Joining a YC. What a PIA!

[TheOffice]

We have been members of Eastport YC for several years. Even before Covid, we were getting little out of our membership, and our friends at the club felt the same way. Food is mediocre. Drinks are OK but not cheap. I've raced on boats there and Annapolis YC.

We decided to become non-resident members of another club and let this one fade into the sunset. It has been an interesting experience!

Ida Lewis - Very cool place, lots of history. Not accepting membership applications. Membership page of the website has a photo of members standing against the building. Looks like they are waiting for a firing squad!
Newport YC (Taught there after college) 2-3 year wait and a sponsor must have known you for 3 years - even as a non-resident
RHADC - Bermuda - We've docked there 3 times, great staff. Casual clubhouse. Saying there in June. Sent in an application to the secretary. She said we need 2 sponsors. I gave her the names of 2 officers we've met there. She said she'd get them to sign off and let us know when it is finished.

I thought a non-resident membership was a formality of paying your minimal dues and visiting occasionally. Guess I was naive!

Joel

[Rob McAlpine]

Good clubs still want you to be involved as a non-resident. Two years ago I was asked to help with outreach for Marion-Bermuda. This year I'm on the cruise committee.

Some clubs limit memberships, so someone has to quit or die to make a space. Ida Lewis is one of those. The year I joined Beverly, I was the only first-time applicant accepted, my sponsors were Bob K and 2 very prominent past Commodores. I don't think it hurt that, being from so far away, they really did not have enough familiarity with me to develop the loathing and contempt that seems to come with knowing me well.

I like BYC. The food is good and it's a top sailing club.

I quit RIYC. Too much drinking, not enough sailing. Convenient being next door to my mom's house, but I had seen enough alcohol related issues to make me very uncomfortable, and coming from me, that's saying something.

[TheOffice]

We joined EYC after Sue was asked to be on the A2B committee. Seemed like a good idea.

I knew that Ida Lewis and Newport you had to wait for someone to die to get a slip. Someone even tried to bequeath their slip to their son. The son sued NYC and lost.

All my years in RI I was never in RIYC. Just stayed at Edgewood. Haven't been to Barrington in 40 years!

[BeauV]

Joel,

I'm a member of three clubs and they're all quite different. Fortunately, two of them are really inexpensive. I have been a member of three other yacht clubs over the years and as my activity with them faded I resigned. The big shift was moving out of town and becoming a non-resident member. I don't think it makes sense to be a member of a club I don't use. When I was out in the S. Pacific for 5 years, I did retain my membership in LAYC. It got me into every yacht club I ran into. But, after living in the SF Bay area for a decade after that as a non-resident I resigned. If they had kept letting me advance up the waiting list for a mooring at Catalina Island as a non-resident I'd have stayed in. Those moorings are wonderful. But they figured we non-resident members shouldn't have that opportunity. As a result, a lot of non-residents resigned. Dumb move, in my opinion.

Frankly, I don't care about facilities much. It's always the people. If I like being with them, I'll stay a member.

[avramd]

Joel,

I can sponsor you at Newport Yacht Club. We should probably have a Zoom call before that happens so that I can more honestly say that I "know" you.

I like it. The dues are fair, the food is fair and the price of food and drink are fair. The view is spectacular. The cost of dockage is atrocious and leadership is poor. I pay $170 per season to keep an 9' inflatable on a rack that is over my head, and while I can keep an outboard on the rack next to it, I am not allowed not keep the fuel tank at the yacht club at all. I'm probably going to switch (back) to an electric outboard just so I don't have to transport my fuel tank in my car every time I want to use my dinghy.

The launch service is not included with membership dues, and is not a good deal. It's around $250/season, and it is difficult to use. They are having a really hard time staffing launch drivers, so the club steward usually ends up having to do it as a side duty. As a result, they change the schedule constantly, often without announcing it or posting it anywhere. it is very common that I go to use it at a totally normal time and it isn't running. Including getting stranded on my mooring at 6:30pm in the middle of the summer. I've swum home from my mooring three times so far.

The wait for a dock space is a joke, and the resulting docking fees are maybe a 20-30% discount over commercial slips in town - it's pointless. If that is your reason for joining the club, then don't. I can not even get on the wait list for a dock space. They have an insane system where they limit the size of wait lists, so you can't even see yourself inching forward as the years pass. I've been a member for four years, and I am still not even on the wait list for an in-water dinghy dock space. Granted at $450/season I don't think I'd take it even if it were offered.

Club leadership is not open to new ideas. The club steward is great, and is often able to talk sense into club officers, but they aren't very approachable by new members.

But even with all these complaints, I really do enjoy being a member. They've closed the upstairs lounge and upper deck b/c of COVID - but when available, they are worth the price of admission alone.

[TheOffice]

Thanks for the offer. Given the wait I'll see what happens with RHADC.

Good to know about the food service. When I taught sailing lunch came out of a vending machine!

We wandered through the clubhouse last time I was in Newport. Not much has changed in 40+ years.

[avramd]

Thanks for the offer. Given the wait I'll see what happens with RHADC.

Good to know about the food service. When I taught sailing lunch came out of a vending machine!

We wandered through the clubhouse last time I was in Newport. Not much has changed in 40+ years.

Joel, how long ago was that? They renovated the upstairs bar in 2016 I think, it's really nice up there now. (And it's staying nice really fast since it hasn't seen a customer in a year)

Two things I forgot to mention that I really enjoy that the club does is Grill Night 2-3 nights a week in the summer if it's not raining, and Prime Rib night on Saturdays in the off season, roughly Oct-May. Both are really good, and great value, much better than normal dinners there.

[TheOffice]

We are now non-resident members of RHADC!

That should give us reciprocity anywhere we want to go along the East coast and Caribbean.

We'll be resigning from Eastport. Recently, we were looking for a place to dine. We looked at the menu and it reaffirmed our decision to leave.

We'll be in Newport july 2023. See you then!

[avramd]

We are now non-resident members of RHADC!

We'll be in Newport july 2023. See you then!

Hit me up in two years then, we'll have a drink on the upper deck & I'll give you insider tips on Newport

[TheOffice]

We are now non-resident members of RHADC!

We'll be in Newport july 2023. See you then!

Hit me up in two years then, we'll have a drink on the upper deck & I'll give you insider tips on Newport :-)

Sounds like a plan!