In an open letter published on the RYA website, Richard Dobbs, retiring Commodore of Sea View Yacht Club, shared his thoughts with his club members on the challenges facing UK sailing clubs.
He explains that the club has managed to buck the trend of declining participation in sailing by taking lessons from skiing.
“We have been operating pay-and-play sailing since the decision in 1947 to purchase a shared, club-owned, charter fleet. We now have around eighty club dinghies available for hire by members,” Dobbs writes.
“We have embraced motorboats and paddleboards. We also decided, nearly 40 years ago, to invest in training. Members can learn to sail without having a parent to teach them … And we have repurposed much of our staging to be an ‘après sail’ venue. I know that the ‘après sail’ DJ and music are not every member’s cup of tea, but it has made our club relevant again for the 18-35 young adults.“
Dobbs says such measures have been instrumental to the club “adding around 300 members on a net basis since 2019, and, particularly satisfyingly, growing our young adult membership by 50%”.
However, SVYC is not immune from the ‘squeeze’ put on all clubs by rising costs in excess of the rate of inflation, and Dobbs is honest about clubs needing to get real about the prospect of passing these costs on to members.
And, he adds, “as members, we also need to be realistic about the service level we expect and be prepared to pay for this.
As one candidate for commodore put it, ‘The trouble with Sea View Yacht Club members is that they want a Rolls Royce but only to pay for a Skoda.’”
