Result – some boats removed, some placed on the bonfire, a few sold and one or two club boats gained – which were great for new members who paid a small fee to use them to offset the insurance cost.

At my present club we have a very active Cadet fleet that could not exist without about a dozen club boats. On a fine Friday evening like this one there are usually around 60+ cadets sharing a mix of club and private boats and a real buzz around the place. They are also used most Saturdays on skill development sessions.

BTW one of the original club boats I sailed was a Solo, and I am now on my third, fifteen years later.

I hadn’t thought much before about the people who want to get into sailing but don’t really know what kind of boat would suit them. But of course I was in that position once. I did go to one club that had an evening meeting for prospective members but what I found there were a lot of very passionate people owning all kinds of different boats all trying to persuade me that their favorite boat was just perfect for me. (I almost decided to buy a Solo based on one of those pitches.)

I solved the issue for me by going to Minorca Sailing where (a) I learned to sail and (b) I could try all sorts of boats and decide what suited me best. I decided based on that to buy a Laser and considering that was almost 35 years ago and I still sail a Laser I guess it was a good decision.

Sorry. I’m rambling. What was the question again?