The ‘Club’ Problem

One of the great benefits of publishing a book on the America’s Cup is the phenomenon that is the ‘book tour’ and whilst I’ve done my share of dusty town halls and book fairs on the Isle of Wight along and around the South Coast, even internationally, the most animated audiences are to be found in the yacht clubs. Usually, the crowd are fortified by a few swift ones at the bar beforehand, and who can blame them when staring straight ahead at them are two hours of history, facts, research and new opinion on that first race in 1851.

There is a pattern to these yacht club events, and it is universal. The Commodore or a senior committee member does the jovial meet-and-greet where, to a club, they have been incredibly hospitable and welcoming. However, a quick chat and an angled question about ‘how the club is doing’ or how that Commodore/Committee Member is ‘getting on in the current environment’ and the floodgates open. In precis, the answers seem to be along the lines that the club has struggled post Covid, waiting-lists are a thing of the past, the desire for club membership has changed, costs have risen, old members keep dying and the young are tricky at best with so many other sporting opportunities readily available to them.