To me, every marina is a little bit of a club. And every marina has it's own culture. Yacht clubs often seem to be more about what's on land than the water.
We belong to a yacht club for tennis and for reciprocal agreements. However, I must say ours is quite family oriented. There is an extremely active junior sailing program and training starting with kids as young as 5. Also youth tennis and on Friday nights a Kid's Corner as a place for kids while parents socialize. And this is an older club, founded in 1938.
90% of the yacht clubs we've visited have been very friendly. In 10% transients are allowed but not embraced, considered a bit of an intrusion by some. I understand and am not bothered by that.
We're really not club types, too independent. Plus our boating isn't confined to any area. However, we have not run across circumstances that we would identify as not welcoming because of age. There are some that are big cliques and are difficult for any newcomer. If you're younger it may seem though like an age thing simply because they're older. We were at one club and an 84 year old man there told us, "Just ignore those two. They don't like anyone who doesn't live on the island. I've been coming here 20 years and they still don't like me coming. They're just cranky old men."
We belong to a yacht club for tennis and for reciprocal agreements. However, I must say ours is quite family oriented. There is an extremely active junior sailing program and training starting with kids as young as 5. Also youth tennis and on Friday nights a Kid's Corner as a place for kids while parents socialize. And this is an older club, founded in 1938.
90% of the yacht clubs we've visited have been very friendly. In 10% transients are allowed but not embraced, considered a bit of an intrusion by some. I understand and am not bothered by that.
We're really not club types, too independent. Plus our boating isn't confined to any area. However, we have not run across circumstances that we would identify as not welcoming because of age. There are some that are big cliques and are difficult for any newcomer. If you're younger it may seem though like an age thing simply because they're older. We were at one club and an 84 year old man there told us, "Just ignore those two. They don't like anyone who doesn't live on the island. I've been coming here 20 years and they still don't like me coming. They're just cranky old men."