Benefits of local clubs working together
by Rupert Holmes 20 May 2016 11:05 BST
20 May 2016
Day 8 of Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week © Rick Tomlinson /
www.rick-tomlinson.com
Members choose to join specific clubs for good reasons, so there's a sense in which it certainly makes sense to tailor what's offer to exactly suit those people. However, there's a danger this approach will miss the huge benefits that can be gained from close collaboration with other clubs.
Local clubs working together are often able to get a higher overall turnout for events. For instance, while it might seem great if your local area offers racing every night of the week during the summer, that's rarely a route to well attended quality racing that will inspire the maximum number of boats on the water.
A model that's well proven over many years is that adopted by the various clubs in Cowes. The main week day evening racing is run by the Island Sailing Club on Tuesday evenings – which no other clubs attempt to muscle in on with their own programmes. As a result, this regularly sees a turn-out of 60-70 boats across several yacht and keelboat classes, totalling close to 400 sailors.
As such it has become an institution from which members of other clubs also benefit hugely. After racing Cowes Corinthian YC is just as bustling as the ISC. So the club and its members still benefit, even though the racing for the members' XOD and Flying 15 fleets is run by a different club.
At the same time this approach doesn't preclude two other local clubs offering different styles of racing on other evenings. The best known by far is Gurnard SC's Wednesday evening dinghy racing, which is also very well supported. East Cowes SC also has a Thursday evening series for keelboats, which is more geared towards those seeking a lower key experience than the big fleets on Tuesday nights.
Even so, it wasn't always like this in Cowes. Before the formation of Cowes Combined Clubs in 1964, each day of racing during Cowes Week was run by a different club, with different Sailing Instructions, different start lines and even different racing marks. It took an intervention by the Duke of Edinburgh to initiate the collaboration with which we are now familiar.
These days there are many more ways in which the various clubs in the town work together. "There are a number of different levels in which the clubs work together that benefits everyone," says Lea Bennett, secretary of the Island SC. "The Cowes Clubs and Classes Association runs regular weekend keelboat racing, with each club taking it in turn to manage the racing. That means we don't have conflicting races on the same weekend, the fleet sizes are larger, and the work of running the racing is shared among the clubs. The club sailing secretaries meet regularly over the winter, and also work with the SCRA, to ensure that there are no clashes of major events."
As well as a shared race programme, clubs can also benefit from pooling equipment such as RIBs and other support boats. Among other events, the Island SC supports Cowes Classics with launches and RIBs, and can help with race management if necessary. Similarly, CCYC provides personnel, RIBs and occasionally even committee boats for events run by other clubs. This way, the work is shared around and collectively the clubs don't need as large a fleet of support boats, which reduces costs and maintenance logistics.
Is there anything that might go wrong? "The most important thing is to make sure all parties are getting a fair deal," says Bennett. "If a club is putting in a lot of work, with little return then it's less likely to work in the long term. From a competitor point of view you may have to go to a different club to solve problems, or for a protest."
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