Retaining club members 

For most sailors, their local club is at the very heart of their sailing activities, not only as a welcome base to return to after a long hard day out on the water, but as a place to socialise and spend time with friends and family.

Despite this, one of the biggest challenges facing clubs are facing is retaining their members. Aside from their regular devotees, it can be hard to target the people who are new to the sport or perhaps have children who sail but who are not actively involved in the club themselves.

The Friday Night Club - Staunton Harold Sailing Club

So what can clubs do to retain members? Having an inviting calendar of events can be a very effective way to entice new members, as well as creating a more buzzing social scene within your club and bringing existing members together. A fantastic example of this is Staunton Harold Sailing Club (SHSC), who created their very simple yet effective weekly event; their Friday Night Club.

The club’s Mike Jones SHSC explains. ‘As a club, we had identified that we had many good elements including our racing, junior program and our RYA OnBoard sessions. However these things all have a very separate identity and we really wanted people to feel part of the something whole.

‘We run OnBoard sessions on a Friday evening for the youngsters, so we decided to encourage the parents to stick around while it was happening and got as many people to get out sailing on the water as possible. The event meant that racers could mix with cruisers and the social side of the club really came alive when all the groups mingled. It was great to see as we are a family club, as well as a sporting club and always will be.’

Another popular event that SHSC also organise is their Wednesday Night Series, which takes place from April to September and was often followed with a much needed curry to round the evening off.

Regular member Wendy Gray explains; ‘I really enjoy the Wednesday sessions. It’s a lovely atmosphere throughout the summer; sometimes we bring our own food and a drink along and generally have a nice evening sitting outside with friends.’

Next year the committee plan to continue to populate their calendar with more social events including a regular curry and quiz night, a Regatta Cup and Summer Shindig and continue their popular Beat the Stig competition which was a huge success this summer.

For more advice on all aspects of the RYA’s Adult Participation Programme. If you want more specific regional advice, contact your RYA Regional Development officer.