Hosted by Matthew Sheahan, respected journalist and World Sailing TV’s editor, the webinar will include short presentations and a Q&A session with a selection of Clubs that have launched innovative initiatives to meet changing demands. The aim is to share their insights on their challenges and successes with the wider sailing club community and watersports sector.
00:00 Welcome & introduction
“If you turned up to the gym and they said you’ve got to buy a treadmill and you’ve got to pay to park the treadmill and you can’t use the other treadmills, you’d never join the gym.”
08:01 Trends likely to affect future customers for sailing
“There’s less interest in actual ownership…and this will affect buying boats as well.”
14:31 Case study: Turning around an ageing membership at Cransley SC
“My brother in America sails in a club where they only have club boats and it’s a really successful model.”
“It’s more about the breadth of club boats that you’ve got, and making sure that when people come up they can have an adrenaline-fuelled experience, or just a nice little drift in them.”
27:23 Case study: Going back to their roots at Emsworth SC
“[Back in 1919,] people could join the club and actually use the club boat without having to put in a large sum of money.”
“We introduced a ‘use it or lose it’ model, so if you don’t use your boat then ultimately you won’t have a place to put it.”
37:20 Making taking part easy at Itchenor SC
“We felt we needed to change various parts of our procedures, which were really the old way of joining a club. We wanted to make it more accessible to new members. There were five areas we felt we needed to improve…”
48:48 The Youth Perspective
“When you've got a bigger club and a bigger variety of people looking to come into sailing you have to be able to offer something across those ranges. And that comes back to the affordability of such a scheme and how professional you're willing to make it.”
“The social aspect of being involved in the club is certainly very appealing, but given the choice in the decision of ‘do I or don't I?’ they're more often swinging towards they won’t. And they will go out cycling or running or climbing or whatever their other interests are.”
57:25 Q&A
“Don’t be shy about charging. We charge £25/hour for a single-hander, £35/hour for a windsurfing kit. We’ve done 1000 hours this year, so there’s nearly £30,000 through just hire.”
