dyzzypyxxy said:I thought it was the job of the District reps to collect membership dues at the District Championships.
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dyzzypyxxy said:I thought it was the job of the District reps to collect membership dues at the District Championships.
Do you really think that regatta organizers should burden themselves with the duty of collecting money for the Class they are hosting?
Our club hosted a big Opti gig this summer and the Opti Class reps certainly held up their end by taking care of their own membership dues.
Besides, having a Class rep at the registration table of a District event is just good PR. This class could use a stiff dose of PR, imho.
dyzzypyxxy said:When I was a District rep I organized, hosted and sailed in District Champ regattas every year. Invariably, local people with Lasers would show up on the day of the event wanting to just go sailing with our group.
I must admit that I lacked the moral fortitude to ask some 18-yr. old for an extra $35 (which was the going rate then for Class membership) when I knew darn well that one of two things would happen:
1. they would turn around and go home because of lack of enough funds and be disappointed that they couldn't sail, and we were trying to rip them off. Great PR for the Laser Class.
2. they would pony up, sail the regatta but feel ripped off because that was very likely the only time they would race their Laser that year. Thus instead of the $20 or $30 entry fee, they have paid $55 or $65 for one regatta. Think they'll be back next year?
Our policy, which I discussed with my fellow district sailors, was to let these people sail the first time they showed up, but also let them know that they really SHOULD join the Class. then if they showed up again the next year, no qualms about standing firm on Class membership.
Nowadays, I belong to a club that hosts a lot of these types of regatta. May I correct Merrily, in saying that the Class is in a begging position in getting clubs to host regattas, not "honoring" the club with their regatta.
We're a volunteer-run club without a professional Race Manager so everything is done by club volunteers to run any regatta. We do registration and scoring, we do RC and organize protest committees, we set marks, we organize food and supply powerboats manned by volunteers for RC, mark setting and safety. We absolutely do NOT collect any Class memberships. We are doing a lot of other work to run the regatta and we are volunteers for our club, not for the Class. The District reps and elected Exec are the Class's volunteers. It is their job to grow the Class.
Let me say, though, that the idea of the regatta organizer to make the Class dues payable by anyone who pre-registers, either online or by mail, is excellent as long as he is willing to be responsible for getting the money and member info he collects to the Class. Sounds like one more volunteer chore to me.
People who pre-register for a Laser regatta are not the people I outlined above. In my experience, Laser sailors are notorious for NOT pre-registering, though. Last Laser event we hosted, we had 16 pre-reg's Friday night and ended up with 60 boats Saturday morning.
Sorry about the tirade. Hope it changed Rob's opinion of me.
dyzzy