17 November 2025
Club Class: a pathway into yacht racing
Boosting membership and crewing at Brighton Marina Yacht Club
Club overview
Brighton Marina Yacht Club was established in 1978 and welcomes sailors, motor cruisers and social members. The club offers competitive yacht racing using fixed club marks and there is also a busy sail cruising and social programme.
Identifying the challenges
The club has a continuous need to attract new members for its future sustainability. Its existing skippers, who own keelboats ranging from sportsboats to yachts in the mid-30ft range, also need a ready availability of between 3 to 8 crew in order to sail and race.
Membership previously peaked at around 600 but many were lost to the sport during the pandemic, leading to an ongoing requirement to retain existing members and attract new ones.
Implementing a solution
An initiative called Club Class has been running at Brighton Marina YC for over 20 years and continues to provide an effective route into club membership.
It offers those who are new to sailing – and those wanting to build on previous experience – an accessible way of developing keelboat sailing and racing skills.
Club Class is for over-18s and participants join Brighton Marina YC for the standard one-year membership fee, with a concessionary rate available for those aged 18-26, or in full time education, or long-term unemployed, or registered disabled.
This includes five practical sessions afloat, with Club Class members sailing with existing boat owners and racing crews over five Saturday mornings, learning how to move around a boat and execute manoeuvres, sail trim and spinnakers, setting-up and packing away.
This hand-on experience is supported by sessions ashore covering topics such as rope work, meteorology and tides, racing rules, starting techniques, and the handicap system.
Those completing Club Class are then encouraged to make the most of their membership by crewing for existing members who race regularly out of Brighton Marina.
Consolidating progress
Club Class has been tweaked over time, evolving from a simple invite to ‘come sailing on a Saturday morning’ to gradually adding a little more structure, for example with set programme dates and classroom presentations.
There is also now a WhatsApp group to match skippers with potential crew who have come through the Club Class programme and want to get on the water, whether for cruising or competing, a single race, a series or a regatta, or a delivery trip.
Before the start of each new season the club puts out a news release to local media to raise awareness that Club Class will be starting again in Spring, with the message that it provides an affordable and fun route into yacht sailing and racing.
Club Class offers all the benefits of membership alongside the free training, including a 20% discount in the bar and galley, which encourages those who have enjoyed their experience to stay on as social members even if they don’t become regular sailors.
Assessing the impact
Club Class is strengthening both membership and engagement: it brings people into the sport and enables existing members to find crew for cruising and racing.
Previous participants have also gone on to skipper their own yachts, and in turn give back as volunteers to likewise introduce new people to the joys of sailing.
While some participants might buy a boat at a different location or focus on cruising, around one-quarter stay on as long term members of Brighton Marina YC.
It is enabling the club to achieve a sustainable and growing membership of around 300, providing a strong foundation which the club aims to continue building on.
Club Class also supports a sociable and vibrant racing scene. Eight to 15 boats are out racing regularly on Sunday mornings, and on Wednesday evenings in summer, supported by dual scoring using IRC and YTC to cater for all, including for cruising yachts and cruiser-racers.
In 2025, nearly 20 new members joined through Club Class and six have continued sailing by crewing for club members, who have been pleased to welcome them aboard.
Insights and tips
Club Class is run by members, for members, and as Commodore Matthew Holmes explains: “It is a way of attracting people who might have otherwise not thought of being members of a yacht club. Participants include complete novices, dinghy sailors wanting to get into yacht sailing, and people who already have their own yacht but want to develop their skills or start racing.
“The key point is that it’s not a training course. We invite people to join the club, and as members they are able to take part in Club Class. The model involves existing members taking people out in their boats, so it’s also a way of integrating people into the club.
“We try to ensure that people experience different shapes and sizes of boats, and make certain that every boat has enough experienced crew on board to help. It enables our participants to learn with confidence, make an informed choice about what they might want to do going forward, and get to know as many people in the club as possible.
“Our advice is to make certain it’s safe and fun and that it brings together your existing and new members, so they get to see the social side as well. Club Class at Brighton Marina YC always finishes with a buffet lunch, for example, to which the participants and all club members are invited, providing an opportunity for everyone to mix and feel a part of the wider club.”
