When is a class dead?

I do agree with you Cirrus that avoiding decline is not linked to pushing racing but at our club they started encouraging people to get out sailing as a first step. They did this by offering a range of club boats for free use - you know the old 420s that no one used or hired so why not get them out on the water anyway... and a few of the more experienced people were on hand to help new comers rig and get on the water, offer friendly advice. Before we knew it "Super Saturdays" had 30 or so boats out there just having fun. The cadets have also been a huge draw for new families and here its been about having fun with the best going on to do racing but its not a hardcore racing focus. We have a good racing turn out but our club has flourished once we worked out how to leverage our best sailors to encourage new people into the sport. For some clubs that will be the social side, for us it was focusing our time on encouraging people to enjoy sailing and letting the small subset that want to race to have fun doing that too.

I'm not so sure, I made the mistake of club expansion and we went down the 'social member' route then alternate sports, cycling, swimming, sups, who now of course far outnumber the racers and bring with them a different set of values and agendas.

It's not always wise and hindsight can be an exact science, but chasing the 'revenue' can bring with it all manner of consequences that can spoil the club experience according to the style we've been used to, we've had all manner of nastiness this summer, basically thanks to the transferance of the local 'pseudo posh' village playground mentality seeping into our social arena with all the usual cliques and bitchiness.

Originally posted by Cirrus The point made is NOT about attracting 'social members' for revenue purposes - heaven forbid. But it is about providing or maintaining a decent social scene for the existing and future sailing 'occasionals' and their families.  They get damn little for their bucks at some clubs now - and drift away.   Get the social aspect right and revenue and numbers tend to work out just fine.  Overlook or ignore it and you will have to get used to sailing let alone racing in quickly reduced numbers. STOP tweaking the 'proper' racing arrangements - far too many are barking up the wrong tree. Tomorrows club racers and active members are more likely to come from this 'occasional' group (usually the great majority btw)  than from existing 'purist' racers whether youth squaddies or not or any other group you might imagine !    Hardly rocket science really ....

Well I've joined the local surf and paddleboard club - 'club' is a bit strong a word for it, we pay €30 a month and can either use rental kit or leave your own kit (1 board) on site in their secure compound.  They also rent hire kit direct to punters - €10 per hour, and I have already taken a couple of guys and girl along who are keen to do a bit more paddle boarding after the initial intro.  The place is growing and is becoming a proper destination with 21st century marketing driving traffic.

Edited by turnturtle - 26 Sep 17 at 3:27pm

My club stopped social side about 5 years ago, dart board gone, bowling alley gone, table tennis gone etc etc.