From The Commodore

Lots of good things are happening at your club and nine months into being Commodore I can report that I have been having a lot of fun participating in a range of events involving many of our members. Sadly, being Commodore mostly is not about having fun. It involves ensuring the club operates well, which right now means focusing on our Reset Programme.

The brief of the Reset Committee is to analyse and review all operations and expenditure and recommend changes to how we operate to ensure we have a sustainable club operation going forward. While the team has achieved a lot, there is still much to do if we are to deliver a break-even result for the financial year ahead while continuing to be a club that members believe in, are proud to be part of and want to participate in.

For many years RNZYS has relied on profits from Food & Beverage together with subscriptions, trust funding and income from Corporate Members and Sponsors to deliver a sound financial outcome. In years where major events like the America’s Cup, China Cup or the Ocean Race have contributed to our bottom line, we have done OK. In a year where there are none of these events, we have traditionally struggled.

In the last financial year, Food & Beverage profits are much reduced, contributions from trust funders are limited given the impact COVID had on their activities, and the income from Corporate Members and Sponsors has also been heavily impacted by current financial times. During the year, we have continued

to deliver heavily subsidised events and have supported loss-making sailing programmes both for our members and for the wider sailing community.

The Reset task can be looked at as a fivestage process, a number of which we will repeat as we continue to refine and improve our operation.

Stage 1 – Source a cash loan to enable RNZYS to continue trading

RNZYS is very fortunate to have a longterm Development Fund. Our Trustees have agreed to loan cash from the investment fund to enable us to continue to operate – this is something we do not want to repeat.

Stage 2 – Full review of financials including a review of all assets

We have reviewed every single cost, re-costing everything we charge for, and every event we run, as well as reviewing every asset on our asset register and every item on our balance sheet. We have identified a number of items that are over-valued as a number of surplus assets and stock including items where RNZYS is potentially not the ‘natural home’, such as support vessel Pembles Bay, the foiling catamarans, and our Etchells.

Stage 3 – Full review of processes and resources

Our computer system is approaching its end of life and delivers poor outcomes. Not only does it take an inordinate amount of time to pay for an item in our Members’ Bar, the ability to simply and quickly see the financial outcomes being generated and respond accordingly is just not there. This is the ‘big end’ of process change. There have, however, been a lot of incremental changes which have meant a much more consistent food offering, more effective event pricing and much stronger stock control. We have also reduced staff numbers in the Sailing Office and across our Events and Food & Beverage team.

Stage 4 – A full review of our products and services, what to keep and/or enhance, what to start and what to stop

There have been significant changes to our Mastercard Youth Training Programme,

Doyle Sails Winter Series, our Learn-toSail programme, our Members’ Bar offering, including another menu up-grade, our retail store, our travel offering, a new fine dining option and the development of a broad schedule of winter-time member events.

Stage 5 – A drive for participation

It is truly disheartening to launch a new product such as our Sunday Brunch and only have five or six people attend, particularly when the queue outside the local café extends around the corner. On a sunny day in the weekend, our Members’ Bar must be one of the best locations in Auckland for brunch, lunch, or, for some of us, both! We are, however, getting a strong up-take on events such as Comedy Night, Quiz Night, Havana Club Rum-Racing ‘after-match’ events, pre and post Doyle Sails winter-race offerings and a range of member events. We need members to use the club.

As we run through this Reset process, it is clear that there is still more to do. The financial measure of success is that in a ‘normal’ year (that is a year with no special events) your club delivers a minimum of a break-even result. While supporting a major international sailing event, or being gifted a replacement fleet of Elliott 7’s can (and does) happen, achieving the underlying positive cash result needed is a lot about perseverance and hard work by members for members, supported by the RNZYS team in the office and on the water.

We are a yacht club. Yachting is our core and members are our community. RNZYS needs to deliver for our members both on and off the water. We know we still have work to do to resolve our financial issues. While not all that we change will suit every member, involvement and participation is key to making our club successful. The more we all use the club, the better the outcome will be.

Please come and be part of your club.

Talk soon

Andrew