Saturday due to various reasons, I found myself only club member who knew what needed doing at end of day. trying to describe problems I had getting help without swearing  no one wanted to help, they had boats to put away.

I would like a quote I can put on notice board, something along the lines of "safety is the responsibility of everone" we are all members, no one gets paid.

This also removes the burden of an individual to be the "bad guy"

FFS it's not hard to show up a couple of times a year to do RO or safety duties, nor is it hard to offer to help hauling the safety boat up the slip which takes about 10 minutes max (but, I suppose, it's not hard to get the crew to pull the trolly clear of the water when you sail a two hander, many at my club still don't bother). I can only sail Wednesday evenings (and, so far, not many of those) during the season but I'll be there for my appointed duties or make sure I've swapped with somebody well in advance........

IIRC, back in the day (early '70s) it would be unheard of to avoid doing you 'OOD' and/or 'rescue boat' duties. My dad and I did race nearly every Wednesday and Sunday during the season and a good few frostbite series weekends so a couple of duties seemed like a small price to pay (and I chose that last phrase with some thought as I, or my father, never considered it a'price' at the time, t'was just what you did). I was not aware of anybody avoiding duties (I was in my teens so maybe I just wasn't aware but, equally, I don't recall my dad complaining of others not puling their weight).

if you could put that in a succinct motto, or some useful soundbite that would be ideal.... I'm sure it would solve all the issues identified by 423zero at his/her club last weekend.  

Spot on 

the questions that need to be asked are:

1) is this an isolated incident of no-shows?  (I'm assuming not, given the justification you will have gone through personally to write an open letter.  That takes a bit of balls, so respect for that.)

2) Why did they not show up?  Has anyone contacted the members involved?  No need to name and shame them here, but it would be useful in the context of this discussion to understand their reasons.

3) Why, if they knew they were not going to show, did they not inform the Sailing Sec?  That sounds a little bizarre and almost worse that not showing up in the first place imho.

Answers to 2 and 3 might highlight you've simply got a communication issue, not a broader problem with volunteer resources.  The fact that you are also talking about 'putting something on the noticeboard' as your primary communication tool, might also want a re-think if you are trying to reach out to those who are not actively attending the club that duties are second nature.  

Is your club on Facebook etc? 

Does your club use dutyman with automated email reminders?

Does anyone pick up the phone or write or email or text message each person the week before their duty?

I think you are right.  Whether or not you can come back to commitments like duties when kids are around depends very much on whether the kids are actively involved in the sailing club too.   There seems to be a rather false assumption on this forum that those who identify 'duties' as a barrier to sailing aren't contributing voluntary or charitable effort elsewhere in their lives.   

sounds like your sailing sec needs a protocol to begin to communicate to individuals maybe a month and two weeks before their designated duty.

It's a bit difficult to 'forget' if you've been reminded.  It at least puts the onus on the member to arrange a last minute swap.  

Back in the day we used to change clubs if we fancied a change in class- this at least gave points of difference between local clubs and provided a decent quality of racing in largely suitable boats for any given water. 

 You could then all come together for annual regattas where handicap racing served a wonderful purpose of uniting the clans and throwing a good craic on the water and off it.  

There simply isn't the critical mass left to justify the vast number of sailing clubs imho....  I think we will see consolidation when the baby boomers hang up their hikers and their simply isn't the voluntary resource to keep clubs sustainable.  

What would be better for the sport would be a managed process rather than decimation by a thousand cuts.  In fact with a programme of closures and mergers, dinghy sailing might actually reverse the effective churn we are likely to see.  This is especially likely if those clubs that are left, don't offer a quality of racing acceptable to the new generation coming through.  Today's joe average has experienced wonderful racing in the youth and university scenes, even if they never got out the bottom third of the fleet- if local racing wants to compete for their attention, then frankly it needs to up its game somewhat from what a lot clubs seems to offer.

Completely agree. Having been out of sailing for nearly 20yrs, I am gob-smacked that there are so many sailing clubs still, with such fewer active members  offering the same that they did 20+ years ago. I personally think that a merging and consolidation would strengthen sailing overall and what it, and clubs, has to offer. We all still cling on to the corinthian origins of yesteryear, forgetting that time has moved on and what people want and have time for and are prepared to input into. Near where I sail, there are 4 sailing clubs within a mile of each other on the same stretch of water - all struggling clubs. 

If someone wants to set up a all pay n play centre with no responsibilities for members barring fiscal then I say the same, fill yer boots. 

People will ultimately always vote with their feet, it is the natural evolutionary way and attempts at the imposition of grand models are possibly fine in theory but not to great in practice.

 

it's a valid point...  I do accept that folks aren't going to take too kindly to the RYA telling them to merge- either directly, or through other means.

I do wonder if we're one fatality, or serious injury, away from our wider litigious culture that would effectively make smaller clubs insolvent through insurance premiums.... (sorry, different thread maybe?)

probably because the baby boomers priced them out of the housing market and let them inherit a level of national debt greater than the GDP of a modest nation.....   and of course people are interested in their neighbours, gentrification keeps the gravy train running for another generation. 

It's far LESS selfish to spend time (and money) supporting charities, raising funds for schools etc than sodding off down the sailing club all day to sit in a committee boat on average points while 'er indoors gets the chicken dinner on and deals with the brats you spawned so nonchalantly.

On the positive side, at least most of us aren't grappling with religious obligations most Sundays anymore.... so there is hope for a glorious return to weekend sailing once the nest has emptied.

Well it certainly has funny nomenclature, weird rituals, observable casual misogyny and its fair share of sectarianism.  

The odd thing is that I'm currently keen as mustard about racing at our other club down on the coast, in a very mixed fleet of yachts and sportsboats. It may be a cultural thing; in yachts we are so used to mixed fleet racing that we accept that some days we'll have no chance, but in small stuff we are used to having a fair race each week.

It's a good thing we don't allow that any more; we've just got to adapt and the "leaders" of the sport are going at high speed in the wrong direction.

They have a hot potato with dinghy sailing at the moment, trying to stop an apparent terminal decline.

Cycling, brilliant, I do more cycling than sailing, conversations started about cycling will work in any environment, try starting a conversation about sailing in a non sailing environment.

mine tend to be around laughing at a certain mate who is a complete kit w*nker and has a new carbon weight saving accessory each week.  I also play devil's advocate when it inevitably turns into a Jeremy Corbyn bashing session.... it's a like a sketch from Little Britain- real ale, lycra, ill-informed political debate all washing down energy gels like the fat reserves in the beer guts and bitch tits aren't enough to get around 20 miles of country roads.

Could all members please ensure club duties are done, prior to dealing with their own equipment, please ask members who are doing duty if you can assist with something.

This is what I intend to put to committee.

water supply to club been reduced for weeks now, finally stopped flowing last week.

Council say water pipe at least half a mile long, not sure when it can be repaired or replaced, but it wont be any time soon.

Sea cadets regatta cancelled yesterday, no sailing for foreseeable future.

Major Blue/green algae outbreak too.

Supposed to be harmless to humans but fatal for dogs.

I have already put out feelers, need a club that accepts eccentric boats. 

Mirror only boat I have that is still current.

What a mistake donating Ent to club.

Members who need a two hander, use Ent.

Bahia's hardly used, easier to rig Ent, and probably half the weight.

Would be a bit churlish to ask for it back.

that sir, is a level of dinghy sailing parsimony that is so genius it surpasses all others!!!  

Are you and RYA affiliated club???

Midland S C one of the options for temporary residence, Vice Commodore knows a few people at your club, ex Brookevale members mainly, he lent your club a safety boat, he may be going to approach your committee.

I have also looked on your web site with a view to joining.

Brookevale itself is another option, would need a bit of work though.

To get back on track with the original topic, we too notice it's always the same people volunteering. Everybody is happy to help out, eg recovering the safety boat, but running other events (PTBO, Open Meetings) often ends up with the same people. I guess that's just the way things are these days... My worry is that the volunteers will eventually stop volunteering, and that's when things really do get serious.

yep, but it's a self perpetuating problem.... with unfortunate side effects for the volunteers- they can be perceived as cliquey and sometimes worse.  At the risk of enacting Godwin's Law,  I've even heard people called "Little Hitlers" before simply for having the temerity to make a bloody decision when faced with a situation.  

You just have to hope that they never overhear what some people say about them.... there's nowt stranger than folks doing stuff for seemingly no material gain; it juxtaposes with everything our society drills into us from such an early age.   

We do, however, have to accept that not everybody is happy to dedicate every waking hour of their weekend to the club... Some members do more duties than actually spend time on the water sailing.

With you 100%, my sentiments exactly, I could have written that post, well done.

I hope someday a leaderless system for running club committees will be found.

I also believe it should be written into English common law that proxy votes are illegal.

This is not a black and white issue. 

we have one member ? (p**s taker), who has 13 boats, 5 inside, rest outside, in last 12 months he has been twice, both times to do his duty, safety boat only, not learned to be RO. fully paid up.

Solo, beautiful wooden Solo, indoor storage, not been to club for 8 years, gives his proxy vote. Fully paid up.

Their are more examples like this, including boats in repair bays that are still in primer after several years, this is expensive, again fully paid up.

Is your Club at capacity and these people are preventing new more active members from joining?

How are your fees and storage entitlements structured? 13 boats on site?!?!

 

Using extreme of 13 boats.

When doing a boat park clean up all boats have to be moved, owners generally do own bay and share cleaning of communal areas, 8 boats and relevant bays have to be treated as a communal area or left a mess.

Indoor storage similar to outside, plus occasional service items, such as changing bulbs, entire back half of store abandoned but paid for boats, they have to be occasionally moved.

Fee structure, every boat must be paid for, £25 boat park, £35 indoor, £95 repair bay (indoors) 

I would charge repair bays by the month.

Their are probably other issues, just imagine 30 paid for boats, owners never visit, then think of all jobs that need doing at the average club, I know most clubs haven't got indoor storage.

The club storage is at full capacity, we have had to stack some of the more dilapidated but paid for boats.

This however is not my main grouse, my main grouse is their gift of proxy.

From your sentiments it sounds as if your Committee is, err, static/unwelcoming to change.

We on the other hand welcome anyone with a pulse and an idea to join in.

Sorry haven't got a clue, I wouldn't have thought so though, we have 'casc', if that's any help ?

I have actually given my own vote in proxy.

Why ?

rebellious I suppose, being sarcastic.

a stay of execution.... 

thirteen boats on site  should mean  water fees + 12 lots of additional  boat fees  - even if the additional boat fee  is fairly nominal  that should still be hundred(s) of pounds more  than the typical member with  1 , 2 or perhaps 3 boats  at the club ...