Personal Watercraft Partnership - Setting up a PW club

Please find below some information on setting up a PW club, the 'technical' side of it can be found at the bottom of this page under 'a guide to setting up a PW club', along with links to find out further information about RYA affliliation.

Honest views and experiences of setting up a PW club by HAYLING ISLAND PW CLUB (HIPWC)

Setting up a club is a rewarding a fulfilling experience, although the initial journey can have its ups and downs its worth the effort for those who can visualise the benefits in the long term.

This was certainly our experience when we decided to start our own club, The Hayling Island PWC Club based on the central south coast near Portsmouth. The area is very popular with Jetskiers, Powerboaters, sailors and just about every type of water going user you could shake a barnacle encrusted stick at. The Langstone Harbour Master, who is the local marine authority for the area had a long history of complaints and problems with Jetskiers and had sought some support from the Personal Watercraft Partnership. The PWP were concerned that if matters were not dealt with appropriately the Harbour Master could in effect ban Jetskiers from the area, which would be a significant blow for the local users and for the sport in general.

What happened next would be pivotal for the local users of the harbour, and so the PWP in conjunction with the Langstone Harbour Master, set up a meeting to encourage local users to start a club and work to resolve past Jetski related problems.

The PWP arranged the meeting and also arranged for committee members from other clubs to be in attendance so that their experiences could be shared. Unfortunately the local turnout on the day was disappointing, but the foundations had been laid for a club to be formed. From this meeting in May 2007, it would take another 5 months before the decision was made to formally start a club and for a small group of responsible Jetskiers to stand up and try and make a difference. There was a lot at stake in real terms, if we fail, we could end up losing local jetski rights to use the local area for launching..(gulp!)..but if we got it right it could bring significant benefits to local users and the marine community as a whole.

Initially a group of 3 local users, agreed to stand as committee members and start a club. Now, we don't mind saying that none of us have had any previous experience of setting up a club before so we were at the mercy of anybody that would help. Our advice, to anyone who is thinking of setting up a club is to make sure you keep a contact with other clubs and benefit from their experiences (remember they have fallen off all the cliffs your about to!) and to use the PWP for their experience, support and above all their contacts!

Once we had the committee formed, we had really reached a major milestone. The committee members are key to the club. If you have people that are not committed or passionate about the objectives you have set out you will fail, no doubt about that.

Things moved really quick after that, we managed to agree our constitution, commence our website build, arrange bank accounts, design application forms and organise meetings with the people that would make our club work and for us, one of the most significant relationships we made was with the Langstone Harbour Master. In truth if we could not make this relationship work, he could in effect drop a rather large anchor on our club even before we even started. From the outset the committee were keen to obtain RYA affiliation. This was of significant to the Harbour Master as well as he wanted us to be seen as a bone fide club and not just a group of idle Jetskiers who meet up in a pub…. regularly. (although that is what we do, sort of!) The RYA affiliation was important not only for us to be able to convince the community that we were serious about our club and that we were keen to make a difference but it would also benefit our membership with the warm glow of protection that only a large organisation such as the RYA can give. This would not only in come in the form of legal representation but in the knowledge that we were running the club in an approved manner.

By October 2007, we were off and we were ready to accept memberships straight away. By April of the following year we had reached over 20 members (our break even point) reaching a peak of 50 members, a world membership record…for our club anyway!

We managed to arrange a number of events in 2008, once we had arranged our club insurance (a real must have component of your club in our opinion) and our experiences in our first year have led to us making lots of changes and improvements for our forthcoming season in 2009.

Although, due to the credit crunch we believe this will be a challenging time for all clubs.

In summary, the major issue for us was not about setting up the club, but who would be involved and who would be the right people to do the job. If you can get this foundation right the rest of the jigsaw fits nicely into place. Don't be afraid to utilise other peoples ideas, (ask them first though!) as the best ideas we had were in most cases someone else's and it doesn't really pay to re-invent the wheel, so don't! Always, always talk to someone who has been there first, other clubs and the PWP are a great resource, but don't be afraid to develop your contact network by talking to as many people, organisations, companies, suppliers as you can.

If you can put up with some administrative and thankless effort in the name of your Jetski club, you will find it a rewarding experience, especially when you see happy members enjoying themselves on an event you helped organise and you can also take comfort in the fact that you are actively supporting and protecting your sport. Priceless!

Mike Faria

Chairman 2009

HIPWC

A guide to setting up a Personal Watercraft Club:

A club can be legally defined as a group of people acting together for a common social purpose.

Although it is possible for a club to be formed without any rules or consitution, as soon as any property or assets are required, or any contract for goods or services is entered into, the law will imply a framework of rights and liabilities as between the members. As the activities of the club increase, and involve more dealings with outsiders, so the rights and duties of the individual club members becomes more relevant.

It therefore makes sense for the members of a new club to agree and adopt a constitution at an early stage, and a specimen set of club rules is provided here. Once the club has grown to such a size that it is being run to all intents and purposes as a business, the members may decide to reconstitute as a registered company limited by guarantee.

On inland waters such as reservoirs, it is best practice that not more than one club should be formed with direct responsibilities to the owners of the water, thereby ensuring adequate discipline relating to regulations and maximum use of the facility not lost through competition.

Formation:-

A club, being an incorporated association, is easily established and can be, depending on the terms of the constitution, easily disbanded. Usually a small group of people wishing to form a new club meets together, calling a public meeting for the purpose of electing a Steering committee. The public meeting should be given the widest possibly publicity, being open to all individuals, clubs and other bodies. The Steering committee should be elected in a democratic manner.

Membership of Steering Committee:-

Membershop of the Steering Committee should not exceed ten persons. If leasing of water is contemplated then a representative of the landlord should be invited to sit on the Steering Committee.

Before proceeding to the election of the Steering Committee it should be emphasised at the public meeting that all candidates should be experienced in the sport, and prepared to undertake a considerable amount of work.

It is important that all members of the Steering Committee should be free to act and advise in what they consider to be the best interests of the new club, and should not be inhibited by their loyalty or interest in another body. Some internal disagreement cannot be avoided in these early stages.

Terms of reference of Steering Committee:-

The basic terms of reference for the Steering Committee should be to negotiate with owners of water (where inland) and land giving access to water (beach) in order to establish operating rights. Draft agreements should be prepared for submission to and approval by a second public meeting, when the club will be formally established, the Flag Officers and committee can be elected and the Steering Committee disbanded.

The Steering Committee should:

a) Draft a club constitution including subscription rates for adult and junior members, a model for which is in this section. The constitution is the most important part of the club's organisation and should be carefully prepared to take in all foreseeable eventualities.

b) Prepare a provisional list of members with a record of craft owned.

c) Recommend classes bearing in mind craft owned by provisional members.

d) Prepare a list of necessary shore facilities.

e) Draft an agreement with the owners of the water or the owners of the land giving access to water, where appropriate, covering sailing rights and shore facilities.

f) Prepare plans for onshore facilities and financial arrangements for their provision.

g) Draft bye-laws (rules) for approval by the owners of the water or land to which the club members will be subject.

h) Investigate the possibility of loans and grants from local authorities and other sources.

i) Consider a provision for the affiliation to the club of schools and disabled.

j) Enable the maximum possible exploitation of facilities by schools, disabled and sea scouts sections, it is important that a club should avoid making any agreement limited the maximum number of craft owned by its members. Any agreement, if at all, should be based on the maximum number of craft on the water at any one time, if the owner of the water insists on such a provision.

Second public meeting:-

Having drafted a constitution to suit the embryonic club, the Steering Committee should call a second public meeting, at which the accuracy of the draft constitution should be carefully considered and it be ensured that all local conditions are covered.

All potential members should be invited to the second public meeting and invited to adopt the constitution. Those adopting the constitution become members of the club and those who do not will not become members.

From those adopting the constitution must be elected the committee and flag officers of the club as provided for in the constitution. The Steering Committee can then be disolved.

Full details of constitution and RYA Affiliation can be found on the RYA website www.rya.org.uk/workingwithus/clubs
For further information on Club set-up and management please email:- candice@pwpuk.org
For information on club insurance please visit the 'Insurance page' of this website.
For clubs in your area please visit the 'PW Clubs' page of this website