Sail Time

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

The Concept Membership Levels What is a SailTime? What Does It Cost? Our Fleet of Boats Some Details What about Skills? How about Owning a Boat? FAQ SailTime is where one person owns a boat, and shares it with a half-dozen other folks; one season at a time. In a seasonal base like Rhode Island, each of the half-dozen members pays a single annual fee, and gets a certain amount of “sailtimes” per month, for a six month season. The sailtimes are managed by an online system to keep it fair. A member signs up for an individual boat, so the same people use the same boat for the season. The SailTime base manages the boat, keeps it clean and maintained, and ensures everything runs smoothly. ALL expenses are paid including fuel. There is training provided, and a check-in/check-out system when the boat is used. SailTime uses Hunter Sailboats, and all the boats in the fleet are new and extremely well equipped. At the five year point the boat retires from the SailTime program, and migrates to a traditional bareboat charter program. Buy a "share" on a 2006 Hunter 36 for one season Boat is loaded with equipment including A/C, chartplotter/radar, bimini & dodger, dinghy, diesel generator, and more One price, all inclusive Guaranteed monthly sail times with online scheduling , plus unlimited "last minute" usage as available Boat well maintained, cleaned weekly, and detailed monthly Six members per boat plus owner Visit our SailTime website.. There are three levels of membership. The CLASSIC membership: A member is guaranteed seven sailtimes per month. A sailtime is either all day from 10:00AM to 6:00PM, or all night from 6:00PM to 10:00AM. The seven sailtimes are allocated into two weekend and five weekday time slots. See the “what is a sailtime” page for details. Sailtimes can be joined, so a day/night/day is three sailtimes. In addition to the seven, any last minute (24 hours prior) sailtime selected is “free time” and does not count as one of your seven. SailTime LITE: A member is guaranteed three sailtimes per month. Does not have last minute privileges. Costs about half of what a classic membership costs. SailTime Crew: Two sails per month with a captain/instructor on the bay. Sailing is with captain and other crew members. Available as crew for the other Classic Members on the boat. One ASA course comes with membership, and no joining fee. 1. A sailtime is an allotted period of time that you can use the boat. It is either 10:00AM through 6:00PM; or 6:00PM through 10:00AM. The member must have the boat back, clean, and stuff removed at the end of the sailtime, which means you really need to back at least a half hour before the sailtime ends. 2. Sailtimes can be joined together. You could do a day/night/day and use three sailtimes. 3. A standard membership gives you seven sailtimes per month. One weekend day, one weekend night, and five day or night during the week. Weekend is Friday night through Sunday afternoon. Friday day and Sunday night are weekdays. Major holidays are weekends. 4. Sailtimes are reserved using the online calendar. The system automatically sends you a reminder email asking for a confirmation 72 hours before your scheduled sailtime. To reconfirm you simply hit a link on that email and send it off. If you have not reconfirmed that sailtime 36 hours prior, that reservation is deleted and then open to other members. If not reconfirmed and deleted, that sailtime does NOT count against you as one of your allotted monthly sailtimes. If you confirm, it does count. 5. Holidays are a special classification (especially Mondays of a three day weekend.) We want everyone to play fair. There are three major holidays during the summer. Memorial Day, 4^th of July, and Labor Day, so there are 18 total holiday days and nights. Columbus Day is also very popular. There are six members plus an owner. I ask that each person restrict themselves to one holiday weekend. I don’t want to make this a hard and fast RULE, but we need to work together so everyone has a fair shake. 6. Any sailtime not spoken for 24 hours prior is open to the members; and if selected, does not count as one of the allotted seven. No limit, weekends included. 7. Sailtimes can be borrowed from one month to another except for June/July/August. In other words a few August sailtimes can be moved to September, but not the other way around. 8. Members can swap sailtimes. In other words two members could swap their weekend times for a month; so each would have a full weekend over a two month period. Cost varies with the size and age of the boat, as well as membership type selected. For 2006 Hunter 36 Classic Membership is $7900/season plus $1000 joining fee SailTime LITE is $4000/season plus $1000 joining fee SailTime Crew is $2500/season with no joining fee For 2012 Hunter 36 Classic Membership is $8400/season plus $1000 joining fee SailTime LITE is $4200/season plus $1000 joining fee SailTime Crew is $2500/season with no joining fee For 2012 Hunter 33 Classic Membership is $7400/season plus $1000 joining fee SailTime LITE is $3700/season plus $1000 joining fee SailTime Crew is $2500/season with no joining fee 2006 Hunter 36 “Puffin” Specifications · Engine: 29HP Yanmar Diesel · Dinghy · Bimini and Dodger Electrical · Raymarine ST60 Depth/Speed/Wind · Raymarine Autopilot · Raymarine C-80/GPS/Radar · Electric anchor windlass · Diesel Generator · Oversize Battery bank w/battery combiner Interior · Stereo · Electric flush head · Microwave · LCD TV with DVD player · AC and Heat 2012 Hunter 33 to be added in 2012 Member interest is high and I will need a new Hunter 33 next season. Interested? The SailTime model is set up to include one owner and seven members, or eight users on a boat. SailTime Rhode Island limits to membership level to six plus owner, or seven users per boat. Although this cuts deeply into profit, we feel the increased available time for a members, and increased time for cleaning and maintenance, is worth it. A SailTime boat has everything you need but food and linens. EVERYTHING. Pots & pans, charts, cruising guides, first aid kit, tools, binoculars, toilet paper, and so on. You bring your own food. You wipe the boat down when you leave, and take whatever you brought on board with you. There is a cell-phone based check in/check off system where a member checks in upon arrival giving us the details of boat condition etc; and when checking off lets us know if the boat needs anything. This ensures the boat is always well maintained, and stocked with the appropriate supplies. SailTime Plus: This is a program where a member of one SailTime base can rent a boat from another SailTime base; any time, anywhere in the world. This is subject to boat availability at the base you are interested in, and there are fees involved that get paid to that base for the rental. SailTime is often a stepping stone to get a sailing novice to become an accomplished, seasoned sailor. Many folks who inquire about SailTime have inadequate skills to take the boat out at first. We are equipped to deal with that situation. We will take your sailing skills (and in some cases no skills) and give you the training you need to bring you to where you are comfortable in taking out the boat...and so we are comfortable with you taking it out as well! Let me mention most member's biggest concern usually comes from docking. We have an instructor work one-on-one with EVERY member docking again, and again, and again until we are all comfortable with docking. We have yet to have an insurance claim because of a docking problem, and that is because we focus on it so much. Generally speaking, first we would assess your skills, and determine what training is needed. We require SailTime members to be at a level equal to our Intermediate Cruising course (ASA 104), also known as the Bareboat Certification course. As your skills increase you would be granted increasing levels of sailing privilege. Each member that needs training will have a custom plan depending on skills and the individual goals that brought them to SailTime in the first place. A common scenario is where someone knows how to sail, but does not have experience with a larger boat or inboard engine. In that case we would “challenge” the ASA 101 Basic Sailing course and get that qualification, and take ASA 103 Basic Cruising. Upon completion of that 103 course the member could take the boat out in average winds and start gaining experience. Once the ASA 104 Intermediate Cruising course was completed, that member would have unrestricted use of the boat. Another common scenario is where a member does have some experience sailing and docking, but has concerns about sailing a bigger boat than they are used to. In this case we would “challenge” Basic Sailing and Basic Cruising, and take the 104 Intermediate Cruising course at no charge, getting them comfortable with a larger boat. The SailTime program is designed to take you from where you are, bring you to a competent, confident level; and give you a boat to use for the season to gain experience. When someone owns a boat and puts it into the SailTime fleet, ALL your annual expenses are covered. You are one of the members, and schedule your usage on the interactive calendar. The base manages and maintains the boat, and also pays the commercial marine insurance, slip fees, winter storage, and all other annual costs to the tune of $11,000/year. These expenses are paid by the base regardless. We also give you 30% of all the membership fees. So with six members, you have the funds available to cover the mortgage expense. You pay the mortgage, and you are responsible for the mortgage. The boat is generally formed into an LLC as a business, and as such the boat is depreciated, and mortgage interest is deducted. This results in a tax advantage further reducing cost. We can go through the financials, but at the end of the day you buy a boat, have a “free” SailTime membership for five years, and can then sell the boat breaking even with the business. This is assuming the six members every year. Like any business there is risk, but if for some reason there are fewer members, there is a sliding scale and you get to sail lots more. Q How does a SailTime Membership work? A SailTime is just like a gym membership, but on the water. You pay a membership fee, use the equipment, wipe it down when you are finished and leave, without any of the ownership responsibilities. SailTime also provides an online sophisticated (but simple to use), 'fair share' scheduling system that has been developed over 10 years. There is a check-on and check-off system that makes it easy to schedule your time and ensures the boat is always clean and ready to go. SailTime is perfect for anyone who wants a more affordable way to sail on a new well-outfitted yacht. Q How do you schedule the 'sail times'? A Via our exclusive and proprietary online SailTime scheduling software. The software allows you to reserve and swap schedules in real-time. You are allocated a number of sailing 'slots' (called sailtimes) each month that you can use that month, bank for use in the following month, or borrow unused slots from the previous month. Q Can I stay overnight on the yacht? A Yes. Every evening 'sail time' starts at 6.00 pm and ends at 10.00am the next morning. Q What stops one member reserving every weekend? A The number of monthly sailtimes allotted are divided into several categories. The Scheduler keeps track of these categories of usage and together with other rules allows all members a fair and equitable chance of booking their preferred sailing times. Q Can I use the yacht if no other member is using the time? A Absolutely! You can schedule an unlimited number of sailtimes if they are available within 24 hours, for which there is no extra charge. Q What is the maximum number of members on any yacht? A Typically a SailTime yacht is made available to 7 members and 1 owner-member. At SailTime Rhode Island, we limit the boat to six members so we have time for increased member opportunities as well as cleaning and maintenance. Q How much will I have to pay when l join SailTime? A There is a one-time joining fee, which covers induction and training, and then there is an annual membership fee. That’s it! Pretty simple. Q What happens if the boat is damaged and out of commission? A We have never had this happen as we maintain the boats to a high level, and go to great lengths to make sure our members have the required skills; but in the event that your boat is unusable for more than a week, your SailTime Base will either have another boat to use, or do some pro-rating for lost time. Q Am I a part owner of the yacht when l join SailTime? A No. Shared ownership of the yacht creates many complexities. A SailTime owner-member owns the yacht. If you are interested in taking advantage of our owner/member program, speak to us! Q When does the season start? A We start May first and go through November first. Our boats have heat, so early/late seasonal use is enjoyable, and the anchorages are deserted! Q What are the specifications of the yacht? A The yachts are very well equipped including chart plotter, autopilot, heating, electric windlass, galley items and other features that make yachting easy and enjoyable. We keep our yachts at Cove Haven Marina in Barrington, RI. Q Who is responsible for cleaning the boat? A Members wash down the topsides, clean below decks and remove their trash, etc. after use. SailTime will ensure that the boat receives a deep clean at least once a month. These measures ensure you get the boat in pristine condition each time you go sailing. Q Who is responsible for the cost of re- fuelling the yacht? A SailTime. The membership fee is flat rate and includes all diesel and cooking gas used. You only need to bring linens for an overnight, and food. Q How do you handle irresponsible members? A The Membership Agreement makes provision for those members who abuse SailTime's policies to be fined or ultimately removed from the program. Q What experience do I need to become a SailTime member? A None! SailTime is able to take members that are complete novices. An important part of the SailTime program is the nurturing and training of our members through ASA courses to become competent, safe and confident yachtsmen and yachtswomen. That said, you get more sailing privileges as your skills increase. Q Can I share my membership or are there different membership plans? A Yes, you can. Normally the 'Member' is husband and wife, but the second person could be a partner, sibling, or friend. Obviously, you share the time allocation of 1 membership. However, as frequently happens, you both sail together the majority of the time, but you have effectively halved the cost of membership! Or there is the SailTime LITE plan. (three 'sailtimes' per month) Q Can a season be prorated? A Yes, but it is a sliding rate. The season is six months long. First month is 1/12 off, second is 2/12 off, and the third month is 3/12 off. Then the season slides the other way. So an $8400 seasonal membership would be $7700 on June first, $6300 on July first, and $4200 on August first. That said, we seldom have available memberships after the season starts.