iCalendar

The basis of any ‘fair share’ scheduling system is a calendar with a rule set that ensures that every member obtains an equal amount of access to both peak and off peak times, and no one member can dominate key times.

Our online iCalendar, which allows you to book your time at home or in the office when it suits you, is designed to be flexible and easy to use.

The key benefits of our iCalendar are:

You are able to book 7 calendar days in each 8-week booking rotation, including a full weekend. Over the year this gives you 45 full days (6 ½ weeks sailing), which is more than enough for most members
You have the flexibility to book just a day sail or night through to a full 8 days and have the ability to go on a wait list or request to swap with other members for a specific date
You are able to advance book almost 3 weeks sailing time (19 full days) and up to a year ahead. This is twice as many advance bookings as some of our competitors and is very useful if you are tied into school holidays or have specific dates that you need to book well in advance
To maximize flexibility of use we have 3 booking times during the day. The ‘buffer’ time 08.00-10.00 hrs, daytime 10.00-18.00 hrs and night-time 18.00-08.00 hrs. This allows for an early start or a late finish
Bookings made within 2 days (48 hours) of sailing are additional to your guaranteed allowance and are free. 48 hours gives you time to organise your sail and crew
We send you reminders close to your booking dates for you to confirm or cancel. Up until you confirm you are free to cancel, re-bank the time and re-book free of charge

You have access to the contact details of the other members on your boat and you can call or email them if a desired date clashes. You can also invite them to sail with you.

Experience over the years has shown that the ‘average’ member will only use about 65% of their guaranteed time, which is still some 4 weeks a year and equates to much more than 90% of private owners who carry the whole of the cost of their boat!. This unused time is retained in the calendar for the other members to use. You can, therefore, sail considerably more than your 45 days a year should you wish, but for most members the vacant available time adds further to booking flexibility. Even if you live some distance away, 2 days notice gives ample time to be able to effectively take advantage of this free ‘as available’ time.

A limit on the number of advanced booked weekend days and weekday days ensures that there is weekend access for everyone in each 8 week booking period.

Here are some of the frequent questions we get asked:

“Can I book a full weekend?”

Yes, you can book a full weekend in each of your 8 week booking periods. In fact, many members that have a distance to travel will book Friday night as well and come down after work, enjoy their weekend sailing and then depart at 6.00pm on the Sunday evening. Unused weekends can be picked up using the 48 hour ‘as available’ facility.

“We know that on other competitor’s booking systems the daytime slot starts at 10.30am and finishes at 6.00pm, which makes it a very short day. How do you deal with this?”

We have much greater flexibility which allows for a start as early as 08.00 or as late as 10.00 hrs. We have achieved this by adding in a ‘buffer’ time between 08.00 and 10.00 hrs. If you want to make an early start you can book the ‘buffer’ zone together with your daytime ‘sail time’ giving you a long day from 08.00 through to 18.00 hrs. Alternatively if you want to enjoy the evening and return with the sunset you can book the night ‘sail time’ as well as the day giving you from 08.00 through to 08.00 hrs the following morning. However, if you are staying overnight, leaving the boat by 08.00 hrs might be a little early! Therefore, you can book the ‘buffer’ time along with your night time giving you from 18.00 through to 10.00 hrs the following morning.

“Do you classify night ‘sail times’ as peak periods as this can restrict the number of weekend times you can book?”

Absolutely not, you can book 6 complete weekend days (24 hour periods) in advance. Your number of mid week bookings do not impact on your weekend time.

“How long can we take the boat away for in a single booking?”

We allow a total of 8 days which would be a combination of days taken out of two 8 week booking rotations, e.g. 5+3. In reality we find it very unusual for the boat to be taken more than 4 or 5 days at a time. One of the reasons for this is that you are sailing all year round, and during the peak summer months there are other competing activities that also want a look in!

Over the years, often as a result of first meeting through one of our social events, members go on to sail with one another. In some cases members have changed boats so that they can sail with their friends and book time together. If two members are sailing together they effectively have twice the access to the boat, creating greater flexibility and more sailing in each booking period.

When you come to see us and our boats, we will also show you the ‘live’ working calendars on our boats and you will be able to see for yourself how clever the iCalendar is. Also, we are always happy to arrange for you to speak to and/or meet existing members as they are our best ambassadors and could answer questions on any aspect of their membership.