Symposium Conclusions - Nautical clubs essential for social boating

Zarpar is the platform that connects boat owners and crew members to live unique nautical experiences. ZARPAR’s mission is to multiply by 10 the use of boats in Spain and promote social boating. From 15 outings per year per boat only in summer, to 150 outings all year round.

Symposium Conclusions: Nautical clubs essential for social boating

Presidents of CEACNA Regional Nautical Club Associations

The closing of the nautical clubs symposium in Sanxenxo left interesting debates and some clear conclusions on the table. The presidents of the regional associations shared their visions in a quick round of questions and answers that touched on all the hot topics of the sector.

Social boating: more than words

Javier Ruiz de Cortázar, CEACNA president, was emphatic: social boating exists and must be recognized in tender documents. It’s not business boating, it’s boating for everyone. Clubs are non-profit entities that provide values and promote sports, and this should be reflected when concessions are tendered.

Teresa Sala made an important clarification: to do social work, clubs need economic viability. You can’t ask them to only focus on the social and leave all the economic part to marinas. Without income, there are no resources to fulfill the social function.

Public management and competitiveness

Juan Manuel González, vice president, positively valued the proposal by the general director of ports of Andalusia to bring ports from port authorities to market. It would be a way to manage facilities in a more social and competitive manner, providing access to more activities and sports participation.

Real clubs vs. “fake” clubs

One of the most interesting moments came with Rafael Palmer, CEACNA secretary. If clubs demand recognition for their sports work, they must also fulfill their obligations. A club that doesn’t fulfill its social purpose, how is it different from a marina? Not at all.

Palmer was direct when talking about “sham clubs”: entities created ad hoc to compete in tenders and take advantage of the system. It’s the administrations’ job to detect them, but real clubs must be scrupulous in fulfilling their obligations to help differentiate them.

The balance between public and private

Carlos Torrado defended the hybrid management model. The club belongs to its members, not “the people’s house,” but it can’t be a closed fortress either. There are members who pay without having a berth, who support the club because they believe in it, because it’s their club. That must be respected, but without closing doors completely.

If you have 500 berths and 1,500 members, there are 1,000 people who need services beyond the berth: sports activities, social activities, training. And thanks to those members is how sports schools and all social activities are financed.

Sustainability and modernization

Luis Nogroles highlighted that nautical clubs have been working on sustainability and marine awareness for years. They may not be pioneers, but when the administration opens the door with environmental requirements, clubs comply. They give the administration few opportunities to fall short.

Carlos Torrado added that extensions aren’t just time: they’re modernization opportunities, to update facilities with new technologies and make them more efficient.

Transparency and governance

Teresa Sala insisted that clubs manage resources from all members and must have total transparency. Although the Board of Directors is who manages and may need to handle more detailed information, as social entities they must be totally transparent with their members.

Democratization of water sports

Antonio Estades connected all concepts around a central idea: clubs have a public service vocation. Democratizing access, social sailing, opening to citizens… everything goes in that direction. And the way to objectify it is to obtain the declaration of public utility.

Members should feel the club is theirs, but the responsibility is not only to members, but to citizens in general. Clubs should be part of the public service of their environment.

The relationship with the administration

Luis Nogroles sent a clear message: clubs are complying with everything asked of them in social, sports, environmental and awareness matters. The problem isn’t with the clubs, but that politicians must “indoctrinate” their civil servants. Political directives are one thing, but then the technicians who sit down to negotiate don’t always understand the message and the real work of nautical clubs.

Rafael Palmer added that the limit for the civil servant is the law and objective technical criteria. The politician sets directives, but the technician must be governed by legal and technical criteria, not subjective ones. Although he also acknowledged that pedagogy is needed: there are technicians who have no idea what a nautical club is or what the sea is.

What is a nautical club?

To close, a fundamental question arose that should be addressed at the next symposium: defining what a nautical club really is.

Javier Ruiz de Cortázar made it clear: legally, a club must have an ad honorem board of directors, convene assemblies every four years, and comply with the requirements of non-profit entities. No “clubs” with the same person for 20 years without holding an assembly.

And socially, a club must do social nautical activity. Each in their dimension (some 20 regattas a year, others 3), but real activity. A club that only has a restaurant is not a club.

Requests for the future

The debate closed with two important requests:

1. Analyze in depth what a nautical club is and its relationship with territorial federations (since after all, clubs elect the federation board… a circular problem).
2. Return adaptive sailing to the Paralympic program. Clubs have the task of opening the sea to groups with difficulties, and it becoming an Olympic discipline again would help that goal.

In the end, what became clear is that nautical clubs are much more than berths and restaurants. They are the great family of social boating, as the symposium slogan said. A family that defends colors, that educates in sports values, that works as a team, that cares for the environment and that opens the sea to all of society.

And Sanxenxo, once again, was the meeting point for that family.