big pico please

you can and should charge a rate.  We charge a minimal hire fee for our sport England Vagos because they seem strangely prone to small but annoying failures that have to be put right - exploding blocks and shackles for example, which cost money to put right, plus they have to have storage space, plus they must be insured etc.  On top of this I also believe that people will repsect things more if they have to contribute, even a small amount, to their enjoyment of the use of these boats plus to their upkeep.

All Sport England grants are monitored for a few years after the award to ensure they are being used for what they were intended - ours was to encourage young adults to stay in sailing, plus recruit more young adults.  There could be an argument for allowing those groups cheaper or free use of the boats, but I feel better making a small charge across the whole membership so the baots really do meet the 'Sport for All' ethos.

Originally posted by JimC The general problem I think is that thermoplastic construction doesn't deem to scale well, and boats much bigger than Feva/Pico are too heavy wnd too flexible. Need a new tech advance.

All through Uni (because of absence or sailing club) and for ten years after I had allot of involvement in rowing (the other water sport, though the members at Chester S&CC have better more descriptive names this type of pass time). The club structure is the polar opposite from sailing as (not including single scullers who tend to have their own boats) about 90% of the equipment is owned by the club and used by the clubs members (no hire out etc etc). Most rowing clubs have a number of 'squads' from the top racers down to Novice/beginners. At the Novice/Beginner end of the scale they tended to use older equipment that was sometimes a bit tired, the common joke in the boathouse when I was a beginner was that our coxed four was more filler than boat. However saying this it suited our needs and was serviceable. Having coached beginners for 5 years, boats do get knocked around a little, not by purpose just through the rigors of Novice crews (blades on water balancing the boat, boat not being fully stable so negative forces being put on the riggers etc etc). When it comes up in conversation I suggested, for beginners straight out of RYA L2 a few older GRP GP14's, GRP Solo's and a number of old Lasers. As long as they are serviceable and dont have anything really wrong with them they are fine. People tend to turn their noses up at this. I don't under stand why. Fair enough they wont sail like a new boat, however as a beginner your first aim is to get around the course without capsizing. Not taking good care of club equipment should always be frowned upon of course but a Novice will knock the boat, not through malice but lack of experience or ability. Once they find there feet, there is 'better' club equipment that  they can progress to. Just a thought..