Hi and welcome to the berthing section....
Boat Stickers
The main change this year is to the way the boat stickers (including Canoes, Windsurfers and Tenders) are used.
Historically, a boat sticker with the year and berth number e.g. 19005 has been issued every year once the annual berth subscription has been paid. This has become problematic as stickers are no longer sent out in the post, and it has become more difficult for the Berth Marshal to manage as most boats do not have their owners name on.
Going forward, stickers will now contain a serial number and the owners name e.g. SYC0001 Bloggs and will only be applied to the boat once. The sticker then effectively becomes a “registration number” rather than an annual “tax disc”. These will be applied by the Berth Marshal in March 2020 once renewals have completed. It is possible that some boats may still be incorrectly identified, so it would be immensely helpful next time you use your boat if you could just check that the sticker bears your name, and not someone else’s!
This will also save the Club money and effort as the stickers will not have to be applied every year. The validity of members berth subscriptions will then be managed using the membership (WebCollect) database.
The berth number will no longer appear on the sticker as boats can get moved during the season. An electronic map (see links at the end of this article) will now show which berth members boats are allocated to, and a paper copy will also be placed on the Club noticeboard. You can also check your berth number when you login to your Webcollect account (follow links My Home > Manage/Renew my subscription > View/Edit).
The Club does not believe that by doing this there will be any GDPR Data Protection issues, as it would be deemed reasonable for the purposes of running the Club efficiently. However if you really don’t want your name to appear on your boat, please let me know, and an anonymous identifier can be used instead.
Signing on
The Club has operated a policy for some time now to monitor boat usage. This is to ensure the Club is active and that the boat park does not become a storage facility, something that can be a risk for coastal sailing clubs. If boat usage is low, members will be contacted to advise them that their boats may be moved to less accessible areas of the boat park, or in the worst case scenario, asked to remove them from the Club. Nominally Dinghy owners are expected to use their boats at least 5 time a year, and Catamarans 10 times.
Please, please therefore remember to sign on EVERY time you go sailing. This is less of a problem for racers as they have to sign on to get a result, but forgetting to sign on often results in dinghy cruising members being contacted, even though they have sailed frequently.
A few other things to be aware of…!
Berth Allocation - please note that a berth allocation at the beginning of the year is not necessarily fixed for the year and the Club retains the right to move boats where it enables more efficient use of the boat park. This typically applies where large spaces have been used to accommodate smaller boats. The Berth Marshal will also endeavour to locate the same classes
of boats together.
Selling your boat to another Club member – one of the biggest problems is when boats are sold to other Club members and the Berth Marshal is not told. If you do this, please, please tell me! Under the new “registration number” regime, you will continue to get a renewal request for your boat if it is still registered under your name.
Trailers – please DO NOT store your boat on it’s road trailer in the boat park. Space is limited, and when this happens, it can make it difficult for members to access adjacent boats, and over time has the effect of nudging up adjacent boats, and the Club loses berth space. Please store your road trailer at the far south end of the site, and ensure it has a paid up annual subscription.
Expired subscriptions – If you decide not to renew your dinghy berth subscription, please remove your boat from the Club by 28 th Feb of the relevant subscription year. Following a recent audit of the boat park, it was disappointing to find quite a number of boats that had not been paid for. Going forward, the Club will adopt the RYA recommended process of giving owners of unpaid boats, one months notice to remove them, and after three months the Club has the right to consider boats as abandoned, to sell them, and deduct arrears from the proceeds. Full details of this process can be found at RYA abandoned boats.
Steve Peat Berth Marshal 27th January 2020
Contact the berth marshall.