The Club has approximately 1,100 members and I welcome all of them, however, my best guess is that fewer than 200 participate fully in Club life. I recognise that there are many competing draws on members’ time, you may have a young family, a particularly busy career or live away from London but participating in Club life does not necessarily mean coming to the Club every week or sitting on a committee.
 

Looking at the list of social and sailing events that we have lined up for 2011, I cannot fail to conclude that the Club is providing one of the most stimulating programmes of any similar Club I am aware of. And yet we often struggle to get the participation that these events deserve.

Take the south coast Frostbite Rally as an example. When I first joined the Club we regularly got 30 plus boats and 100 plus members participating. We now struggle to get half that number – why is this? Similarly, our Christmas Party was always a must-attend event, we have had to remove this from the calendar now because of lack of interest.

This is your Club and if we are not putting on the events that you want to attend then please tell us. It’s wonderful to see the usual familiar faces at the Club on a Tuesday night and to see the familiar boats turning up for the rallies but where are the rest of you? I know that we have many sailing members on the south coast, I sometimes see the burgee flying from an unfamiliar boat. Why not try coming along to a rally once in a while. I know that many sailors don’t enjoy being organised and believe that a rally is a regimented event that is not their cup of tea – try it, I think you may be surprised, they are very informal events and great fun.

Equally, give Club Night a try. If you haven’t been to the Club for some time have a look on the website on the What’s On pages and look at the calendar of events select one that looks interesting and come along. If you’re worried about not knowing anyone at the bar just look me out, you might even want to buy me a drink! Seriously, there are so many reasons for participating, it just takes a bit of effort. The Club offers one of the finest venues in London, it’s comfortable, the view is wonderful, the food is great and the company is very friendly, give it a whirl.

Participation can be anything from attending the odd rally to full blown committee membership, you chose how much you want to commit. But think about it, you’ve paid your membership fee and unless you really get something else out of it you’re not getting good value for money.

My mission, shared by your board, is to increase membership to 1,500 by 2015. This is a very demanding task and requires a huge effort by all involved. Achievement of this would ensure the financial sustainability of the Club well into the future.

Another, perhaps easier way of achieving the same end would be to raise the number of actively participating members to 400. Not only would this improve the Club’s financial position but it would make the Club a more vibrant place for all our members, this has to be our ultimate aim.

In a way I would much rather have 1,00 members with 400 or more actively participating than a churning membership of 1,500 with fewer than 200 really participating – at least we would have the satisfaction of knowing that we were providing what members want.

So, come on, step up to the plate and get a bit more involved. The rally programme is one of the best, the Fast Cruises are a huge success, our social and lecture programme is among the best but all of this is for naught if it isn’t what you want.

So let us know what it would take to get you more involved. In the short term we are still looking for volunteers to help organise various Club activities. If you want to get a little more involved and you have any of these skills – marketing, finance, buildings maintenance, IT, administration – let us know, we don’t bite, we won’t take too much of your time and you’ll enjoy the experience (I promise!).