The membership is rolling for a full calendar year from any start date, so that any member joining can gain full benefit of a calendar year’s membership even if joining halfway through a season, ie without paying for two seasons. The non-sailing months in the winter are also covered by the membership fee, there is no sailing, but the boats still require storage and insurance/public liability.

The rolling calendar year membership means that there is no loss or saving to be made by deferring a membership from September/October/November to March to avoid being a member in the non-sailing months (usually January to March). A rolling membership fee at any time will by definition cover winter non-sailing months at some point, ie joining in May will mean membership for Jan-March, but the following year. The only sailing difference being to miss out on a lot of glorious autumnal sailing! Plus leaving joining a few months may mean paying increased fees at the follow year’s rates (any increase in membership fee usually begins from January after December’s AGM).

The membership fee reflects the absolute minimum running costs of the club roughly divided by the members that our boats can historically cater for. People in university are often unavailable for periods at a time and this allows for a the ratio of boats to people above. We welcome and encourage both occasional social sailors as well as more frequent sailing members and the mix provides a friendly and unique atmosphere.

If we gain more members the membership fee is weighted such that we can invest in more sailing capacity. The membership fee is about capacity and members and bares no connection to a monthly or a retail costing. We do not operate on a commercial basis and are not insured to do so. We are listed with HMRC as non-profit making: all the money is invested in the capacity of the club.

Please note that no shorter membership terms can be offered. For example any monthly charge would have to reflect the need to cover the yearly costs of the club. As such, a couple of popular peak season months would need to be almost the full price of current yearly membership. Short term members in popular months would also reduce the capacity for long term members.

Membership covers all sailing fees. Basic safety equipment (life-jackets and buoyancy aids) is provided and some personal kit loans are available (at no cost) as well as some donated to the club. Additional fees may include a small amount for petrol on a Killick yacht trip (literally a few pounds) and mooring fees split between the skipper and crew should they be incurred for a weekend in Cowes or Portsmouth for example. We do ask members to help support the club by offering some time to help with maintaining the boats and helping out with our host clubs’ for work parties and occasionally duties if possible.

In principle members can use our boats as desired, provided that the weather conditions are suitable and key skills have been demonstrated as stated in the Rules and Conditions and the “lone sailing” dinghy policy. Suitable qualifications are also required to skipper Killick – nominally RYA Day Skipper theory/practical – as well as boat orientation and an assessment by the Cruiser Bosun. We take our duty of care responsibilities to the crew who may sail as seriously as we do those to the skipper or boats. The dinghies are locked in a compound at Netley SC requiring the entry code from the the Killick committee. The tender for Killick and other required equipment are locked in a shed in the compound at SSC. Keys can be provided for entry to either club house for the use of facilities upon request along with the “skipper’s bag” for Killick containing boat keys and electronic devices (GPS, radios etc).