Nederlandse Vereniging van Toerzeilers

THE NETHERLANDS ASSOCIATION OF CRUISING YACHTSMEN (NACY)

(also called the Dutch Cruising Association)

This association was officially founded in 1972 by a group of serious cruising yachtsmen. They felt that it was time to join forces in order to

promote the design of genuine cruising yachts
to facilitate the sharing of know-how between cruising sailors
to help each other to become more competent
to provide a platform to socialize countrywide, as well as on the water as off season.

They decided to found the Netherlands Association of Cruising Yachtsmen (in Dutch: Nederlandse Vereniging van Toerzeilers- NVvT) and this is nowadays a flourishing association with a membership of around 3000 ‘families’ as the membership covers the family and not only the individual member.

Shift of focus
Over the years the focus has shifted somewhat from yacht and equipment design and development to mutual support, educational activities and the organization of trips both as a step up to the next level of proficiency (e.g. night sailing, North Sea crossing) as well as more leisurely exploits (e.g. family cruising in company to the same summer holiday destination). Nevertheless the ‘ideal cruising yacht’ remains an important theme. Occasionally a group of members or one of the regular committees undertakes a yacht test, a yacht review or sometimes even an opinion survey of a specific yacht by mailing owners(members) with an extensive questionnaire and publishes the analysis of the responses.

Decentralized
The NACY is governed by a Chairman and a Committee (in Dutch: het Bestuur), including the Vice Chairman, the Secretary, the Treasurer as well as some Committee members with specific responsibilities for certain Association matters.

The NACY is furthermore organized as a decentralized structure with regional committees which each organize a number of ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ events during the year. These events are co-ordinated countrywide by one of the Committee members to ensure consistency and proper scheduling.

One committee is responsible for Offshore sailing activities, including actually organizing rallies. The oldest and most famous of these is the annual Lowestoft Rally. For many a member his or her first experience with loosing sight of the Dutch coastline. The total number of events annually is around 80. They are spread over the country and participation is open to all members for all events.

In addition to the regional committees there are specialized committees:

Navigation and Seamanship
Technical matters
Regional and National Planning
‘Seamancipation’ (= actively promoting sailing by women, stimulating them to skipper their own boat instead of being the traditional first mate or deckhand)

Another committee focuses on the annual ‘Woudschoten’-training weekend in January. It invariably attracts some 150 members keen to learn all kinds of things from their fellow members.

Furthermore there is a committee taking care of the NACY’s presence at the annual Amsterdam and Leeuwarden Boat Shows and also there are committees looking after the Association's website, Public Relations and the well known NACY club magazine.

Magazine
This bimonthly magazine ‘Cruising’ (In Dutch: TOERZEILEN) is well known for its high quality and informative articles. Is also serves as a platform for members who like to share their experiences. Once a year the NACY issues a detailed membership list in format (in Dutch: Leden- en Schepenlijst) that includes sections on navigation, weather, seamanship, nautical etiquette etc. Lacking a clubhouse this booklet is – in conjunction with the extensive and multifunctional website - seen as the ‘paper clubhouse’ that allows all members to contact fellow members well informed when spotting the NACY burgee.

Independent
Last but not least, the NACY is the only large organized group of yachtsmen that is not officially associated with the Royal Netherlands Watersports Federation (KNWV). Background of this is that there is no pressing need as the Association does not organize races. Furthermore the low cost membership and cherished independence within the Dutch yachting scene are seen as key NACY characteristics. This does not mean that there are no contacts with the Federation and sister organizations. In general there are good relations as well as in the Netherlands as overseas.

Netherlands Association of Cruising Yachtsmen