The State of Club Sailing

   Picking up from the Bewl thread...

My club...Burghfield...is in a reasonably good place these days. But it's getting tougher by the day. Grass roots football, rugby, tennis, golf are all having their problems. Landowners? Nothing's quite where it once was.

So where is club sailing's future in this environment? How do we compete (and win) people's spare time, spare cash, ultimately their long time commitment to this sport that I've partaken of and loved for 50-odd years. It might be that we have to accept that we are, frankly, just maybe, a dinosaur sport, and pass away gracefully.

In the face of today's pressures, where should sailing clubs best be directing their efforts? And, our National Authority...the RYA...where could they be refocussing priorties.

Sorry, massive Q!

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Oinks Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 24 Oct 14 Location: Bandol Online Status: Offline Posts: 267	Post Options Post Reply Quote Oinks Report Post Quote Reply Topic: The State of Club Sailing Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 1:34am
	Picking up from the Bewl thread... My club...Burghfield...is in a reasonably good place these days. But it's getting tougher by the day. Grass roots football, rugby, tennis, golf are all having their problems. Landowners? Nothing's quite where it once was. So where is club sailing's future in this environment? How do we compete (and win) people's spare time, spare cash, ultimately their long time commitment to this sport that I've partaken of and loved for 50-odd years. It might be that we have to accept that we are, frankly, just maybe, a dinosaur sport, and pass away gracefully. In the face of today's pressures, where should sailing clubs best be directing their efforts? And, our National Authority...the RYA...where could they be refocussing priorties. Sorry, massive Q!

Dougaldog Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Far too distracted from work Joined: 05 Nov 10 Location: hamble Online Status: Offline Posts: 356	Post Options Post Reply Quote Dougaldog Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 9:20am
	Oinks - FYI, this was pretty much the question that was going to be asked at the Seminar that would have opened SailFest. It seems that the RYA, who still measure success as 'results in the Olympics and Youth World events', think that we're doing okay. I can think that there will be a number who will post on this thread who maybe hold a different perspective. But there again, they have spent a (not so) small fortune on Management Consultants to tell them what an afternoon spent at a number of sailing clubs would make clearly self evident. I'm really interested to hear what others think on this, a good question to ask! d
	Dougal H

pompeysailor Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Posting king Joined: 16 Jul 07 Online Status: Offline Posts: 101	Post Options Post Reply Quote pompeysailor Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 10:14am
	Being a returnee to dinghy sailing recently I've seen a massive shift towards weekday evening sailing being preferred over weekend sailing by a large number of sailors. Guessing weekends are becoming more valuable/less time to do a hobby.. I feel sailing clubs need to embrace more weekday evening sailing, maybe at the expense of regular weekend sailing. I think for sailing clubs to succeed moving towards they need to focus on 3 aspects: 1) focus on the sailing and make the club a sailing club, not a social/drinking/restaurant club. 2) create ways to get young couples/families involved- time is always precious for these groups, so look at options to make it easy for them to get involved without the pressure. 3) don't be afraid of change, just because it has always been done a certain way, doesn't always mean the best way.

maxibuddah Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 06 Mar 09 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1760	Post Options Post Reply Quote maxibuddah Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 10:17am
	I think you need to work out how sailing needs to market itself. Is it a pastime our a sport? Perhaps we need to stop worrying about the racing side of things and concentrate on the casual sailing, people messing around in boats. At our club people won't just go sailing anymore, they need to have been on a course. Ok fair enough, but for most of them level 2 is enough, they then want to potter about. But the club structure is all about racing. The prescription is that potterers can look after themselves. Perhaps this is wrong. Perhaps it should be that the club focuses on social sailing and the racing will look after itself. Perhaps clubs need to diversify and allow more water sports to join. Maybe then the club system may survive.
	Everything I say is my opinion, honest

craiggo Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 01 Apr 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1810	Post Options Post Reply Quote craiggo Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 11:04am
	It's an interesting subject but as has been discussed different clubs need to do different things. What I see is that a lot of clubs that have overly diversified are struggling due to very different factions have very different needs and elevated views of theit own faction. This that appear to be doing well are those that succeed to draw juniors and beginner's into the racing either through intro series or unofficial coaching on social sailing evenings. Also openly friendly clubs who aim to accept people do better.

gordon Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 07 Sep 04 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1037	Post Options Post Reply Quote gordon Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 6:16pm
	We are having the same debate in Ireland. Our problem is slightly different in that there are only 59 clubs in the country for a population about the size of Greater Manchester but there are 6 or 7 mega clubs that tend to dominate the scene (and cost a small fortune in subs €600-1500 for individual membership). We also have the 'summer clubs' that spring back to life in the holiday season. several of these have been running for over century. The 3 month school holiday helps.. Dublin Bay weekday racing is still big...for keelboats and cruisers. Saturday sailing has become less popular, but there are 5 major club regattas which get good turnouts For many people the dinghy is the winter boat with 100 entered for the Frostbites in Dun Laoghaire.
	Gordon

iiiiitick Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Far too distracted from work Joined: 19 May 15 Online Status: Offline Posts: 240	Post Options Post Reply Quote iiiiitick Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 9:10pm
	These are my personal observations. The RYA system produces good champions but very few because the only goal seems to be the Olympics. When children start sailing on recognised training courses they either just play in the water or a few have ambitions to be Ben Ainsley. Understandably parents are ambitious for their children. If an adult comes to our club and says they just wish to float round and look at the view they will leave after one season. Most clubs survive on racing. Dinghy sailing is largely a racing sport. Most training except at a basic level is a waste of time. If dinghy racing grabs you, then it will grab you anyway. Year after year I see middle class kids on training courses. They splash around for the summer then disappear without trace. We have much better luck with self motivated adults. My answer? Publicise dinghy racing other than the elite Olympics. Only give safety training initially but coaching later on. Sailing will never be a main stream sport so why sell it to a bunch of middle class kids who will not stick it? With bars and socials you will fill clubs up with people but that is not sailing. We are a very social club because we race against each other week in, week out and dissect it in the pub afterwards. Other friendships stem from that. Racing is survival, not diversion.

Rupert Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 11 Aug 04 Location: Whitefriars sc Online Status: Offline Posts: 8956	Post Options Post Reply Quote Rupert Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 10:01pm
	We have an amazing, close knit junior group who simply appear to enjoy each others company, and whatever sailing we throw at them. Today we had a lack of instructors, so we had the older,more experienced ones teaching the small ones how to race. We must have had 25 of them out there, plus a group of nine beginners in oppies. Seems our middle class kids have found a hobby that will see them through into adult life.
	Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686

JimC Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Visit Member's Homepage Really should get out more Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6662	Post Options Post Reply Quote JimC Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 10:08pm
	Certainly few inland clubs are going to be viable without racing. Unless you're at one of the big Northern lakes you can only spend so much time cruising round until its same old same old. You might take a picnic and sail to the other end of Ullswater or Loch Lomond regularly, but you aren't going to do that very often at Queen Mary.

423zero Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 08 Jan 15 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3420	Post Options Post Reply Quote 423zero Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jun 15 at 10:58pm
	My club only averages 6 boats per race on saturdays, this is slightly higher in winter, the majority of members are also members at other clubs. I think our membership is approx' 60 members, of this about half sail, but not on a regular basis, their are about a dozen who sail weekly.