that the lady was shrieking at him.

As I see it the point of this particular yacht club is that it is a social club first, and a "blue collar" yacht club (that's how it was described to me by a few people). The moorage is a secondary operation, and everything is supposed to be volunteer.

My experience over the past six months with this new board has seen me have my volunteering offers shirked, my membership priveleges revoked arbitrarily, my partner's wife insulted, and when I have attempted to escalate a matter to the president I have received no response at all other than that the status quo is just the way that it is an an offer to terminate my membership if I liked (without reimbursement of my initiation fee).

I'm a pretty easy going guy and I understand that volunteers can easily make mistakes. But as someone who has sat on a lot of different boards I've always found that simply referring to the bylaws or constitution of the organization is the easiest way to settle or resolve any interpersonal disputes - and if a situation turns up where the bylaws aren't helpful to the interests of the organization, then you follow the bylaws until you can get a motion approved to alter them to take into account those sorts of situations.

[Jonesee]

As a side story:

I am member of a club with limited membership. You have to be invited by a member, voted on etc. etc.

The rules of the club are simple:

The member that invited you and introduced you to the charter members is always and forever responsible for your unpaid dues, fees and tabs etc.

If/when you invite and introduce someone who becomes a new member, you are now always and forever responsible for their fees, dues and tabs that they incur and don't pay.

It is a simple rule. You only have memebers that are totally trusted. It solves a lot of problems.

The other gentleman's rule is:
The member who is seated first out of your group in the bar or restaurant picks up the tab. You don't split it, or share it or allow someone else to grab it. You sign for it and know that overall it will balance out in the end.

Membership is a handshake. No agreements or contracts. Just everyone standing by their word. and it works...

[Lake-Effect]

The first rule of YACHT CLUB is:
- Don't talk about YACHT CLUB!

...I thought we discussed this.

(sorry, it was time for this joke)