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Sailing Club Catchment Areas
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Poll Question: How far do you regularly travel to your sailing club of choice?
Poll Choice Votes Poll Statistics
55 [51.40%]
24 [22.43%]
16 [14.95%]
9 [8.41%]
3 [2.80%]
0 [0.00%]
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bustinben View Drop Down
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Posts: 288 		Post Options Post Options   Quote bustinben Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Sailing Club Catchment Areas
    Posted: 11 Feb 11 at 1:29pm
My local club is QM, which is about a mile away, but it's horrendously expensive and I rarely sail at my home club so couldn't justify it (£100 deposit for a gate key was the nail in the coffin).  Instead I drive 10 minutes to Island Barn, which is basically just where my boat lives (a shame, because they're a friendly bunch), but actually, most of my sailing is done 70 miles away at Stokes Bay, as that's a generally good central point for all the people I train with.  Friendly, decent enough facilities, and well priced.
 
Costs me a ****king fortune in fuel though. My penchant for large engined cars doesn't go well with it :O
 
The fact is I need to train on the sea, against top sailors, so although I've spend many years having great fun on small lakes, it's not the kind of sailing I want/need to be doing any more.


Edited by bustinben - 11 Feb 11 at 1:31pm
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rb_stretch View Drop Down
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Posts: 742 		Post Options Post Options   Quote rb_stretch Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 11 at 1:15pm
Originally posted by GybeFunny

I drive 30mins to my club (Chipstead), it’s the nearest to me. It is a small lake but we have fleet racing. I ended up changing classes to fit into an established fleet. To me fleet racing is where it is at, I would far rather sail a boat that doesn’t 100% suit me in a close fleet than one that suits me 100% but I am racing on my own. I have been spoilt in that I have been a member of 3 different clubs and 2 of them were fleet racing clubs, the sailing and social sides of the fleet racing clubs are far superior. I do wonder if those who decide on a nicer boat over a good close club fleet have ever experienced a decent club fleet. When I drive 15mins further to a bigger lake for a few weeks of handicap racing in the winter it makes a nice change but I am glad I don’t handicap race all the time!


I agree fleet racing is always best, but for most people it comes down to how far away from 100% are they prepared to go before saying it's not enjoyable. Nothing worse than seeing people give up sailing entirely because their boat just isn't suitable.

I'm a case in point at 6'6", 93kg - there are a lot of boats that I'm just not going to enjoyably fit in.

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G.R.F. View Drop Down
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Posts: 4028 		Post Options Post Options   Quote G.R.F. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 11 at 11:03am
Originally posted by Contender 541

 but for it's proximity to two excellent pubs (both former regional Camra winners).  Each pub (the Elms and the Burton Bridge Brewery) is no more than 500 metres away
 

LOL Camra I bet you wear socks in your sandals.

And have a long fluffy beard.


Edited by G.R.F. - 11 Feb 11 at 11:03am
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GybeFunny View Drop Down
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Posts: 403 		Post Options Post Options   Quote GybeFunny Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 11 Feb 11 at 10:15am
I drive 30mins to my club (Chipstead), it’s the nearest to me. It is a small lake but we have fleet racing. I ended up changing classes to fit into an established fleet. To me fleet racing is where it is at, I would far rather sail a boat that doesn’t 100% suit me in a close fleet than one that suits me 100% but I am racing on my own. I have been spoilt in that I have been a member of 3 different clubs and 2 of them were fleet racing clubs, the sailing and social sides of the fleet racing clubs are far superior. I do wonder if those who decide on a nicer boat over a good close club fleet have ever experienced a decent club fleet. When I drive 15mins further to a bigger lake for a few weeks of handicap racing in the winter it makes a nice change but I am glad I don’t handicap race all the time!
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Rob.e View Drop Down
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Posts: 545 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rob.e Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 11 at 9:32pm
There are a number of clubs in Portsmouth Harbour, all slighty diferent, and we have regular contact/races with two of them, good clubs, nice people, but the tiny differences in location and sailing priorities make Portchester the only choice for me at the moment- we all used to de-camp to Fareham for winter and have an inter club cruiser series with them, and whilst I've stuck with PchSC we have friends at the other clubs that would never move, it's just those small things that make the choice so personal.
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Rob.e View Drop Down
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Posts: 545 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Rob.e Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 11 at 9:22pm

I did move to HISC for class racing, and happily paid the premium for membership- I'd echo what Andy B said about its good points- but eventually went back to my "home" club and handicap racing when life became complicated/busy. My Father was looking for a mooring 40 years ago and got one at Portchester, and we've both graduated back there in the end (I've come and gone several times as lifestyle changed). I guess the combination of friendly atmosphere, familiar surroundings, and people you've grown up and grown old with, plus a club that basically does what you want it to do is what draws us back. In the end I sail for fun rather than sail to win, and I have a lot of fun at Portchy! Hayling was good though....
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SoggyBadger View Drop Down
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Posts: 552 		Post Options Post Options   Quote SoggyBadger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 11 at 6:35pm
Originally posted by Contender 541

The house I currently own was chosen not for it's proximity to the Sailing club - which is about 12 minutes drive - but for it's proximity to two excellent pubs (both former regional Camra winners).


Can't fault your logic there Thumbs Up

Originally posted by Contender 541

Each pub (the Elms and the Burton Bridge Brewery) is no more than 500 metres away
 
The BBB used to a regular watering hole when I used to ride with my local cycling club. Beer
 
Best wishes from deep in the woods

SB

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Contender 541 View Drop Down
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Posts: 1402 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Contender 541 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 11 at 5:58pm
Originally posted by patj

Actually how many of us have chosen our house for its proximity to a sailing club and the resultant social life?
 
The house I currently own was chosen not for it's proximity to the Sailing club - which is about 12 minutes drive - but for it's proximity to two excellent pubs (both former regional Camra winners).  Each pub (the Elms and the Burton Bridge Brewery) is no more than 500 metres away
 
 
Edit: That should let the more enterprising of you triangulate my location!!


Edited by Contender 541 - 10 Feb 11 at 6:00pm
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G.R.F. View Drop Down
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Posts: 4028 		Post Options Post Options   Quote G.R.F. Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 11 at 5:06pm
Originally posted by GK.LaserII

[
The nearest racing club in the other direction is Hythe Wink LOL
 


Which is about  mile away from home, it can take 5 minutes if there's heavy tourist traffic and/or a Boot Fair on Hythe Green.

We've got anything from half a dozen to a dozen Lasers littering up perfectly decent water being sailed by a variety of skill levels and ages.

Then we have a pretty mongrel mix; Couple of 470's, half a dozen L3ks, a five oh, RS500, MPS, Supernova, Phantom, Blaze, couple of 400's and five Contenders, occasional L4k and on a really good day we could get close to thirty boats now I guess. It's been improving since us Windsurfers taught them how to race and do stuff like be somewhere approaching the general start area at least when the gun goes and do it regularly same time every week regardless..
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Post Options Post Options   Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 10 Feb 11 at 4:10pm
Originally posted by JimC

Something that's interesting to me is how few people have mentioned driving past the nearest club to get to the club with the right fleet. Club atmosphere/people/facilities/firendliness/water seems to me to have come up a lot more often.
 
 
Yes, it's a shame but...
 
As jwl said..............+ we would have to drive an awful long way to find a fleet that suits us even if we sailed any single trap symmetric (affordable).
 
My local club, which I drive past, insist on fleet results. They would put us in the "maverick" fleet which consists of 1 sometimes 2 boats.......although we'd be certain of silverware it wouldn't be very satisfying. To get any meaningful results I would either have to sail a Laser or a Cat
 
Both clubs I drive past have a reef and massive dump if the wind is above 4 and in the SW,  or either an underground boat park (take down mast every time) or a boat park on a busy town center beach.
 
So I travel to a private beach which is off the beaten track, a beach sheltered from the S.W. wind, 4 electric winches, large private car park, large camping area.
 
The nearest racing club in the other direction is Hythe Wink LOL
 
............fleet racing would be good but sadly it ain't happening, thats why I'm doing my bit at the club for improving the inadequate (works reasonably well on a big lake) PY system.


Edited by GK.LaserII - 10 Feb 11 at 4:14pm
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