Why we joined a yacht club - Seattle Yacht Club -

Who would have known?  Our families were surprised when we told them that we were interested in joining a yacht club.

We are on a very tight budget ... so the thought of joining a yacht club only very briefly crossed my mind when we first purchased Ma'alahi.  I immediately assumed that any yacht club we looked at would be cost prohibitive.  Plus, we didn't want to pay (what I assumed would be thousands) to join a social club.

This is basically where the yacht club discussion stopped.  

That was, until I read a post on another cruising family's blog.  This family passively mentioned in a blog post that they are members of the Seattle Yacht Club.  In the past (like most cruising families) they have posted about being on a budget while cruising.  I immediately thought, "Wait a second! ... How could they possibly afford to be members of THE Seattle Yacht Club?!?!

So... I was curious.  I pulled up the Seattle Yacht Club's website and started reading about the application process, initiation fee, and dues.  I was (VERY) pleasantly surprised to discover that they have a graduated initiation fee and monthly dues schedule based off the member's age AND they were just starting a membership drive so the initiation fee was "on sale".

This got me interested.

In my (personal) opinion, the Seattle Yacht Club is one of the most prestigious, well known (thinking about recognizabillity and reciprocal privileges), well established, and thriving yacht clubs on the west coast (if not the country).  In addition to traditional reciprocal privileges, the Seattle Yacht Club owns 11 outstation properties that only their members can visit.  Moorage at the outstations is included in your monthly dues!

www.seattleyachtclub.org - SYC Outstations

So... T and I agreed that membership was worth pursuing and started the intricate application process.  Luckily, T has family that are (or have been) members and we already knew a few active members.  The process, from start to finish, took about nine months.  WE.DID.IT.

Seattle Yacht Club Burgee with "Cheechako" New Member Pennant

We are officially New Members of the Seattle Yacht Club (new members fly the Cheechako pennant for our first year of membership).  Despite our distance from Seattle, we have been warmly welcomed by club members and are excited to attend club events, from time to time, in Seattle.