Around 200 sailing activities a year, ranging from day trips to holidays lasting more than a week: there’s almost always something going on at U.S. Histos in Utrecht. The student sailing club has over 500 members and describes itself as the largest student sailing club in Europe. The programme is organised by the members themselves, spread across around thirty committees, with the club boat De Oude Buis in the centre of Utrecht serving as their home base. First-years join sailing teams and then choose their own specialism. Recently, all of this has also been managed via the club’s own app.
Three features are particularly useful for Histos:
- Push notifications — the executive committee and the committees can reach all members quickly. Handy if there are last-minute changes, or if registrations are still needed for an activity.
- Information pages in the ‘More’ menu — permanent information has its own section in the app, such as the rules for sailing regattas.
- Noticeboard — members can see who has lost something and can report any damage, for example to a boat.
For a club where the programme takes place on the water and plans can sometimes change from day to day, it’s particularly important that a message reaches everyone quickly. Youmie builds member apps for student sailing clubs and other student sports clubs whose communication is currently spread across email, social media and separate documents, bringing push notifications and dedicated information pages together in one place. For Histos, this means: one app for 500 members and 200 activities per year.
