Membership information. You'll find link to the membership form at the bottom.
CBSA is a very informal and small organization. Some of our members like to race while others just enjoy being able to explore the Bay by sail. Some of our members don't own boats but crew for others regularly. The club hosts racing on Tuesday evenings for members from April to October. There are several other regatta events which take place on the weekends throughout the summer as well as a number of social opportunities which bring together the membership.
About cost: Membership is very economical - $80 / year for a family membership with no initiation fee. There is a special student rate for full time students under age 25. You'll find details on the membership form. Our membership year is from January 1st to December 31st. This calendar arrangement allows us to reassign spaces vacated by resigning members to those on the wait list prior to the beginning of the sailing season. Those who join the Club for the first time on or after the 1st of September receive a special "Initial Membership" that extends from the time they join to the end of the following calendar year. This special membership is for newcomers only and allows them to participate in any racing and social events that occur during the period. The fee for Initial Membership is the same as the annual (regular or student) fee.
About boat storage: Not all of our club members store their boats in the club compound, but for those applying to do so, there are some limitations to the size and boat type. Boat length must be less than 17' and weigh less than 275 lbs. We do not have space for multihull boats. There are dollies on site for our members. We normally have a wait list for boat space in the club compound. In order to respect our lease mandate in the park, and minimize wait times for storage, each dinghy stored in the CBSA compound must be supported by a unique membership. Any boats kept in the compound must show evidence of being actively sailed. Boats sitting idle will lose their space. Rack space for Laser type dinghies is $55 / year, and a ground spot for larger dinghies is $65 / year. Many members initially contact CBSA inquiring about storage. Usually, our spaces are fully allocated and there are waitlists for rack and ground spots. If you would like compound storage, please join CBSA (see membership section) and email our storage administrator (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) with your request. Requests are filled from the waitlist on a first-come-first-serve basis. Please note that an assigned space is not special to a given boat. Every space is freed up when a boat is bought/sold or removed, and automatically goes to the next waitlisted member.
About racing: The most active dinghy fleets which come out for racing are Fireballs, Lasers and CFJs. There are several other designs but all dinghies start together and are scored using the Portsmouth Yardstick. Safety and good sportsmanship are paramount. The boats are light (limited to dinghies under 275 lbs. unless granted special executive permission) and our race committee boat is small. The races are short and usually contained within the Bay. There's a wide range of skill levels throughout the dinghy fleet and each racer must take full responsibility for the decision to race on a particular day always considering the conditions and their own ability to self-rescue. All boats must have positive flotation.
Our racing follows the ISAF Rules of Racing, but that said, the CBSA culture and emphasis on sportsmanship expects that differences are always settled on the water by completing penalty turns. CBSA is not a club where you'll find a protest committee, nor an appropriate place to hone your skills for a national campaign. Poor sportsmanship is unacceptable. There is an expectation that racing participants will volunteer for race committee at least once a year. Our club zodiac for doing race committee can hold two people, one of whom must hold a Pleasure Craft Operators Card. An average Tuesday night may see a dozen or more boats on the race course. It's a demanding task for the RC to get everyone's exact finish time which can only be appreciated when everyone takes a turn in doing race committee.
We hope this gives you a pretty clear idea about the little club on the bay. If you think this is a fit for you, we welcome your membership application. If you have further questions please direct them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For renewals (due January 1st) and new memberships you can click on the link below. If you can not renew online, a paper membership form can be requested.
