Club overview

Spinnaker Sailing Club is an inland venue and RYA Recognised Training Centre at Blashford Lake, near Ringwood, Hampshire, on the edge of the New Forest. Renowned for team racing, it’s vibrant mix of activities also includes club racing, kayaking, paddleboarding and windsurfing.

Identifying the challenge

In 2019 the club was in a financially unsustainable position with a declining and ageing membership - but benefited from a boom in activity when the Covid-19 pandemic led to exposure for outdoor sports.

The club launched value-for-money taster memberships at £75 for a family for three months, with the option to stay for the rest of the year for a pro-rata fee, with all the benefits of a full member except equipment/boat storage.

It was a huge success: 109 families took up the offer in six months, the club didn’t make a loss, and there was a huge amount of activity. However, the taster membership could only be taken up once every three years – to ensure people didn’t repeatedly sign up for only three months a year - and the club realised this peak in activity wouldn’t last forever post-pandemic.

Implementing a solution

Feedback from the three-month Taster Memberships revealed that people wanted to take out another taster membership just for summer, rather than join for a full year and continue through the colder months.

Keen to maintain the momentum, the club reviewed its offer and in 2022, replaced Taster Memberships with Pay As You Go, providing a monthly rolling subscription. This suits the casual, fair-weather participant, who is happy to hire a club boat, with the terms specifying a minimum commitment of three months, leave and join as often as you want, and no storage of equipment on site.

Making it work

Members had misgivings about whether the club might feel more like a ‘leisure centre’ and lose income if members only paid for a few months of the year, and were worried about the impact it might have on the club’s volunteer ethos.

Addressing these concerns, the club emphasized the value of all members in running the club. It also ensured the pricing structure included a one month notice period for ‘pausing’ membership and favoured annual membership. For those who reach six months or more, it becomes better value for money to take up full annual membership, which includes a boat/equipment storage option.

Sailing Club Manager was used to administer monthly direct debits, and participation and finances remained stable during 2022 and 2023. However, with a continued need to attract training course bookings and new members, the club decided to tweak its membership model further in 2024.

Expanding the idea

Feedback indicated that many people wanted to join the club as members simply to take part in training or enable their children to take courses.

This led to the introduction of a third type of membership: a Training Membership which is just £35 a year. It only allows people to book onto RYA courses or participate in specific instructor-led club sessions at set times of the week/calendar, such as youth coaching, social sailing or Friday Club Night.

With a deliberately low price point the aim is to provide an accessible pathway. As participants progress their skills and want to use the club more flexibly, or hire a boat, the Pay As You Go membership becomes the more desirable option. For those who decide ‘I love sailing, I’ve bought my own boat’, annual membership then becomes appealing and offers the best value.

Pathway to participation

Membership options are designed to ensure that for every stage of a person’s journey in the sport, there is an offer tailored to meet their needs, with options to switch between different levels at any time. Within each tier there are categories for Adult (over 26), Young Adult (aged 17-25), Family and Junior (16 and under):

• Training Membership: Join for a reduced fee to access instructor-led courses and activities - ideal for those wanting to learn to sail, consolidate skills or build a regular habit. An accessible way to try out watersports.

• Pay As You Go Monthly: For the casual sailor or paddler with a minimum commitment of three months and good value for five months or less – perfect for those new to watersports or only wanting to use the club for a few months a year. Able to use the club flexibly, hire boats and take part in all activities, but no option to store equipment on site.

• Annual Membership: Allows the greatest use of the club activities, offers the best long term value, and includes option to store boat/equipment.

Assessing the impact

The club has seen many new people getting involved in the sport through its Training Membership, or by repeatedly coming back with Pay As You Go.

Compared to 2019, membership in 2026 has increased by around 35%. This growth has happened not in a single year, but over the period of time the club has evolved its membership model.

The Covid-19 years saw a huge spike in membership followed by a dip in 2022 and 2023, a trend which has reversed as life has returned to normality, and membership has grown again over the last two years. This growth is reflected not only in the count of members, but also in membership fees received.

The Training and Pay As You Go Memberships are largely responsible for this growth as the low cost, flexible options enable, support and encourage individuals to try membership, with a majority returning year on year.

Insights

Spinnaker SC has reduced barriers to membership and made it easy for people to join by listening to what its existing and potential members want.

Its new Training Membership offers an access point to instructor-led courses and activities, giving people a chance to learn or upskill and get to know the club.

Pay As You Go then offers a modern, rolling membership model aligned with the way people increasingly use streaming and flexible subscription services – with monthly payments similar to gym memberships also creating the perception of affordability compared with an annual fee.

Once embedded in the sport and the club, it becomes the logical next step to sign up for a full annual membership with all the associated benefits.

Operations Manager James Oborne says it’s an approach to membership which reflects some of the key findings of the British Marine Futures Project. This explored how the way people consume activities has changed, against a background of competing interests, cost of living pressures, and a move towards wanting activities to be flexible, accessible and affordable, including ‘rock up’ options that used supplied rather than owned equipment.

“It’s about perceived value and commitment. Evolving our membership structure to provide a range of opportunities has worked really well for a lot of people,” said James. “The second key lesson from our experience is that we did this by listening to feedback. Rather than just saying: ‘We need more members, we must do better as a sailing club’, we asked: ‘What would make you join us?’ People told us they wanted to participate but our traditional membership model was a barrier. We listened and created a solution that meets the needs of our local community.”