Life in a salt-marsh sailing club
Everyone hears of the yacht club stalwarts: the commodore, secretary, sailing secretary and perhaps the training officer and social secretary, but the moorings – not likely. Most yacht clubs are based outside the confines of swish marinas and modern harbours, and here a culture of self-help must be engendered. My club’s moorings are jetties ‘in the saltings’ with our own lay-up facilities. It’s run by a sub-committee who manage the work parties. The job is of great importance: without moorings a ‘marsh’ club’s very existence would be severely compromised. Mooring holder cash, put simply, is at the heart of the club’s existence, usually subsidising other activities.
Generally, readers of yachting magazines are boat owners themselves, whether it be a day-boat, racing dinghy, motor cruiser, or a sailing or racing yacht, but it struck me that the maintenance of moorings often remains the unseen side of sailing, at least, away from commercial marinas. Maintenance requirements are widely spread beyond moorings. There are two hydraulic lifting units, two independent tractors, a dumper and JCB, plus two workboats. Creek buoys are a ‘moorings’ matter too. Our safety boats are looked after by the dinghy crowd. The clubhouse lies outside the sphere, but a cross-over for ‘help’ occurs. Around the yard’s edges, sea-borne litter is cleared too.
Wherever I’ve sailed, it’s often a world largely peopled by men, but at my club, on the eastern tip of Canvey Island, women have always played pivotal roles from its 1930s inception and we’ve had two female commodores in recent years. Others have been stalwarts of a plethora of duties, but, sadly, they are only recently beginning to permeate the ‘Saturday Work Party’. Currently, we have lots of men and one woman. Three years ago, a lady pitched-up following her retirement from the classroom, gaining a free Saturday for the first time in decades. ‘I’m a competent go-fer,’ she says, but in truth does far more. On a typical weekend, ‘the boss’ dispatches teams around the mooring jetties and yard. Machinery maintenance crops up too, although bigger jobs are divvied out to paid contractors.
Jetties are a source of constant work. Berth holders are supposed to ‘fix things’ but sometimes a rebuild becomes necessary. Old timber must be removed. New posts are ‘driven’ and the structure rebuilt, in tandem usually. The team mucks in. Longer serving hands become ‘leaders’ as not all are technically minded, passing on knowledge and skills, until happily usurped. The happiest of souls are usually those ‘in the mud’!
Boat lift-out and lift-in times uses many hands. A team is assigned to each of our two cradle units with a single point of control. Another group makes light work of chocking up craft on the hard.
Of course, there are boats which are a pain out of the water, being awkward to chock up safely. Owners of boats being lifted are encouraged to participate in the day’s activities.
Amongst the group, bonhomie and acceptance of limitations prevails. It all sounds so simple, yet, strangely, a work party remains the domain of the few.