The average boat owner after the first year uses his or her boat eleven times per entire sailing season. Let me reintroduce the concept of Sailing Boat Clubs. Boat clubs have some obvious advantages. Shared or fixed costs which are in general more commensurate with usage. Massive amounts of time saved doing such mundane but critically important tasks such as commissioning the boat in the Spring. Think scraping, cleaning, sanding, bottom paint, carrying sails aboard, putting sails on the boom and roller furling unit so they work, reconnecting battery systems, waxing and polishing, checking fresh water systems which usually need flushing, diesel tanks, stoves, refrigerators, DC and AC electrical. You get the idea. The checklist seems endless and since owners do this once or twice a year, proficiency is not the average boat owner’s strong suit.
Then owners have slip fees, boat insurance which rarely should be on your home owner’s policy. Yacht club fees and sometimes parking fees. Where do you store the trailer or cradle during the season? Where do you store this boat in the off season? You will encounter more costs. The cost per usage of say my O’Day 28 on Lake Minnetonka if I were the average boat owner would be about $9,200 divided by eleven uses or $836.36. This equates to well over $150/hour and it does not include ONE boat payment! Welcome to the world of boating where the wind is free. Imagine the bill if this were a 28’ powerboat!
The cost justification issues are easy to define. Is there a better way? Generally, boaters need to ask themselves a few questions, and to be not just honest, but brutally honest with themselves in the answers. Would I be happy joining a sailing boat club or chartering instead of owning? Am I too much of a perfectionist to share a boat? Do I have all kinds of time and the eleven-use average would not apply to me? Can I use a boat when I want to use it? What does it mean to share?
Most sailors in boat clubs have a few concerns. How well is the boat maintained? How easy is it to reserve and use the boat? Is the boat generally clean? Will I feel confident bringing my guests aboard? Is the area and marina a family friendly place? Are there cool places to take my family and friends before and after we sail?
Two major structural problems common to boat clubs are the number of members per boat and hidden costs per use. I knew of a sailing boat club in California which had twenty-five or more members per boat. In this part of the country, there are approximately twenty weekends between Memorial Day and the end of September. Twenty-five members per boat does not add up to very many “realistic” uses. To claim as one boat club did that anytime the boat is not in use a member can use it begs the question of how available really are the boats to the members? And, how does a member plan in such a “use” environment? How does the boat club define a use? Is it a four-hour block of time? Is it all day? These are important issues for potential boat club members. In the area of hidden costs, some boat clubs charge a membership fee and then a per use fee as well.
When I receive questions about our boat clubs it usually starts with accessibility because we also run a sailing school which uses the same boats. We have chosen to define boat club uses as four-hour windows in general while maintaining some flexibility for members when that doesn’t quite work. We also limit memberships to five full time equivalents per boat. That means two half memberships equal one full membership. This allows Northern Breezes to use the boats for classes a few evenings and Saturday – Sunday mornings. If no classes are scheduled, we free the boats up on weekend mornings as well. Members rarely complain about their ability to use a boat. The reservation system is transparent and easy to access online. Members receive an email confirmation immediately.
In the area of cleanliness and functionality (everything works), scheduling and cooperation from members and sailing instructors is critical to obtaining the best possible experiences. Our members are very good, very punctual so other members are not short changed. Knowledgeable sailing instructors help overcome problems and assist members.
Visit Northern Breezes’ website to see our Lake Minnetonka, Medicine Lake and Lake St. Croix boat clubs. Chartering will be addressed in a separate blog.
