Club overview

Welsh Harp Sailing Club in central London offers sailing, windsurfing, wing foiling and Sailability. Located just off the North Circular, the club is within Brent Reservoir SSSI and has Wembley Stadium as a backdrop. The club offers single class fleet racing for GP14s, ILCAs, and Cadets for juniors, and is an RYA Recognised Training Centre.

Identifying the problem

Welsh Harp SC had been running weekly evening drop-in taster sessions for £10. These were busy – and even more so when the club was included in Time Out magazine feature about ‘best date nights in London for a tenner’.

The club’s volunteers were working hard to run the sessions. But it was clear that most people were coming along for something fun to do, with no intention of taking up sailing or joining the club, so conversion rates into training or membership were low.

Challenges were further compounded by the impact of the pandemic. With a need to stabilise and grow membership, the club went back to basics with its development plans, asking itself: “What are we trying to achieve and how best can we do that?”

Implementing a solution

Welsh Harp SC has since been reviewing and evolving its development pathway. The club initially introduced a booking system for its taster sessions and then started charging £25, an amount that is discounted from the membership fee for anyone then joining.

This limited numbers and made the workload more manageable for the club’s volunteers. It also meant that participants were more likely to have a real interest in taking up sailing, rather than simply looking for an evening out.

New members are invited to sail for 20 weeks on Thursday evenings, 2 to 1 with an instructor in a GP14, enabling them to learn how to sail without it costing a penny above their membership fee. The goal is to get ‘checked out’ with the skills to be able to use a club boat for free.

The club also runs RYA Level 1 & 2 courses, priced affordably to simply cover costs. These also provide 2:1 instruction in a GP14, and feed into the Thursday evening training sessions.

There is a clear pathway at the club from beginner to racing: taster session - learn to sail - learn to race – club racing – ongoing race coaching. This is supported by:

• Access to club boats (GP14s & ILCAs) and training sessions at no extra cost
• The GP14 is a versatile boat for both training and racing. 
• Single class fleet racing on Saturday afternoons and on Tuesday evenings April to September - enabling people to enjoy competitive racing and develop skills alongside more club experienced sailors
• Free weekly improver/ race coaching sessions that really develop boat handling and prepare people for racing
• Free weekly beginner sessions
• Everyone helms – the GP14 fleet has experienced A helms and novice B helms, who sail the doublehander together. An incoming B helm learns from an A helm, with the pair taking it in turns to crew and helm. There is a race series for each, and when a B helm is promoted to become an A helm, they in turn take on a new novice, and boats with double AA pairings are invited to creating A-B pairings.
• Expanding horizons – Groups of club sailors take part in local GP14 open meetings; the national championships, with 20 Welsh Harp SC sailors on the startline in 2025; and enjoy weekends away on the coast for racing or sea training.

Consolidating progress

To further drive people along the pathway and into long term membership, volunteering encourages “buy in” to club activities. Instructor courses are 50% funded by the club, and by even more for junior members, with the club’s generosity reciprocated by a growing number of volunteers willing to give back.

From a position where the club’s handful of volunteer RYA Senior Instructors and Instructors were over-run and over-giving, the club now has a dozen SIs, and nearly all of its regular members end up gaining dinghy/powerboat instructor or powerboat/safety boat/race coach qualifications, supporting the club’s training/racing pathways.

This has reduced the demands on individual volunteers, made it easier for everyone to contribute, and helped to embed more members into club life.

Community spirit

Alongside the clearly defined routes into membership, training and racing, the club continues to make a conscious effort to create a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. The aim is to provide fun, shared experiences ashore in addition to activities on the water.

There is a varied social calendar with events like Burns, Bonfire and Movie Nights, and food is an ever-present part of the club’s thriving community ethos. The aim is not to make money but to inspire volunteering, friendship and memorable occasions – whether it’s burgers after racing or training, home-cooked meals, or Saturday afternoon teas when members bring along their own specialities or national favourites, which have included French cheeses, Polish cakes, Pakistani delicacies, Mary Berry apple cakes and artisan bread.

Expanding the idea

Excellent data collected by the membership secretary has highlighted that the most likely length of membership of someone leaving the club is one year; the second most likely is two years; and by three years, the rate drops as people become engaged, regular club members.

In addition to its training pathway and year-round activities to connect with members through winter, the club is also exploring new ways to tackle this trend.

The club has noticed that those who do the club’s RYA Level 1 or 2 courses at an early stage, then continue with the 20 week beginner programme, seem to have a ready-made group of friends and a magic bond which sees them encouraging each other into regular club activity.

The aim is now to create an environment which supports incoming members to quickly get to know more people, including timing the RYA courses better for incoming beginners.

Assessing the impact

Club membership is at its highest level and fleet numbers are also growing.

The more focused taster sessions have an approximately 80% conversion rate into club membership. Similarly, the RYA courses held in 2025 had an 80% conversion rate.

Importantly, more new members are moving further along the development pathway. In 2025 over 20 members were ‘checked out’ with the skills to be able to borrow club boats and start racing, compared with less than 3 in most previous years.

The apprentice system of having A & B helms then gives more members the knowledge and confidence to helm, race, and buy their own boat, adding up to more boats on the startline.

This pathway, whereby everyone crews and helms, has led to female racing helms making up 35% of the club’s total - supported by equality of opportunity and instructor training to empower women to both helm and crew from the very beginning of their sailing journey. Equality has been reached for women across the club’s committee and instructor roles.

Insights and tips

Commodore Liz Guest said: “Having good data about our membership enables us to know what’s happening, spot trends and be able to interpret them for our club development. It’s also really worthwhile asking new members about how things are going – it’s easy to make false assumptions about things.

“And when it comes to decision making, it’s about keeping your eye on the North Star and asking yourself, why are we doing it, what are we trying to achieve, how best can we do that?

 “We wanted to generate new members who join our race fleets or come along recreationally to the club. At the same time, three to four years ago our instructors all felt put upon, so we also wanted to take the pressure off our volunteers.

“Our racing pathway is made possible by having single class fleets and has been there for years. What’s changed is we’re now much more intentional about it. Before we’d reap one or two people, now we’re probably closer to cracking it.

“We also strategically promote volunteering. When people join they are able to access free training and enjoy a cheap home cooked meal - it’s not about the money, it’s about the community and the investment in each other. And because we’re generous, people give back to us. People realise everyone is volunteering and are inspired to do the same.

“Additionally, we support all our members to become instructors and powerboat drivers, which means people are able to give their time when they feel able to do so, and we’re respecting and valuing our volunteers by being focussed with our activities, what we do and why.

“Whether it’s a pathway into membership and racing, or developing a community spirit and volunteering, it’s about being intentional - and removing barriers.”

Visit RYA Club Zone for a variety of guides including membership retention.