Survey Results – First Instalment

Thank you to everyone who participated in the inaugural DBSC Laser Sailors’ Survey. 

The results were hugely helpful as we think about how best to preserve and build upon the great club and outstanding culture we all enjoy. 

We had a participation rate of 92% of laser sailing members, which is outstanding. 91% of those members are satisfied or very satisfied, with 74% very satisfied. Next week we will publish all of the suggestions we received to improve the club, as well as what we propose to do in response. 

We asked what is most important to people's satisfaction. It was a somewhat tricky question that required some mental gymnastics to allocate the 100 points available. And here's what it told us. 

The most important aspects of the club are fleet competitiveness, friendships / club community, and fleet size. These three items accounted for 40% of all points allocated, with an average of 978 points each. 

The next three items were club facilities and equipment, race management and rack position, which together accounted for another 26% of points allocated, with an average of 634 points. 

And the top 10 was rounded out with volunteer culture, canteen offering and value, social functions and BBQs, and Learn to Race, together accounting for a further 21% of points, with an average of 396 points. 

So, we know where we need to focus and that's what we plan to do. More on this next week. 

We also asked about sailing frequency. For Saturdays, 55% said they would sail more than last year and 40% said they would sail the same. And for Wednesdays, 8 people said they would sail most weeks, with another 26 sailing sometimes, which is a big improvement on last year. So, it promises to be a great year on the water. Unsurprisingly, the biggest constraint was time, but there were several other comments we will address – see next week's instalment. 

The Brett Beyer Sailing Programs received a very enthusiastic response, with 42 people expressing interest for Saturdays, and 20 subscribers and 28 casuals expressing interest for Wednesdays. For Saturdays, 17 were at $900, 15 were at $500 and 10 were at $300 (note, for people who indicated multiple options, we have reported only their highest choice here). 

As noted above, only 7 people have provided their details for the Saturday Sailing Program. We still hope to hear from the remaining 35!  We'll keep you posted on this. 

We are thinking about a formal winter competition. 19 people are interested in a formal fortnightly winter series on Sunday mornings. So, hopefully we can lock that in. 

And finally, volunteering. 15 people said they would like to increase their volunteer contributions and 7 of those provided their names. Thank you very much to those members -- we will contact you over the next couple of weeks. We would love to hear from the other 8 of you too!  Could you please email commodore@dbsc.com.au.

So, thanks again to everyone who participated in the survey. More details to come next week and, in the meantime, we are happy to discuss the results with anyone who is interested.