Adam Smith, Tuesday, 19 February 2013
Warren Stahel is seeking assistance to launch a new midweek sailing opportunity
Part time Nomad and member Warren Stahel is about to set off on the 'big lap' and is looking for 2 retired sailors who can give drive & leadership to a project he has presented to Yachting Victoria. The original proposal is as follows:
PROPOSAL
MIDWEEK OFF THE BEACH INTERNET BASED SAILING
Concept: To provide an opportunity for mid-week off the beach sailing for retired and semi-retired sailors & encourage partners to become involved. The baby boomers are a large part of the current sailing fleets in the state
Objectives:
· To allow retired and semi-retired sailors who want to sail competitively a regular venue mid-week, similar to the mid-week keel boat clubs. Weekend workers & sailors on RDO’s could also have an opportunity to sail. This would not interfere with their home clubs sailing programs
· To utilize off-beach yacht club facilities more effectively and increase their revenue
· To provide an avenue for fellowship and social activities
· To raise the profile of sailing, by promoting and encouraging continued involvement in sailing
· To provide this mid-week venue to those who want to sail when their regular race day is blown out at the weekend or thru other circumstances cannot sail one weekend
· To utilize the Yachting Victoria on-line registration.
How
· Off-beach yacht clubs to nominate as start-up venues, outside of the city clubs. These clubs to be those that do not close over summer holiday period. As it is a small number of sailors that attend state & National titles & thus the 5-6 week closure of sailing thru from mid Dec until early Feb is avoided
· The nominating clubs to provide rescue boats, however some assistance may be given by the sailors partners
· Race will be at 11am with a social BBQ at the club afterwards or lunch at the club canteen where partners if not sailing can join in. This also gives the keen sailor time to return to their home club if so desired to sail a twilight event if held at that club
· A $60.00 membership fee dollar would allow the purchase of name tags & a club shirt that would be good publicity for the club & allow other sailors to ask about the concept. In future years it may allow the purchase of the clubs own rescue craft.
· On-line registration would allow registration to be coordinated efficiently on an established and well known site. It would also give the new club credibility. Having an independent body for registration would eliminate rivalry between clubs regarding poaching of their members
· On line registration to charge a fee of $10.00, 48 hours prior to the race. If the club is providing lunch, expected numbers to be nominated. This would allow the club to plan both for the sailing and catering. The club to earn $8.00 & $2.00 retained for admin purposes
· Late registration or on the day registration to incur a fee of $15.00
· To be promoted, advertised through the Yachting Victorian Web Site & at every Off the beach club in the state
· To have a representative from the new internet club to be the liaison with Yachting Victoria
Benefits:
· Opportunity to keep older sailors sailing in a monitored and safe environment
· Meet with like-minded and similar aged people & thus one does not have to play golf with the dust & flies.
· Maintain the health, fitness and well-being of participants
· Utilization of club facilities that usually remain closed during the week
· Increased revenue for participating clubs
· Raising the profile of sailing
Potential Future Benefits
· Increase Participation numbers in sailing
· Opportunity for children to gain knowledge and skills from the older, more experienced sailor, maybe through a linked in Victorian Yachting program
· Ability for clubs to grow in members, finance and assets
· For clubs to organize 1, 2, or 3 day events where there is some time spent visiting the local area EG a winery on the 3rd day after 2 days of sailing. This would be similar to what happens at state titles except that the focus is fellowship & sailing but the results are a good time for all
The initial meeting with YV went very well they are keen to proceed next year and are putting their resources and people behind it.
There is a further meeting next month when a lot of the logistics will have been considered by YV. It would be good to have two people at the meeting. The type of person we are looking for is retired or semi-retired, has good organisational skills, enjoys networking ,has the energy and is keen to help make this happen. YV has some people to approach & Warren also has some.
It is planned to have a start up at the beginning of next season but a fair amount of planning is still needed.
WYC will be considered as a host club, however we are not approaching any other clubs until all the ducks are in place.
If you are keen to get involved,please contact Warren at wstahel1@bigpond.com
Last Modified on 19/02/2013 19:14