Election Section

For the last 35 years Cal Sailing Club has occupied a small piece of land in the Berkeley Marina, on the south side of University Avenue. CSC is a non-profit sailing co-operative. Historically it was a UC student activity, but in 1979 it severed its last ties, and became officially open to the public. 

Cal Sailing Club’s mission has always been to provide very low-cost access to sailing, and over the years it has been phenomenally successful. CSC currently gives free sailboat rides to about 2,000 people per year during bi-monthly open house events, takes at-risk youth from several local organizations out sailing during the summer, and offers very affordable sailboat and windsurfer access to about 1,000 members every year. 

It does this with virtually no financial support from the city, in fact, while most cities with comparable community boating programs have to budget hundreds of thousands a year, CSC manages to actually pay rent to the Berkeley Marina. CSC is a local treasure if there ever was one. 

But all of this is about to change if the Berkeley Marina management has its way. In 1999, the city increased CSC’s annual rent from $2,880 to $4,200 per year, escalating by about $200 per year thereafter. Now the City proposes our rent to $10,000 per year, with $500 per year increase to follow. 

This will kill off the Cal Sailing Club and the access opportunities it provides. CSC has already been forced to raise its dues to cover the increases under the old agreement and membership has declined as a result. There is no further increase that is sustainable. 

The majority of active members are probably not concerned with an extra few dollars dues, but a dues-supported volunteer organization like CSC depends on a delicate balance between low cost, new membership, volunteerism and quality of services. We are already on the wrong side of the curve after the increases in the last few years. Our options will be to shut down or become similar to a commercial sailing school with market-rate pricing three to four times as high and no volunteers to give rides to youth groups or the public. 

Marina staff have insisted that Cal Sailing Club should pay the same rent as nearby Cal Adventures, the recreational arm of the University. But Cal Adventures has a half-million dollar budget compared to CSC’s $90,000. Cal Adventures uses paid employees for teaching, administration and boat repair while CSC relies on member volunteers. Cal Adventures charges high commercial rates for a program which closely resembles commercial sailing schools while CSC’s dues are only a fraction. ($60 for three months of unlimited sailing lessons, cruising, daysailing, and windsurfing. NO other fees are ever charged.) 

We realize the financial plight of the city but Cal Sailing Club is being asked to absorb increases well above what private berthers have sustained and is being asked to pay a percentage of gross revenue well above what the commercial for-profit business in the marina are paying. Doesn’t a public serving, access-enhancing, volunteer based organization, deserve better? 

In these hard times, with recreational programs being cut back all over the city, isn’t it more important than ever to support the ones that tap the resources of volunteer labor and turn them into affordable opportunities for all? Especially when they can run themselves with no direct financial support?