Volunteering

During the course of these articles, we have shared some of the organisational elements of BSC which allow us to administer the club overall. Although they are essential to ensure the club functions effectively, you may have picked up on the word "volunteer" being used throughout. Of course, there are specific services that the club cannot rely on volunteers for and pays directly - such services include sailing instruction, clubhouse cleaning etc. There is also a large range of services that the club has to buy in from professionals and these can include specialist trainers, elements of boat/engine maintenance, accountancy etc. Everything else across the club is managed by volunteers who are members like everyone else - this includes all the various committees that help organise every aspect of the club's activities. We encourage every member to get involved at some level as this can only move the club forward and enhance our enjoyment of both sailing and social events. If you are wondering where to start, here are a few areas where we are always looking for volunteers:

Sailing Activities

We all enjoy going out for a sail but to run sailing events each week, there has to be a group of volunteers that will run the event. This includes a Race Officer, an Assistant, Safety Boat drivers and Safety Crew. Safety Crew and Assistant RO duties are open to everyone and if you don't have experience or don't feel confident running a race, they are a great place to learn and see how things are done - no qualifications necessary. You can build up your skills by taking powerboat and VHF courses which we also run in the club. The more people that develop the skills to run racing, the more opportunities we have to share the load and avoid the risk of having to cancel racing because of a shortage of volunteers. You can volunteer for sailing duties directly on our club website once you are logged in. Every club member should be volunteering for at least one sailing duty during the year as well as another duty from the following categories:

Cruiser Ferry Duty

Ferrying Cruiser sailors out to their boats in time for racing is needed each time Cruiser racing is scheduled. It is a great way to meet other members and get to know the different boat owners.

BBQs

During Junior Training, Regattas and other social events, we make a call out for chefs to cook some burgers or steaks on the BBQ. They are always well received and they really add to the ambiance in the club.

Bar Duty

We like to open the bar for members as often as possible and volunteers are regularly sought to serve drinks. It is easier than you might think and for busy occasions, the roster is taken care of by experienced people. There is always someone around that has done bar duty in the past to guide you and comprehensive instructions are provided.

Pen Maintenance / Work Parties

Depending on the level of vegetation growth or rubbish that has accumulated, we organise pen clean-ups once or twice a year. We put out a call to members to come down with spades, trimmers and other useful tools to help tidy things up over the course of a couple of hours. Other work party tasks include such things as decorating, odd-job maintenance and boat repairs.

Transport

In a club such as ours, there is often a bit of fetching and delivering to be done. Examples include towing boats to other clubs for sailing events, picking up sailing club supplies and collecting fuel for safety boats.

Shore Parenting

It is a condition that when a child is enrolled onto a junior training course, the parent/guardian commits to volunteer a half-day during the week to act as shore parent in the clubhouse. This allows our instructors to stay out on the water to teach instead of coming ashore to mind any children that might feel ill, upset or have an injury. Without these volunteers, individual groups are unable to launch and valuable teaching time is lost.

As you can see there are many ways to volunteer at your club and this doesn't even cover everything so please answer any call for volunteers that is put out on our communication channels as soon as possible. Get involved and BSC will continue to thrive!

Last updated 16:24 on 17 April 2024