Originally written in Sep 03 and updated in Jan 04
SAILING SCHOOL AND CADET BOAT REPLACEMENT POLICY
“If you think that education is expensive – you should try doing without it.”
1. The fundamental aim of the Club should be its continued existence and it is quite
clear that the Sailing School and the Cadet Section are most important in this
endeavour. I would suggest that even if the Sailing School ran without making a
profit from its trading then it would still be a worthwhile enterprise. Nevertheless for
both sections to continue to succeed we need to have suitable and reliable equipment.
This suggests that it should be replaced on a regular basis.
2. The important thing to realise is that at the moment we do not have a boat
replacement policy! Our present club training fleet has been built up on an ad hoc
basis over the years through three main sources:
a. A major lottery grant about 6 years ago which gave us 6 x Sport 14s, 6 x
Picos, 3 x Slippers and 12 x Oppies.
b. Donations of boats, which provided some more Oppies and some Toppers.
c. Casual purchases, which added some more Toppers, 4 Slippers, 2 Picos and
an Oppie or 2.
3. To take each of these in turn:
a. Sport 14s: These are starting to show their age; the jibs and the covers need to
be replaced for next season (note that this purchase has been agreed and these
should be replaced for the 2004 season) and the mainsails probably the year after
(although they will probably ‘do’ for the 2005 season). Given new jibs now they
might have a reasonable residual value to sell off. As they age they will
obviously reduce in value and cost us more. Maybe it is time to consider
replacement very soon. We have considered this and given the imminent
ppurchase of the Seaford property we should not be embarking on any major
purchases. Thus the covers and jibs will be replaced shortly and the mainsails in
due course. In addition Mike Woolard has been undertaking a refurbishment
programme to strengthen the bows and tidy up, mainly minor, damage.
Nevertheless perhaps it is time to decide that we will keep the boats until the end
of their useful lives, replacing the mainsails and respraying the hulls next year
with a view to keeping the Sports going for the life of the replacement mainsails
(perhaps until 2012).
b. Toppers: these are a mainstay of the Cadet Fleet and we have 15 of them –
this is about the right number (we had 17 until last year but have managed nicely
with 15 this year). Six were bought about 4 years ago when one year old and a
further 5 were bought last year (2 with a grant from Southern Sound). These 11
are in excellent condition. The remaining 4 are frankly past it, the only question
is whether we should sell them or scrap them, one of them has a very poor hull
and has been taken out of service and its spars, sail and foils been added to our
spares stock, The question of selling the others is a balance between the income
and the value of the rigs etc as spares. In any case these 4 will need to be
replaced. This remains the case and the sooner the better! In addition we should
be looking at obtaining a number of smaller Topper sails (about £100 ea) for
Originally written in Sep 03 and updated in Jan 04
smaller sailors to enable them to compete for Zone Squad places earlier. This
should be done this year.
c. Slippers: in addition to the original 3 a further boat was bought second hand a
couple of years ago and 4 from Hastings SC at the end of 2003. They are all in
good condition and we should be able to maintain them into the future with
general maintenance and perhaps new sails in due course. The Hasting has
allowed us to put 2 into the Hire Fleet and 2 into the Cadet Fleet.
d. Oppies: the 12 from the Lottery have polypropylene hulls and are in good
condition. We should be able to maintain them into the foreseeable future with
general maintenance and maybe new sails in 4 or 5 years time. We have a further
4 or 5 Oppies of various pedigree – these will need to be replaced over the next 5
years say, they will/may have residual value. At the beginning of the 2004 cadet
season we will be looking at the new Topper Taz. This is a little larger than the
Oppy and more like a small Pico. It comes either with a Bermuda rig or with an
Oppy type square sail. Topper will lend us one of each to try out in early June.
e. Picos: in addition to the original 6 boats lottery we added a further 2 last year
which were second hand. All the hulls, spars and foils are in good condition
although the sails will probably need replacing in the medium term.
4. With respect to the cadet fleet we are in a fairly healthy situation with the Cadet
Fund but 4 Toppers need to be replaced now and 4 or 5 Oppies to be replaced fairly
soon. We should also buy the smaller Topper sails to equip the fleet. Given some
small external grants and the profits from the cadet activities and reserves these
should not cost the main club funds anything. We will also have to consider the
Oppie and Slipper sails in due course and this is where money might get tight,
although again local sponsorship (company names on sails etc) might be an avenue to
explore.
5. 4. The Training fleet of Sport 14s and Picos is a more difficult calculation. The
Sailing School makes around £4.5k/pa. (Take the income of course fees and deducting
the costs of advertising, maintenance and instructors to calculate this. We do not pay
berth fees for Club boats.) Although 2003 made around £5.5k The School also
makes a contribution to Club general finances through increased memberships,
although oddly club membership costs the sailing school a discount of £30!
6. The hire fleet has made a great contribution to the retention of ex-Sailing School
students and we now retain a substantial number of the graduates. In my calculations
attached I have suggested that we have 40 students per year and that we retain 40% of
these. If we assume that they pay membership of £100 and that their value decreases
(they leave the Club at some point) by 50% pa each new membership we get nets us
£175 over 3 years. So each years’ courses nets us £2800 (40x40%x£175) thus our net
gain from the School is nearer £6500pa (£7.5k in ’03). However, it would cost us
about this to replace a Sport 14 so in their 6-year life they have paid for themselves.
The sailing school has had very little major expenditure has over the last 6 years but,
interestingly, generated around £40,000 of our present funds.
7. It would be ideal to have a rolling boat replacement policy (say 6 years for the
Sport 14s, replacing one pa) unfortunately, the boat manufacturers prefer to sell in job
lots and you can expect a discount of around 20% if you buy 6 at a time (ie you get
one and a bit boats free). All this suggests that the Sports 14s:
Originally written in Sep 03 and updated in Jan 04
a. Are expensive boats to replace as a fleet.
b. Have some residual value now, which would go to purchase new boats.
c. They need some money spent on new jibs and covers soon.
d. And not mentioned earlier, they would not be entirely suitable for the hire
fleet.
Notwithstanding these arguments I think that we should maintain the Sports into the
foreseeable future.
8. I have not mentioned the Hire Fleet in detail above but I think that we should
determine what numbers we should maintain (perhaps one or 2 less than the average
demand). We should look for opportunity purchases, for example like the Hastings
SC Slippers to replace the aging (but mainly serviceable) Otters. Ian Lambert has
done lifecycle costings for the Hire Fleet with respect to maintenance.
Finally, I think that when the Seaford site is secure we should examine the fleet
situation again, but with the view that perhaps within the next 10 years we will be
looking at building a new Piddinghoe clubhouse.
Bill Giles
Vice Commodore
Newhaven and Seaford SC
24 Jan 04