Barbarians at the gates

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, est 1849

This is the most recent article attacking various clubs around Hong Kong. 

Including the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, of which we’ve been members for 20 years. Of course we would defend them. But broader Hong Kong must too. The RHKYC is not just a members-only club for the rich. It encourages anyone to come in, of any age and race and on any race day; to sign up on a whiteboard to be a crew -- on the “Crew Wanted” board. That simple procedure has been the start of a lifelong love of sailing for many a youngster. It’s free, open to anyone from anywhere. 

The same for rowing. And also, tangentially, for bowling, snooker and even golf. This is an open club.

Moreover, it’s a “not-for-profit” club, which means that any surplus goes to charity. And the RHKYC is very active in numerous charities. 

The fact that this club and some others applied for money under a government wage-subsidy scheme during the worst of the pandemic, is a side issue, explained in the body of the article itself -- namely that while member fees were still being charged, there was zero income for months from the usual activities that were cancelled because of our lockdowns. 

There’s a lot of envy out there, driving this, I think. It’s possible, though I don’t say it, that some of the envy is driven by the idea that these are clubs for wealthy gweilos. That might have been the case thirty years ago, it most certainly is not now. All of the clubs mentioned in the article are now mostly local membership. 

Maybe the envious ought to hie themselves to the Yacht club and get out on the water. Would give them some chillax.