The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club’s home at Castle Hill in Cowes was established in 1948 by yachtsman Tiny Mitchell. The club itself dates back to 1872, founded in Erith, in Kent. Since 1999 the Royal Corinthian in Cowes has been a fully-fledged members club, providing social activities, private parties, sailing events and regattas. While there is usually a throng of eaters and drinkers enjoying the fine food and wine, taking in the views across the lawn and down to the Solent, there is always room for more.
“Essentially we are a party club and our members are our shareholders,” explains Donna Redford, the Club Secretary. “We have approximately 800 members, very varied in their age group and geography, ranging from cadet members to our senior members. Naturally virtually all of our members are of the sailing fraternity. About a tenth of our members are offshore racers, specialist ocean sailors. They will always be members because it is a huge part of their life.”
A large proportion of the club’s members are mainland based and some are overseas, with Islanders accounting for a quarter of the membership.
“It does affect the footfall at the club,” explains Donna. “Our mainland and overseas visitors are usually only here for a specific regatta that they’re racing in, or for Cowes Week. Otherwise we’re extremely reliant on our very loyal local members who regularly visit the club for events, parties or Sunday lunches. A lot of our members do have second homes here and will arrive for the weekend on Friday night.”
The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club has a fine location on the edge of Cowes Parade overlooking the Royal Yacht Squadron. It’s a sizable venue too, with scope for marquees and barbecues, accommodation offered in 12 bedrooms, plus various sized meeting rooms.
“I think our position makes us distinct from any other club,” says Donna. “There is no question in my mind that we have the best location in Cowes. We’re elevated, with fantastic views of the Solent, and our land offers the opportunity to host much bigger events. Our famous Royal Corinthian Barbecue seems to run all summer. We host events and barbecues and parties almost all year round and that’s what sustains the club. We’ve also got various sized rooms that can accommodate a small, private, 8 person dinner, up to a huge party of 250 people. In the summer we add marquees to double the capacity of our existing building.”
Like any club, there are rules at the Royal Corinthian, and one of those is that “members come first”. Non-members can still book the club for meals, dinners or parties but with a different fee structure. “Our members have specific rights and will always get first choice and priority,” explains Donna. “For our visitors, our accommodation is available Monday to Thursday and all of our other facilities, whether that’s breakfasts, lunches or training rooms, can be booked each weekday. Outside of the sailing season we can be a little more flexible’’.
The sailing season starts in April and peaks in August with Aberdeen Asset Management (AAM) Cowes Week. This year the club has opened their Corinthian Café and Grill, which doubles their capacity for entertaining on the terrace in the summer months. During Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week itself the whole club will be full, with a Launch Party on the 1st Friday night then on the Saturday Vice Commodore Amanda Dreyer will welcome 350 guests to a Cocktail Party followed by dinner. There’s a Venetian-themed Masquerade Ball on the Tuesday, culminating with the fireworks and the Red Arrows closing the Friday night. It is, as Donna says, “crazy busy but always very exciting!”
From that peak on firework night, the club’s business starts to ebb. “Once the sailing activity fades away, so does a lot of our membership,” says Donna. “By the end of August visiting sailors start to dwindle away. Our season is fairly short lived, probably only half of the year, and we have to look at how we maintain the club and its overheads from September through April. We have to look at other ways of bringing in revenue and fully utilising the club facilities.”
In the autumn and winter months the club hosts members’ events, including parties, club suppers and prize-givings. The year concludes with a ‘Nearly New Year’s Eve’ party for the members and their guests. A programme of member events runs throughout the year, put together and organised by a committee of volunteering club members.
Although a members club isn’t a traditional commercial business, it does have to be financially successful. Whilst its members are the club’s “shareholders”, they are also customers to a degree, bringing income to the club.
“My job is to encourage them to come to events and ensure that they always have an enjoyable time with professional service,” says Donna. “We are looking to increase the number of regattas we run because we are very good at it although we have seen a decline in the number of boats entered into some of those regattas. The general economic downturn has also meant a slight decline in our membership, although our numbers are stable. Sailing is a wonderful sport but in the current climate it isn’t a necessity for most. We have felt that, just like every other club.”
As well as keeping the numbers up across the year, Donna is also keeping an eye on the year-on-year figures.
“We’ve been here for many, many years and we have to plan for what happens in the future. We have an ageing membership; younger members may want something different from the club. We have to constantly look at what we can provide and do differently to appeal to a wider audience”.
The Royal Corinthian does enjoy good relationships with mainland yachting clubs, including the Royal Southern and the Royal Southampton. “They use our facilities quite a lot and we run joint rallies,” explains Donna. “They like to finish in Cowes and come and have a party here, which works for us. They like to be involved in Cowes.”
As well as hosting more events and engaging with the club’s members, Donna wants to grow the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club by working more closely with Island businesses.
“Historically we haven’t engaged with the Island’s community and we’ve probably looked after ourselves. We do have a lot to offer. We have a reputation for first-class food, an extensive wine list, and professional front of house staff. Our three senior front of house staff have been here for over 20 years. Our caterer is Cowes born and bred and uses locally sourced produce in our menus. We can cater for anything from 8 to 300 people, from a relaxed barbecue to a formal dinner.”
“We’re proud of what we have and we are supported throughout the year by a core local membership. Many of our members have been in business, many of them locally, and we like to see our members engage with links to businesses. Our function rooms provide great corporate facilities, for training or board meetings and we can provide whiteboards, projectors and teas and coffees.”
“We’re now at the point where we need to be more involved with the local community and that’s something I’m keen for us to do. Working with the Isle Of Wight Chamber of Commerce has been a foot in the door for us to talk to local businesses. I’ve already become involved with WightFibre and wherever possible we want to deal with local businesses. We have a fantastic facility here, we want to maximise its potential and we want to share it.”
The Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Cowes is offering IW Chamber members affiliation membership at preferential rates. See page 25 for full details.
First published in the August 2014 issue of Island Business magazine.
