nateowens
District 12
Hi Folks,
Over the weekend I visited SSA in Annspolis for the first time. I was amazed. I was awed. I fell in love. [yes, despite the very strange wind conditions and 300 degree wind oscilations]
It was just about everything I am looking for in a club. It inspired me to do one of two things.. Move to Anna's Polis, or to make something like it in Charleston. Here's a letter I am drafting to the James Island Yacht Club in Charleston. If you have any thoughts to share, I would love to hear them.
If the sentiment resonates with you, feel free to contact me and we can start a gang or maybe a sect of some sort.
Cheers,
Nate Owens
There's strong,
Then there's D12 Strong.
Dear Charleston's James Island Yacht Club,
My name is Nate Owens. I am an avid sailor with an overwhelming frustration for Charleston and its sailing scene. I moved to Charleston last year to support the southern sailing mecca. However, in six months I came to find there is a lack of small one design racing, practices and organization. The sailing scene leans heavily on the big boat PHRF racing which is prohibitively expensive for the younger generation of sailors.
In order to stay competitive a young person coming out of the junior program, high school or college needs to quickly join a large boat. They lose track of the essential skills developed while dingy racing and become a foredeck, trimmer or simply rail meat. High quality sailing is not done in Beneteau Firsts or arguably J120’s, it is done in dinghies through fast action and big fleets. A great example of this is the 470, 49ers and Laser Olympic Classes.
The James Island Yacht Club is an amazing club for sailing one designs. Your location directly on the harbor is perfect for small boats. Your beach is perfect for quickly launching large practices or regattas. JIYC has plenty of parking, a great place to watch the races and easy transport to and from downtown.
The three major sailing/yacht clubs can be broken down. Carolina is for rich big folks where sailing is secondary to their elite status symbol of a club. Charleston YC is for the midrange sailors in terms of boat expense and yacht club expense. They are a stout group and heavily support boats in the 20-35 foot category. Where does that leave JIYC? What is your identity?
I would like to compare JIYC to Severn Sailing Association who describes itself as the one design sailing club. They have hundreds of boats in an area half the size of JIYC parking lot. There are numerous J/24, J/22, Melges 24, Jets, Thistles, Lightnings, 420s, lasers and other one design fleets. The crowd is amazing. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday guarantees a fleet races or beer can races. There are consistently over 30 J/24s on the start line. There are more than 30 lasers out and about on any given series night. They have a strong frostbite series. They have become known worldwide for their regattas and their strong series. As a club they developed the strategy to support one design sailing. It is easy to become a member. Membership requires folks to contribute to the racing or help run races. They have many people join because they love sailing so much. Sailors in Charleston are begging for somewhere to call home like SSA.
The one thing that plagues James Island Yacht Club is that it is prohibitively exclusive. A two to three year waiting list will turn anyone away. Your two to three year waiting list turned me away. I don’t have the time or to wait and follow my passion. All I need is a place to store my small one design boat and a club that supports me. JIYC can provide it if it weren’t as exclusive. I would otherwise be a young, excited and dedicated addition to your club. You are losing potential lifetime members, you are losing strong sailors who can run races, practices, contribute to the renown of JIYC as well as share our love for sailing.
What is there to wait for? My focus is sailing and racing. I never saw more than 8 lasers or sunfish during the six months of trailering my boat into JIYC for “open” series sailing. I am not going to wait three years for a disappointing turn out. The strong sailors don’t want to come out for to mop the floor with the competition. They want to race against a large fleet of competitive boats. I want to get my friends to join and sail with me. They want to be able to learn to do better starts, mark roundings, boat on boat maneuvers, racing tactics and chalk talk forums discussing performance. This is not possible with a small fleet and it is not possible at JIYC in its current standing.
The potential of JIYC to be the heart of the southern one design racing is frustratingly not possible with your current membership strategy. If you want to experience quick yet sustainable growth then you will need to develop a membership strategy encouraging sailors like me. We don’t care about the social scene as much as we want to sail. All we need is somewhere to dry sail our boats. Sunfish, Lasers, Jets and the like. I would recommend creating a sailing membership category. This would allow folks like me to join. The cost would be lower, the membership would be more open, membership would include a rotation in running series races. You will need to establish facilities that allow for additional storage or more organized storage.
This is JIYC's change to do something exciting. With a membership strategy like this in place you will lay the groundwork for a revitalized sailing capitol of the south. A two to three year waiting list is for powerboaters. They can wait as they are a dime a dozen. In the mean time, you are losing sailors and lifetime members.
I want to move back to Charleston. I do not want to move back as long as there is a stagnant small boat racing scene. If you like this idea, but don’t know how to accomplish it, then I’ll do it but please don’t let me wait three years.
If you would like to talk about this in more detail, please let me know.
Kind regards,
Nate Owens
Over the weekend I visited SSA in Annspolis for the first time. I was amazed. I was awed. I fell in love. [yes, despite the very strange wind conditions and 300 degree wind oscilations]
It was just about everything I am looking for in a club. It inspired me to do one of two things.. Move to Anna's Polis, or to make something like it in Charleston. Here's a letter I am drafting to the James Island Yacht Club in Charleston. If you have any thoughts to share, I would love to hear them.
If the sentiment resonates with you, feel free to contact me and we can start a gang or maybe a sect of some sort.
Cheers,
Nate Owens
There's strong,
Then there's D12 Strong.
Dear Charleston's James Island Yacht Club,
My name is Nate Owens. I am an avid sailor with an overwhelming frustration for Charleston and its sailing scene. I moved to Charleston last year to support the southern sailing mecca. However, in six months I came to find there is a lack of small one design racing, practices and organization. The sailing scene leans heavily on the big boat PHRF racing which is prohibitively expensive for the younger generation of sailors.
In order to stay competitive a young person coming out of the junior program, high school or college needs to quickly join a large boat. They lose track of the essential skills developed while dingy racing and become a foredeck, trimmer or simply rail meat. High quality sailing is not done in Beneteau Firsts or arguably J120’s, it is done in dinghies through fast action and big fleets. A great example of this is the 470, 49ers and Laser Olympic Classes.
The James Island Yacht Club is an amazing club for sailing one designs. Your location directly on the harbor is perfect for small boats. Your beach is perfect for quickly launching large practices or regattas. JIYC has plenty of parking, a great place to watch the races and easy transport to and from downtown.
The three major sailing/yacht clubs can be broken down. Carolina is for rich big folks where sailing is secondary to their elite status symbol of a club. Charleston YC is for the midrange sailors in terms of boat expense and yacht club expense. They are a stout group and heavily support boats in the 20-35 foot category. Where does that leave JIYC? What is your identity?
I would like to compare JIYC to Severn Sailing Association who describes itself as the one design sailing club. They have hundreds of boats in an area half the size of JIYC parking lot. There are numerous J/24, J/22, Melges 24, Jets, Thistles, Lightnings, 420s, lasers and other one design fleets. The crowd is amazing. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday guarantees a fleet races or beer can races. There are consistently over 30 J/24s on the start line. There are more than 30 lasers out and about on any given series night. They have a strong frostbite series. They have become known worldwide for their regattas and their strong series. As a club they developed the strategy to support one design sailing. It is easy to become a member. Membership requires folks to contribute to the racing or help run races. They have many people join because they love sailing so much. Sailors in Charleston are begging for somewhere to call home like SSA.
The one thing that plagues James Island Yacht Club is that it is prohibitively exclusive. A two to three year waiting list will turn anyone away. Your two to three year waiting list turned me away. I don’t have the time or to wait and follow my passion. All I need is a place to store my small one design boat and a club that supports me. JIYC can provide it if it weren’t as exclusive. I would otherwise be a young, excited and dedicated addition to your club. You are losing potential lifetime members, you are losing strong sailors who can run races, practices, contribute to the renown of JIYC as well as share our love for sailing.
What is there to wait for? My focus is sailing and racing. I never saw more than 8 lasers or sunfish during the six months of trailering my boat into JIYC for “open” series sailing. I am not going to wait three years for a disappointing turn out. The strong sailors don’t want to come out for to mop the floor with the competition. They want to race against a large fleet of competitive boats. I want to get my friends to join and sail with me. They want to be able to learn to do better starts, mark roundings, boat on boat maneuvers, racing tactics and chalk talk forums discussing performance. This is not possible with a small fleet and it is not possible at JIYC in its current standing.
The potential of JIYC to be the heart of the southern one design racing is frustratingly not possible with your current membership strategy. If you want to experience quick yet sustainable growth then you will need to develop a membership strategy encouraging sailors like me. We don’t care about the social scene as much as we want to sail. All we need is somewhere to dry sail our boats. Sunfish, Lasers, Jets and the like. I would recommend creating a sailing membership category. This would allow folks like me to join. The cost would be lower, the membership would be more open, membership would include a rotation in running series races. You will need to establish facilities that allow for additional storage or more organized storage.
This is JIYC's change to do something exciting. With a membership strategy like this in place you will lay the groundwork for a revitalized sailing capitol of the south. A two to three year waiting list is for powerboaters. They can wait as they are a dime a dozen. In the mean time, you are losing sailors and lifetime members.
I want to move back to Charleston. I do not want to move back as long as there is a stagnant small boat racing scene. If you like this idea, but don’t know how to accomplish it, then I’ll do it but please don’t let me wait three years.
If you would like to talk about this in more detail, please let me know.
Kind regards,
Nate Owens