Dissatisfaction is growing among SB3 sailors regarding the cost of parking and membership at Dun Laoghaire's top yacht clubs.
In correspondence seen by Afloat.ie, one leading sailor said that clubs "need to carefully consider their pricing policies or otherwise we are going to experience a more widespread abandonment of club sailing of SB3s".
Parking and racing fees that can top more than €2,000 per year are no longer "value for money", it is claimed, and have been blamed for membership drains as well as an increase in boat sales.
Yacht club parking fees cover the mooring and security of boats on the club's property.
Unequal treatment of boat classes has also been highlighed as an issue. One sailor said: "It strikes me as being ludicrous that we pay three times what a Flying Fifteen pays to take up not much more space."
Membership fees at Irish yacht clubs were the topic of much debate on the Afloat.ie forums last year and morte on this story HERE.
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A leading bay sailor makes the following comment. "This is a very slanted article ignoring the fact that the SB3' s in the Royal Irish for example are dry-sailed so their costs includes craneage in and out for all their racing days. Also their fees for DBSC includes dedicated SB3 racing on Sundays. If the SB3s want to moan, let them put out the whole picture and not be selective. We consider it good value, not a rip-off. The clubs have to survive and are not out to reef sailors".
