Dinghy Cruising Association
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Join the DCA

The Dinghy Cruising Association is the friendly club with a sense of adventure…


  • It's for sailors and families who use boats for more than just racing
  • There are Regional groups who organise rallies where people can meet and sail together, usually enjoying a picnic on a beach or in a quiet creek
  • Members receive the 80 page journal Dinghy Cruising four times a year and can    use the  online discussion forum
  • Technical advice is freely available and books may be borrowed from the Association's extensive library​

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Lunch break!
Annual Subscription Rates from 1 September 2020
Members joining the DCA from this date will not be required to renew their subscription until 1 February 2022. They 
will, therefore, be asked to  pay the new 2021 subscription rates* on joining. These rates are as follows:

​Members  living in the UK         £30     p.a.
This includes   delivery of the quarterly journal Dinghy Cruising either as a paper copy by post or as a pdf copy by email.

Members living outside the UK   can pay
either £35  p.a.      This rate includes delivery of the quarterly journal Dinghy Cruising as a paper copy by post
or                  £30    p.a.      This  rate  includes delivery of the quarterly journal Dinghy Cruising as a pdf copy by email
* See the   News   page for the background to the subscription increase in 2021
 New or rejoining members can make their choice of journal format on the application form.  Existing members should notify the Website Editor if they wish to change from a printed to a pdf copy of the journal or vice versa.
The DCA's preferred method for members to pay their subscriptions is by direct debit  arranged via   GoCardless.   Direct debits can be set up for any applicants based in the UK, Eurozone, Sweden, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. 
​
In countries where the Direct Debit option is not available, applicants can pay by PayPal. 
​

If you live in the UK,  you can still pay by posting a cheque or postal order  to our Membership Secretary, along with  a completed application form which you can download below.
​Please note ALL members agree to  the   Rules of the Association
and should familiarise themselves with   the DCA Data Privacy Policy   before applying.

Application for membership

1.       RESIDENTS OF THE UNITED KINGDOM
​If you are resident in the UK and wish to apply for membership of the DCA whether you are joining for the first time or rejoining after letting your membership lapse, please complete the following online application form.     ​If you want to pay by cheque or postal order, do NOT use the online form but download the printed form you will find in section 4 below.

When you have completed the form and clicked the Submit button, you will be redirected  to the GoCardless website where you will be able to complete your Direct Debit mandate for £30.  As you are joining late in the year, this will be a single payment which  covers your membership up to 1st February   2022.   After our next normal renewal date - 1st February 2021 (which will not apply to you), the Treasurer will add you to the recurring direct debit list, starting on 1st February 2022.
Application Form 1 - for UK Residents
2.    RESIDENTS OF THE FOLLOWING COUNTRIES:
Australia, Austria, Belgium,  Canada, Cyprus, Denmark,  Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland,  Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the USA.
​
If you live in any of the countries listed above and wish to apply for membership of the DCA, whether you are joining for the first time or rejoining after letting your membership lapse, please complete the following online application form.

​When you have completed the form and clicked the Submit button, you will be redirected  to the GoCardless website where you will be able to  set up your Direct Debit mandate.  The DCA Treasurer will notify you   of the amount you will be paying in your local currency for whichever Journal format you have selected.  The initial payment   will cover your membership up to 1st   
February   2022.   After our next normal renewal date - 1st February 2021 (which will not apply to you), the Treasurer will add you to the recurring direct debit list, starting on 1st February 2022.
Application Form 2 -for Residents of Countries Listed Above
3.   RESIDENTS OF ALL OTHER COUNTRIES 
If you live outside the UK, and not in any of the countries listed in the previous section,   and you wish to apply for membership of the DCA, whether you are joining for the first time or rejoining after letting your membership lapse, please complete the following online application form.

When you have completed the form and clicked the Submit button,   your details will be forwarded to the Membership Secretary who will contact you to arrange payment via PayPal.  Your    initial payment   will cover your membership up to 1st   February   2022.   From that date on  you can set up a recurring payment with PayPal for future subscriptions.
Application Form 3 - for Residents of All Other Countries
4.       APPLICATION FORM FOR POSTING IN THE UK
Only choose this option if    you want to  pay by UK cheque or postal order. Print, complete and post the form with your cheque or postal order to the address on the form.
Download Application Form

To help you decide if you should join, here are some thoughts from current members about their reasons for belonging:

Michael:  The DCA provides me with, in no particular order:
  1. An excellent magazine, worth reading, and a source of solace and inspiration when sailing is not possible.
  2. A friendly Facebook page, where I can get advice, support, encouragement and information from experienced and well intentioned people, free of charge, and within hours (sometimes minutes) of asking any question.
  3. A chance to meet like-minded people in a semi-structured way: a rally, a camp or a day's sailing.  You can "socialise" remotely, sharing the same stretch of water whilst choosing your own level of solitude.
  4. A chance to meet like-minded individuals because we get to "know" each other well enough to make actual contact and meet up.  (So far, I have not taken anyone up on this, but the idea is there for this season.)
  5. A sense of belonging.  I am not just some middle aged saddo living out Swallows and Amazons fantasies in an old fashioned boat.  I am a "dinghy cruiser" and a member of an association that most other sailors have at least heard of.
  6. A sense of legitimacy.  We live in times where anyone who does anything unusual — let alone risky — is the object of suspicion and criticism.  People's reactions soften when they find that in fact there are many thousands of other people who do the same.
  7. Social activities. Having a chat and a laugh with other sailors who can reminisce about a long row back in an unexpected flat calm or the quiet of a favourite anchorage is a different thing from talking to racers about equipment and techniques.
As things stand, I think the DCA is a pretty good thing, I value my membership, and the club is worth cherishing. 

​Steve
: The unique selling point of the DCA is its events. It's at the events that specialist knowledge is exchanged, either by admiring a home-built or extensively modified vessel being proudly explained by the owner, or around the camp fire over a beer and a BBQ dinner, or at an annual meeting. I believe that the members of the DCA are the most knowledgeable, experienced, inventive, creative, adventurous, interesting (I could keep going) collection of individuals with incredible specialist knowledge. The DCA brings specialists together. It gives a voice to and encourages the dissemination of expert information to other members. Easily overlooked from within, astonishing to view from outside.
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​Chris:  When my wife and I returned to the UK after 12 years living abroad we spent some time trying to decide how we might get back into sailing.  A friend suggested we might enjoy the DCA and that there was a forthcoming rally at Kielder Water.  We contacted Bill Haylock who said we would be welcome to attend despite having no boat and not being members and assured us that we would have the opportunity to sail with various members there.  We spent a wonderful 2 days.  Our decision was made and after much research and a trip to the London boat show we were lucky to purchase a second hand Deben Lugger and joined the DCA. 
Our first outing was 10 days to the Lough Erne rally, only 1 week after collecting our boat. Tremendous fun with great company all of whom were so generous with their time and advice and where we learnt the basics of launching, recovering, rigging and sailing our lugger.  We have enjoyed every rally we have attended and on every occasion learnt something new so much so that after a year we had the confidence to set off independently to France to attend the Semaine du Golfe.

In short for us the main benefit of membership is the opportunity to meet, sail with, and learn from such a wonderfully diverse group of people all of whom share ones interest.  It really is the best club I have been a member of and I thank all the volunteer office holders for making it so.
Join the DCA

The friendly club with a sense of adventure. For sailors and families who use boats for more than just racing.

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  • Home
  • About
    • Origins
    • News
    • Contact us
  • Cruising
    • Getting started
    • Living aboard
    • Safety
  • Dinghies
    • Boat reviews
    • Technical Articles
    • Roamer and Rebell
    • YM Designs
  • Rallies
    • South Coast
    • North West
    • North East
    • South West
    • East Coast
  • Journal
    • Archive
    • DCA Awards
  • DCA Library
    • Good Reads
    • Book Reviews
  • Join the DCA
    • Renew/Update
  • Members Section
    • Forum
    • DCA Shop
    • Membership lists
    • AGM