Membership renewal

Spring is here! And with that comes our annual renewal. Emails should be going out this week. There are a few changes:

• You’ll notice that we are using Smart Waiver to help us collect digital signatures that are required to renew your membership.

• You’ll also need to upload your insurance information, which must include a minimum of 1 million in personal liability.

• If there is a credit on your account, please press Invoice Me and not Pay Online for it to be applied to your renewal.

Membership rule changes

Active Use Rule: 

We have an active use rule which requires members to sail their boat to maintain membership, a policy which has strong support in our membership survey (more to come in our next newsletter). 

Since it’s difficult to determine who is and isn’t sailing, we’ve changed this rule to require members to send 1 photo of themselves using their boat(s) to allow us to better determine which boats are being used. We’ll have more details on the logistics later in the year. 

If you won’t be able to sail this year, please request an exemption from our body rat.

Mast Up Rule:

We have a rule requiring members to put their mast up each year by June 30. Unfortunately, some members were exploiting a loophole and putting their mast up but otherwise not rigging their boat. The rule has been changed so that the boat must be rigged for sailing/paddling.

Social Membership: 

We’ve removed the volunteer hour requirement from the social membership in order to make it less expensive and more attractive. If you’re no longer sailing or paddling and would like to convert to social membership please contact our body rat. This frees up some space and allows us to offer memberships to people on our waiting list.

You can view all of our rules here.

Club Access

We’ve had a few questions about access control, so we’d like to provide an update.

We switched to the electronic system two years ago. The main reason for the switch is that we had been using the same locks for years and there were many more keys out there than members. 

No large installation uses physical keys any more; offices, condos, apartments, all use fobs. 

When we bought the system, we were told that it would work offline. And it does, but the digital key comes with issues, particularly because of the lack of reliable internet connection at the club and the intermittent use of the digital key by some members. 

That’s why we are turning off the digital key altogether and using the fobs. This should resolve all our access issues.

You don’t need to request a fob. If you don’t already have one, it will be set up for you and left in the clubhouse. You’ll receive an email when your fob is ready.

Spring Clean Up

Join us on Saturday, April 25 (the rain date will be April 26) at 9 am. Please bring a rake and gloves and check at the clubhouse for priority tasks.

We need 6 people to launch the boat and 3-4 people with wetsuits to put in the dock. Please contact our dinghy rat if you can help.

We also need approximately 8 people for lunch prep. Please contact our party rat if you would like to help.

There will be a special AGM after lunch is served to discuss and vote on a plan to install running water and grey water capture at the club. This will happen at 1 pm.

Save the date!

Water Rats will be participating in the OHF Club Crawl, scheduled for Saturday June 6 this year. Tickets and details are coming soon.

The Heinz Gebauer Spring War will also happen on Saturday June 6, more details to come soon.

Don't forget…
Submit your volunteer hours on our website.

Missing a newsletter?
Visit our website to get caught up on club news. 

Want to find out about club events?
View our calendar here.