Yacht club membership

[danstanford]

Originally Posted by valhalla360

From our experience, one big issue from a cruising perspective is reciprocal dockage (which is why the subject usually comes up on this forum).
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If one's study of the behaviour of people today leads them to believe we are more self-centered than ever, and less willing to pay for something we are not benefitting from, then reciprocal docking privileges are sure to be on the way out. Without question, those who do not cruise (every club is full of them) are paying a share for those who do. I cruise but if I had to pick I would pick the user pay model and pay for my own dockage.

It is a tradition but one sure to be coming under scrutiny.

Dan

[pcmm]

As others have said. The social aspect of being a memeber is a great benefit, having reciprocal priviledges is a big saver and gives you built in destinations. But for me, being a member also saves crazy amounts of $$$$!! Being a member of a yacht club saves close to 30% on slip fees, storage, etc. The only down side is you have to be ready to launch and haul with everyone else! as its all done the same weekend(s)

[RaymondR]

I'm not a full time member of one but use temporary memberships fairly often because they are a good source of local knowledge, they usually provide a dingy dock and water supply point, give me somewhere to chain up my bicycle and provide hot showers and clean toilet facilities.

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by danstanford

If one's study of the behaviour of people today leads them to believe we are more self-centered than ever, and less willing to pay for something we are not benefitting from, then reciprocal docking privileges are sure to be on the way out. Without question, those who do not cruise (every club is full of them) are paying a share for those who do. I cruise but if I had to pick I would pick the user pay model and pay for my own dockage.

It is a tradition but one sure to be coming under scrutiny.

Dan

Certainly pay your own way but if a deal is offered, I will take it.

But other than local cruising where there is a local club association, haven't seen a lot of reciprocal dockage for free and if it's pay at a reduced price, they mostly haven't cared if you really are a member...if there's an open slip, it's better to get $20 than not to get $20...plus lots of people like talking to longer distance cruisers as they've heard all the stories from the locals.

[redneckrob]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

I joined the local club. Not really a yacht club as there's no facility. I enjoyed the racing mostly. Looked at doing some other activities with them. Turns out its more of a drinking club than a sailing club. I quit the club but still race with them. There's always a shortage of racers around here, so they're happy to have me out there.

I've heard members of one of our clubs here in the breakaway republic portion of Annapolis describe it as a "drinking club with a sailing problem"!

In Annapolis at least, most of the beer can race crews for the races sponsored by the yacht clubs are not themselves members of the clubs. Generally only the boat owner is a member, maybe one other person. It's certainly not required. And somewhat ironically the club with the most active racing program here also has by far the oldest average age of club members and best I can tell the vast majority of them are long past racing days if they ever get on the water at all, with a few notable exceptions for whom age appears to be no barrier to anything and are most impressive! That club also has a very active youth sailing club and summer lessons that my kids did, and most of the people participating in those also weren't members. So joining is really optional, and given the wait-lists sometimes not even really feasible.

[grantmc]

Originally Posted by SV Siren

In my neck of the woods yacht Club membership is all over the place. From something closely resembling a simple tiki hut for a clubhouse for little cost, to a full fledged club with all the fixins' with initial fees over 4.1K per year. ...

Wow that blows me away.
The Club I belong to is $300 pa (no joining fee)
Has a full hard stand/travel lift - 40% discount for members on all services.
Trailer yacht park and boat shed storage for centreboards.
Club house open 8am till 8pm (often later) 7 days a week.
Active learn to sail programs for children and adults, including fleets of club boats for learners.
Active racing and social programmes,

Just checked. New Zealand's most prestigious and expensive Yacht Club is the Royal NZ Yacht Squadron (it's hosting the Americas Cup). Membership there is $637 pa, with a $600 one off joining fee.

And all the monies above are NZ dollars, so divide by 2 to get US$.