THE RATIONALE

All sailing clubs and classes face a huge challenge. The number of boat classes seems to be growing exponentially such that the number of available members for classes is spread too thin. More problematic for river clubs is the development of modern sailing towards asymetrics that lend themselves to open water sailing. Couple that with increasing mobility and you have a situation where London based sailors head for coastal or reservoir clubs and river sailing is seen as increasingly anachronistic.

Many river clubs have responded by concentrating on older classes but, with reducing numbers of sailors taking up those classes, this may well prove to be an unsustainable approach. The TSC has traditionally taken the class approach and currently these include Solos and Merlins. But this begs the question why would significant numbers of sailors in any of these classes come to us? Local Merlin owners are more likely to choose Tamesis as there is an established fleet and they sail all year. Solo owners are more likely to choose Island Barn for the same reasons (though perversely our fleet of Solos is once again growing!). A class based approach other than for the Raters is only ever going to place us as second best in the local catchment area.

This strategy, primarily intended to generate membership growth in the first instance, proposes the specific targeting of old and vintage examples of ALL river-suitable classes. What makes our club unique is its history and the living history that is the Rater fleet. It’s this that makes the TSC more appropriate than any other club to build an identity as The London Vintage Sailing Club.

It could be argued that no one will be attracted to a club that only sails to handicap. A number of committee members sailing older examples of 2 handed classes have sailed in both class events and Classic and Vintage Racing Dinghy Association (CVRDA) events this year. The consensus is that class racing in older boats is often unrewarding. Old boat owners can rarely contend with the newer boats and the ‘cheque book’ racers who invariably dominate the front of every fleet. Handicap racing against boats of a similar age produces remarkably close competition on the water irrespective of class and as such often much more fun.

There are a number of other reasons why this is an appropriate strategy for the TSC:-

· The club struggles to attract new members due to a lack of year round sailing. This approach suits old boat owners better as they tend to want to protect their old wooden boats from the rigour of winter sailing.

· New members who are used to the maintenance of old boats are more likely to buy in to the concept of Rater syndicate membership and are more likely to bring with them the skills that are useful to the syndicates.

· The existing social culture at the TSC is consistent with the attitude that seems to prevail amongst members of the CVRDA. They help each other out and see racing as fun – there’s a distinct lack of ‘cheque book’ racers.

Interest in ‘Vintage’ is on the ascendency. To draw a parallel, motor racing circuits around the country have been struggling in the last few years both to fill grids in modern events and attract spectators through the turnstiles. The circuit that has bucked the trend is Goodwood which has created the second most financially successful racing event (after the Silverstone F1) based entirely around racing for cars pre-1965. The contention of this proposal is that the time is right for a similar approach to be taken with classic and vintage sailing dinghies

Page last updated:  12/01/2008 14:33:19

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