boat and yacht club questions

[magna 6882]

We are in the pacific northwest and have been motor homing for years traveling the country.

We belong to 3 clubs with the goal to meet and have made great friends.
We call our events rally's and 20 to 25 rigs at each event.We have potlucks, barbecues restaurants or nothing but relax.
Our clubs main thing was lots of rallies.
Are there clubs in the pacific northwest who do the same?
Roach harbor yacht club was mentioned by a friend
Suggestions for us to follow up on?

 

[Spinner]

There are quite a few yacht clubs in the Pacific NW, and yes, they do have group cruises and rendezvous. You mentioned Roche Harbor (not Roach!) - that marina frequently hosts brand-specific rendezvous.

Do you have a boat yet? If social get-togethers are a goal, you might investigate specific brands and their rendezvous schedules.

In regards to yacht clubs, there is probably no substitute for looking up clubs in your area and contacting their membership chairs or committees. They can tell you what activities are common in their membership.

Here’s a website that lists clubs: Yacht Clubs | NWBoatInfo.com

 

[Pete Meisinger]

Most marinas are "friendly" places. Generally sponsoring four or five social events a year. Marinas are generally a place to keep your boat between outings. Load up and go! Always some people who never go anywhere. They are a source of conversation and cocktail gatherings. It is not uncommon to know about 75% of the boaters by boat and name. Not what you would call close friends.

Yacht clubs are more social. Events almost every weekend, Everybody knows everybody. Many boats never leave the slip. There are often shared duties such as lift operator, bartender, cleaning committees, host groups, etc. Often cheaper than a regular marina. Usually fewer outsiders, often posted "Members and Guests Only". Often described as a "drinking club with a boating problem".

The choice is yours. You can get a really good "feel" quite quickly just by asking for a tour of either type of facility.

pete

 

[firehoser75]

Yacht Clubs cover an entire range. For example in your area, there is the Seattle Yacht Club. We have friends who are members and they love it. All kinds of social activities, committees, cruises, many private out stations, etc. It is (on the scale of yacht clubs) fairly expensive, but it offers a lot. On the other end, is the Point Roberts Yacht Club. No club house per se, few assets, regular sailboat races, organized cruises, no out stations, but very inexpensive.
Just 2 clubs at somewhat opposite ends of the spectrum.
My advice would be to try to talk to several members of any club you consider to get a feel for that particular club and it's members before joining.

 

[GFC]

Magna, we have belonged to two clubs over the years. The first one I was a member of for many years. The membership consisted of a lot of engineers and their rule book (Bylaws and Standing Rules) was almost 2" thick. They almost never held cruises, but would have 3-4 dock parties a summer. Their main activity seemed to be forming cliques and taking pot shots at the other cliques.

While we were members of that club we usually boated with members of another club. After getting fed up with the sniping between cliques at the first club we quit and joined club #2. That was several years ago and we still belong and still have a lot of good friends down there. It's an active club with informal cruises every weekend to some local destination plus several organized cruises and several parties every year.

It's important that you determine the type of club it is before you plunk down your initiation fee and membership fee.

 

[tiltrider1]

Spinner and I both belong to Seattle Yacht Club. If you have any questions regarding SYC feel free to reach out to us for more info.

Some people say SYC is expensive. I like to say it’s the best value in Yacht Clubs. You can’t compare a yacht club with a marina, main station, 9 outstations, a fleet of race boats and two restaurants with a club that has no club house and meets in the back of a Tavern miles from any marina. Both have a place, just not fair to call one expensive.