With a new award winning ‘sailing for all’ campaign, the yacht club has tripled its membership.

When Dartmouth Yacht Club came up with a communications strategy to boost membership, it had one clear message-‘we’re here for the whole community’.

With a warm welcome for the whole town, the club was the winner of the Communications category in the 2018 Royal Yachting Association, Yachts and Yachting Club of the Year awards.

Kate Brown, club commodore said: “We are proud, amazed and delighted to have won our category.”

As a starting point for revitalising activity both at the club and on the water, the committee researched what local people wanted. Members were asked for their views and informally asked to canvas friends, family, neighbours and colleagues.

Kate Brown, said: “We felt that by chatting to people face-to-face about their impression of the yacht club, we got more information than if we’d just asked random people to fill out a questionnaire.”

After listening carefully, the club then launched a communications campaign to ensure everyone in the town knew about the club, its activities and how to get involved.

“People have an impression of a yacht club being stuffy and think you need loads of money to belong” said Kate. “But we were pushing the fact that we’re a Community Amateur Sports Club-we’re friendly and approachable and we’re here for everybody.

“We wanted to dispel the idea that yacht clubs are elitist. People think Dartmouth is all posh or retired people, but one area of Dartmouth is one of the most deprived in the south west.

“There are an awful lot of people on a low income, and families who are either not quite managing or only just managing, and that’s part of our community.

“So our message is whether you are a retired chief executive of a company or a one-parent family on minimum wage, we can get you on the water.”

RYA training courses are run at a low cost and there are bursaries to help young people get on the water, supported by fundraising, grants and donations from the local community.

“Whether you’re standing on it, sitting on it or sitting in it, whether it’s powered by the wind or an engine, inboard or outboard, you can do it here” added Kate. “We want to get the whole community out on the water.”