Women make strong inroads into boating
With fewer than one per cent of seafarers globally being female, an innovative approach by Freedom Boat Club is seeing more women taking the helm in leisure boating, a pursuit that has traditionally been heavily dominated by men.
Freedom Boat Club’s subscription-based model eliminates the barriers faced by women who want to enjoy leisure time on the water, according to Freedom Boat Club Sydney North and Hunter Business Partner, Nicky Vaux.
“The world of boating is changing and with it the gender at the helm,” she said.
Freedom Boat Club enables members to enjoy a walk-on, walk-off boating lifestyle across more than 400 locations worldwide. And time on the water is not limited either — members pay a one-off joining fee then a monthly membership fee to use boats as much as they’d like. The only additional charge is the fuel they use.
Ideal for people who are new to boating and don’t own a boat, or who are simply not interested in the hefty upfront and ongoing costs of purchasing a boat, Freedom already has more than 90,000 members and 5500 boats at 400 locations worldwide, including nine locations along the Australian coast.
As a result, more than 35 per cent of the international club’s members are women and 33 per cent are new to boating prior to joining the club.
Freedom Boat Club’s most popular membership package costs $9500 (as a one-off joining fee) and $790 a month in membership fees and includes four rolling reservations at any time. “It also includes maintenance, which is part of our premium, dock-side service, and takes the worry out of owning a boat,” said Ms Vaux.
Freedom Boat Club member Tamarra Alloggia, her husband, Rick, and their four teenage children have always enjoyed boating together but wanted to upgrade from their smaller boat. “We love the choice of boats available to us at Freedom. Our favourite would be the Sea Ray, it's a great size to take friends as well.”
“Because we are time-poor, we love the walk-on, walk-off service that is offered by Freedom and the fact that when we get to the dock there is a brand-new boat ready to go.”
As part of the Club, members also have unlimited access to training from certified captains, and — apart from purchasing, storage and servicing — Freedom handles insurance, the cleaning and having the boat fuelled for the day with fuel costs paid by members on docking.
“Women can sometimes feel nervous about learning to drive a boat, especially if the person teaching them is their partner,” said Ms Vaux. “The ongoing training the Club provides is ideal not only for new boaties but for those who want to keep their skills up.”
Tamarra said she had always intended to get her boat licence, but it wasn’t until joining the Club that she found it easy and accessible. “Freedom made it so easy to book in and it was fun. The training provided by Freedom also gave me the confidence to drive a bigger boat and be more involved on the water.”
“Rick has always been interested in boats and has his licence as do my sons. Now I have the opportunity to be at the helm too!”
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