Dart 15 Forums

Bob Carter wrote:

We have had 3 open meetings this year where we have struggled to get into double figures. We have been short of both locals and travellers. Many locals at the host clubs are not showing up (or sometimes just come one day). There have also been few travellers - even when there are other Dart 15 clubs nearby.
This is despite strong sales of secondhand boats, good promotion of our events through the magazine and the best website around.
What are we doing wrong? We do not want to end up like the Catapults where all the open meetings comprise of the same 5 sailors.
Don't get me wrong - we have had sucesses (25 at Rutland and the Sprint Nationals at Instow was fantastic with 33 entries)
The way we are heading if we do not become more active, however,is that we will have an Open Circuit which involves the 3 big clubs (Grafham,Rutland and Carsington) plus the 2 National Championships and not much else.
We need the regulars to support our events and some of our new members to give them a try especially whern they are close by.
Comments and ideas welcome.

paul replied:

Don`t suppose you would let me sail my Dart 18.....?
Nope, thought not......

David Stanbridge replied:

Firstly - Bob - 06:43! hope you were posting that from home and not work! Secondly, Paul, I knew you should have kept the 15!

Rutland hope to be at a number of the later TTs (Beaver, Carsington and Grafham) and at Filey on the 8th. Hopefully four at each. I know from my own experience, that it's better if you go down in a crowd rather than on your tod, so making travellers welcome must be paramount. Haven't got any easy answers...a cheap no toll bridge between Isle of Wight and Southampton might help!...

Bob replied:

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your response. It is better going as a group. Look forward to seeing you at the Northern events.
Cheers
Bob

PS on the Isle of Wight front the deal Gurnard have struck with Red Funnel Ferries for the TT regatta on 15/16 July is not bad. A car + trailer (with 2 boats) plus 4 adults ?65 return - travelling at peak times. You need to ring the contact giveen in the events section of the web page. It is much better than previous years. Several still plan to sail across from Lepe Park.

Mark Aldridge replied:

Agreed, Open Meetings are an excellent way of learning and meeting other 15'ers.

The problem I find is that they are two days.

It is a major expedition with a family to take all needed to the IOW for example.

The local ones are more manageable, but as long as the travellers are a whole weekend, than that immediately rules out probably a large percentage of us.

I'm looking forward to completing the winter series though.

Also, with competition at Grafham even with a traveller does the end justify the means?

Carl Blenkinsop replied:

While we are talking about Gurnard I would like to stress how welcome all Dart 15 sailors will be to the Southern Area Championships on 15th-16th July.

We are looking at ways to offset the expense that you could incur if you use the Ferry. I am fairly sure that I have got permission for camping on the area of grass next to our boat park. I will be erecting a 2-3 man tent for anyone who is interested (Gordon Goldstone has first refusal). I will be asking other Gurnard members to do likewise.
Local sailors have also offered to put people up so if anyone is interested please contact me ASAP.

For those who are thinking of sailing over, the safety boat escort service for bags and extra passengers saves a lot of money and has been very successful in the past.

Don?t let crossing that stretch of water put you off, I do it from London every weekend. The reason? - the best sailing on the best stretch of water with a great bunch of people.

I look forward to seeing you all.