Even Keels Cruising Club Inc (club website example only)

Beach Shells, Bathurst Head, Cape York, Queensland - by Grant Da Costa
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Even Keels Cruising Club INC 9897603 ABN 37599776442

WELCOME

Welcome to the Even Keels website. We presume you have arrived here because you have seen one of our advertisements or read one of our articles. Even Keels is a private club providing a cruising catamaran for members to sail, with their family, friends or other club members. We are currently looking to fill the remaining membership position. Even Keels is different from commercial boat-owning syndicates in that the club owns the boat and the members control the club. This means that the catamaran may be sailed anywhere the members decide, in Australia or overseas to places such as New Zealand, New Caledonia, Vanuatu or beyond.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Each member has a number of weeks exclusive access rights to the boat, which may be taken at any time throughout the year. The rest of the time, the members sail the catamaran together in what is called Club time. Club time is typically used to sail the necessary passages to relocate the catamaran from one cruising ground to another. In other words, the boat is not located in a fixed geographical location – rather it is sailed to where the members decide they want to go cruising. Members may then fly/drive/whatever to the catamaran and use it exclusively for their own holidays.

WHAT DOES IT COST?

Being a not-for-profit organisation, the all-inclusive cost per day for exclusive access to the catamaran is around 25% of the daily cost of an equivalent charter catamaran, even less if Club time is included.

WHO CAN APPLY TO JOIN?

Anyone who is 18 years of age or more and who holds a current boat licence from any state in Australia is eligible to join. Prospective members may live anywhere in Australia.

IS THE CLUB FULLY OPERATIONAL YET?

Yes. The club constitution and rules are written, the club is incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act NSW, and has an ABN. There are 8 membership positions in the club with 7 currently taken up. We are now looking to fill the remaining position. We purchased a boat in July 2013, a lovely 2009 Fountaine Pajot Lavezzi Maestro 40. The club constitution is based on a proven model. Two of the founding members of Even Keels set up a similar club in Melbourne back in 2004, based on a $240,000 monohull. The club is looking for like-minded people to join, preferably couples who sail together and preferably with sailing experience, although this is not a hard and fast rule. The cruising program has begun and, as of January 2015, the cruising grounds visited so far are the east coast of Australia from Mooloolaba QLD to Hobart, and New Caledonia.

WHAT IF I WANT TO JOIN?

If you think the club might be what you are looking for then please:

If after doing this you still think the club is what you are looking for, then feel free to visit the Expressions of Interest section and submit your Expression of Interest document. If you wish to talk to one of us or ask any questions in writing before doing so, please visit the Contact Us page.


WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

Suitable applicants will be invited to join the club, or if the scheme is full they will be invited to join our Crew List. We like to meet face-to-face first. This is a conventional club run by its members, so all members have a say in club decisions, including who gets to join.

EVEN KEELS IS A PAST PROJECT OF PHOTOWORDS (www.photowords.com.au)


All of the information contained in the Even Keels website is historical only, and some of the detail has been removed.