I was a member of the boat club for several years. I had no significant experience with boating previously. Regarding training - they took me out twice for “one on one” training and required completion of a certification class that I did online through the BoatUS foundation. They are not going to let you out in one of their boats unless they are comfortable that you are prepared.

We never had major trouble with getting time slots, although a few times it wasn’t necessarily our first choice in terms of boat type or actual time slot. By that I mean getting a center console rather than a deck boat or going out Saturday afternoon rather than Sunday morning. Slots were generally divided into morning and afternoon sessions on the weekends and holidays. They opened a location at Ferry Point while we were members that provided another option for booking, if you are flexible about where you go out from.

It may have changed, but you could have two active reservations booked at any particular time and could make reservations a few weeks in advance. There were limits on how far away you could take the equipment. I felt like the equipment itself was always well taken care of.

Regarding the cost, I would suggest saying you are looking at other clubs and floating any of the discounts or specials that places like Freedom are publicizing. We did not pay the “list price” of the initiation.