I want to thank the 24 of you (about 10 % of the Members) who took the time to answer the Questionnaire in last June’s S-t-S. More than half took the time to write suggestions for the race program and/or Meetings. Most seemed satisfied with the Club. 19 respondents rated all three programs good to excellent (about 80 %)! No one rated more the one program below good! Here is a quick over view of the questions that can be tabulated.
The S-t-S : Everyone said keep the ads and at least as many photos. Only 3 wanted another mailing date and they were split between earlier or later. Nothing was read by everyone, but the Meeting Preview and the Cruise News came close with 23 readers. The Race Results, RC Report, and Education Chair’s articles had almost as many readers. More read the Cruise News than go on Cruises, and non-racers read the race results and RC Report. Least read were the Rules Review and Summer Snow’s letters, about 75 % read them.
Meeting Programs : Each of the four topics was enjoyed by over half the respondents. Most mentioned was racing/boat speed, but the top three were very close. Politics/local was mentioned the least. There were a lot of good suggestions for topics (one so good that we did it already, a GPS manufacture’s rep., maybe it’s time again?).
Race Program : The largest consensus to ‘what to change’ was the 9 who said nothing but maybe the weather. Next largest was 8, who want more classes pertinent to racing. And 4 people want more races. 4 people also circled shorter races and Saturday races — but someone circled longer and someone else circled Sunday. Mentioned but less supported : simpler rules, the standard IYR Rules, a better handicapping system, later starts, and more crew. 16 said they would come to a rules seminar!
The respondents are much more active than average. All made at least one Meeting. 80 % raced, about half as skipper, half crew : almost 60 % of those raced 12+ races. 15 % race dinghies. 20% went to the Rules Seminar. 40 % went on a Cruise or seven. Time in the Club : 5 <1 yr., 5 1-3 yr., 8 3-6 yr., 6 long time.
We received 10 more questionnaires late. They didn’t make the above article, but they have been looked at by the Board members. The trends seem to hold, at least as far as opinions about the programs go. The respondents are different though. About half are from brand new members.
Ed