All rowers who use BIR equipment -- with the exception of guests and recent learn-to-rwo participants (see details below) -- must be members of Bainbridge Island Rowing and pay non-refundable rowing fees annually, quarterly, or monthly.

BIR membership
Membership fees for 2012 are $200, as they have been for several years. Renewing members are expected to renew before their first row in February or by March 1st.

After 8/31/12, the fee for new members is $100 for the remainder of the year.

Anyone who completes a learn-to-row class may join BIR, within two weeks of completing the class, for half of the current price: $100 until the end of August or $50 after 8/31/12 for the remainder of the year.

Rowing fees
Rowing fees have increased slightly for 2012:

• $550/year for unlimited rowing throughout the year
  
• $250/season (due March 1, June 1, and September 1) for unlimited rowing during the season paid for
  
• $125/month (due by the first of the month) for unlimited rowing during the calendar month.

A punch card for casual rowers is also available at $125 for 10 rows. A punch card is good for 12 months from the date of purchase.

Qualified guests, prospective members, and recent learn-to-row participants may row up to twice at no charge.

Additional optional payments
Volunteer buy-out fee, $200.
Bainbridge Island Rowing is an all-volunteer organization, and your participation as a volunteer is both required and key to the continuing success of BIR. We expect a mimimum of ten hours of volunteer services from each Master rower during the calendar year. Most give many more! If you are unable or unwilling to meet the minimum volunteer requirement, you may pay the $200 volunteer buy-out fee in lieu of service.

Regatta fee, $50 (new for 2012)
We are trying something new this year to support Master regatta fees. The main goal of this trial is to simplify fee collecting. It can be a time-consuming and tedious task to calculate, track and drive fee collection. This may be a good deal for those who get to take advantage of each race but more importantly it is serving to simplify BIR's regatta fee collection process.

The regatta opt-in fee that is proposed for Masters this year can include up to 3 components for all local regattas that Masters are participating in: shell transportation, shell insurance and regatta entry fees. Local regattas in this case refer to all Washington state regattas.

The following local regattas will be covered by the opt-in fee 100%:

• Green Lake Spring regatta
• Green Lake Summer regatta
• Green Lake Fall regatta
• Head of the Lake Fall regatta

The following regattas will have shell transportation and shell insurance covered by the opt-in fee. The participating rower will pay for their entry fees.

• Covered Bridge regatta (April 14-15)
• Master's Regionals (June)

If you participate in one of these regattas, you will be required to pay the opt-in fee. There will be no exceptions. It looks like we may have an ambitious racing year ahead of us, as we evaluate this "opt-in" fee throughout this year and flush out a more consistent regatta participation schedule, we will continue to add more regattas to be eligible for this approach.

Registration and options for payment
To register and pay for membership and rowing fees, click LOG IN in the upper left of this screen. Log in, or set up an account if you don't already have one, then follow instructions on the screen. Remember to have your medical information (doctor, insurance) and USRowing number (if you have one) in hand before you log in and register.

After you have finished filling out the online registration form you may choose to pay by check or credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or Discover). Once registration is complete, you will receive an email from info@bainbridgerowing.org, with your completed Medical Authorization and Waiver attached. Sign and mail a copy of the waiver to BIR, along with a check for payment if appropriate.