your responsibilities as a sailor

Originally posted by getafix   Why would you want to enable or encourage members to opt out?

Edited by pondmonkey - 15 May 13 at 11:17am

Originally posted by getafix In my view, no one should be allowed to "buy out" of duties and they should be made compulsory, not voluntary for all members.  Only, IMO, by getting involved in another side of your club; rescue boat crew, tea bar, race officer, results, maintenance, can you actually; a) properly appreciate what is being done to keep things going b) properly appreciate what needs to be done to improve things c) gain a decent appreciation/view of what is actually "available and possible" at your club The spirit of a sailing club is, for me, as much about the atmosphere and banter of the people doing the organising and 'operations' as it is about the atmosphere and banter generated by the participants.  Why would you want to enable or encourage members to opt out?

at the moment I feel I'm 'working' almost full time for my club as I organise events, run training, do duties, sit on the Committee etc.  I'm there five out of seven days a week, with the other two days spent doing huge amounts of paperwork.  It's all voluntary and I do it because I'm unemplyed so have the free time, plus I enjoy it.

In the past, however, I barely spent any time at whichever club I was member of; I was too busy running round the country and europe racing and having fun.  I thought all committee members were old farts!

Perhaps now I too am an old fart, and people like me come in for a lot of stick because we never 'get things done' as quickly or as efficiently as members might like.  A lot of the problem is that commmittee members simply become such because they want to be important; they actually do sod all, annoy those of us that do work, and get the committee as a whole a bad name.

 This is why even though there may be a committee - and very often far too many sub-committees - small clubs still need lots of help from the membership.  The idea that Fraggle describes is a good one - so many members have skills across so many specialisms that would be useful to a club but too often go ignored.  Mine is a small, friendly club where almost everything is done by its membership.  This inspires a sense of ownership and pride in the club, which lately has made it a great place to be.  This year for the first time in a long time I didn't renew my membership of our nearest big club neighbour, not because it's not a great place to sail, but because it's a grim place to be, with paid staff but no smiling friendly faces.  Easier and cheaper to pay the extortionate day rate and then walk away once you've had your funa dn de-shrimped your boat.

Originally posted by winging it Easier and cheaper to pay the extortionate day rate and then walk away once you've had your funa dn de-shrimped your boat.

Edited by pondmonkey - 15 May 13 at 12:59pm

Originally posted by Daniel Holman .......you could have an excellent career as a slave trader. Or a pimp.