Profile Study of Yacht Clubs August 2010

Key Findings

1. Organization Specifics
2. Programs and Facilities
3. Member Specifics
4. Youth Programs
5. Staffing
6. US SAILING Interactions & Desired Services

Organization Specifics:

• The vast majority of tested organizations (70%) are best described as “Yacht or sailing clubs.”  This was a 23% decrease from 2007.  Nearly one-quarter (22%) identified their organization as a “Community sailing club,” up 17% from 2007.
• Over one-half (51%) of the organizations tested were from the East, just under one-third (30%) in Central regions and about one in five (18%) in Pacific regions.
• The majority of tested organizations were established during the 20th century, with most (42%) formed between 1950 and 1999.
• Nearly two-thirds (63%) of organizations were primarily open year round.  This was a 7% increase from 2007.  Conversely, the number of seasonal clubs was down 7% to 37%.   Organizations open seasonally were open for an average of 22.4 weeks per year.
• Over three-fourths of the tested organizations (72%) are members of a regional sailing association.
• Based on organizations that responded,  the average organization charged $363 per year for an individual membership. 
• Less than two-thirds (61%) of the organizations tested charge initiation fees, with an individual membership costing an average initiation fee of $1007.
• As membership sizes grow, so too do average initiation fees ($172 Small, $822 Medium, $1592  Large).
• Just  over one-tenth of the organizations tested (12%) have a food/beverage minimum.   For those that had a food and beverage minimum, the average was $395. 
• In order to fund major capital investments, almost half (48%) indicated they relied on fundraising.  One-third (33%) said they billed one time/ annual assessments.
• Nearly all (98%) use e-mail as a means to communicate with members.  Slightly less (89%) use a Web site  while over two-thirds (70%) use newsletters to do the same. 
• Nearly all (90%) newsletters were sent via e-mail while just under three-quarters (72%)  were in print.  The majority of those using e-mail to send newsletters also used e-mail to send official notices and reminders (82%) and updates (72%).
• For organizations with a Web site,  most used it to post a calendar (91%), event results (73%) and event / regatta registration (61%).
• Of those organizations who used social networking to maintain contact with their members, Facebook (84%) was the site used most.
• While there was not a challenge that concerned  a majority of organizations, just under half (49%) said membership growth was a current challenge, followed by racing participation- skippers/boats (45%).  The next largest current challenge was volunteer participation/ support (29%).

Programs and Facilities:

• The majority of tested organizations offer each of the following:
• Club-organized regattas for adults (80%),
• Sailing instruction- youth (67%),
• Off-season social functions (67%),
• Sailing instruction – adult (60%),
• Reciprocity with other clubs (57%),
• Lectures and/or talks by outside speakers (53%),
• Club-organized regattas for youth (53%) and
• Safety education(52%).
• Less than half (47%) of organizations tested offered wireless Internet to their members.
• The most desired services / programs included lectures and / or talks (15%), sailing instruction- youth (13%) and safety education (13%).
• The majority of organizations offer Handicap (60%), One Design Dinghy (58%) and Junior (52%) racing
• Roughly one-third  (35%) of organizations tested owned a One Design Fleet.  The class owned varied from 420’s to J80’s to Vanguard 15’s with an average of 3.6 One Design Fleets active per club.   The fleets were primarily used for adult instruction (77%) and general member use (69%).
• Of those who offer handicap racing, the majority (63%) use PHRF.   One-quarter (25%) use Portsmouth handicaping.
• An average of 1.5 days of organized racing are offered each week.
• Roughly three-fourths of the tested organizations operate a clubhouse (66%), and roughly one-half operate shower rooms (49%) and boat storage (44%).
• Most (66%) organizations do not lend their facilities to other sailing programs.
• Most organizations offered local or regional regattas (79%), member social events (79%), regattas / races open to non-members (72%), member-only regattas (56%) and private events (51%).
• Organizations ran an average of 18.6 series races and 4.1 regattas a year.
• In regards to racing participation, over the past three years, organizations generally remained stable (43%) with a slightly more organizations reporting an increase (29%) than a decrease (28%).

Member Specifics:

• Most organizations (71%) indicated that their membership’s primary interest was sailing.  Slightly less than half (48%) said that the primary interest was racing. 
• Organizations who had racers reported that over one-third were Handicap racers (39%) and One Design Dinghy racers (35%).   Less than one-quarter (22%) were One Design Keelboat racers.
• When asked about Part 2 of the RRS,  less than one-fifth (15%) of organizations tested said their members had a solid understanding of the rule.  The majority (58%) indicated they had a basic understanding.
• Regarding protests, very few organizations said their members pursue the protest process, whether the issue is big or small (9%).  The majority indicated their members avoid filing protests whenever possible (51%).
• The majority (55%) of organizations reported that they have an ad hoc protest process that is organized when needed.   A majority (52%) of organizations also reported that they were well equipped and organized to provide fair hearings.
• Most organizations (58%) indicated they host rules seminars to educate their members about the RRS.
• Just over one-third (35%) of organizations offered social memberships.   For those organizations that offered social memberships, the majority (54%) reported less than 10% of their membership consisted of social members.
• Most organizations (62%) did not have a membership category specifically targeting young adults.
• Over the past three years, most organizations indicated that adult racing participation, youth racing participation and recreational sailing have generally remained stable, 40%, 54% and 46% respectively.   One-third of (36%) organizations reported that youth participation and recreational sailing increased.  

Youth Programs:

• Slightly less than two-thirds of organizations tested (61%) have a youth program.  While children ages 5-16+ participated in the youth programs, the age groups 8-12 (94%) and 13-15 (96%) were most likely to participate in the youth programs.  The average number of sailors per program was 87.6.
• Among those with youth programs, the vast majority of organizations offer Learn to sail (99%) and Learn to race (85%) programs, and roughly one-half offer a racing travel team (55%) and recreational adventure (50%) programs. 
• These programs utilize an average of 2.8 unique fleets to handle their youth programs.  Most programs used single handed (95%) and double handed (80%) boats for their youth programs. 
• The majority (59%) of organizations do not offer any youth programs in the off-season.
• The vast majority of organizations with a youth program had a youth program director (85%).  Of those, three-quarters were employed seasonally (74%).  Regardless of employment length, the average monthly salary was $2561. 
• For those programs who answered and have a junior program director, the average full time annual salary was $41,000.
• Organizations with a youth program had an average of 6.3 instructors 4.4 of which were US SAILING certified. 

Staffing:

• Roughly one-third (32%) employ a general manager on a full time basis.  Roughly one-quarter employ a person in a full time administrative position (27%) and a Jr. Program Director on a seasonal basis (26%). 
• Three-quarters (75%) of organizations tested have a governance structure that includes flag officers.  The average term of a flag officer is 1.5 years.
• The majority of organizations have a formal committee chair for finance / treasurer (76%), racing (72%), membership (64%),  and grounds (53%).
• Regarding volunteer recruitment, the majority (60%) of organizations have reported that they have used the same effort level in getting volunteers as they did three years ago.  One-third (33%) said it is more difficult to find volunteers than it was three years ago.  Very few (7%) indicated it was easier. 

US SAILING Interactions & Desired Services:

• The most commonly utilized US SAILING services include instructor certification (40%), insurance (32%) and sailing instruction (26%).  
• The US SAILING services organizations found most valuable are instructor certification (44%), insurance (36%) and race administration seminars (30%).
• When asked which services they would find most useful, organization indicated they would prefer junior program development (32%), building race participation (30%) and regatta planning and management publications and online tools (27%). 

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