I’m desperately looking for a sailing club that is high performance friendly to rehome my 14 or she may have to be sold I'm moving from the south coast to Preston, Lancashire for work. The only clubs I have found that even have enough water are:

http://www.ribblecruisingclub.org.uk/ - http://www.ribblecruisingclub.org.uk/

http://www.mhyc.co.uk/ - http://www.mhyc.co.uk/

both a bit on the family crusing side of things, not too sure how they would like me sailing a 14 out of there. Plus I have to find a crew who can manage sailing her too...

Any recommendations/suggestions?

I live in Preston, used to be a member of Ribble CC, and am now at Leigh & Lowton SC.

The jetty at Ribble (Lytham St Annes) was washed away for the second time last year, and the dinghy section has died. It's a fast tide, with water for ony 3-4 hours around high tide. And the mud's radioactive from Selafield

Leigh & Lowton is fairly narrow over half the sailing area (for a prevailing wind) but one advantage is that it's not a reservoir (it's a bowl formed by a collapsed mine working) so you're guaranteed water and you don't have to wash you boat in copper-sulphate solution if you travel away. Strong RS400 and Solo fleets. It's a friendly club though with good heritage.

I found quite a few clubs in Lancs are restrictive, tending to favour traditional classes.

Not much suitable water, considering all the rain!!!

i think West Lancs sail on the sea at Ainsdale- they certainly do for the topper and other opens.

You could try anywhere on the Dee or Mersey estuaries, eg: West Kirby SC, Wallasey YC, West Cheshire SC, Dee SC, Fiddler's Ferry SC, Liverpool SC.

You could try some other Lancaster area clubs eg: Glasson SC, or I think there is a tiny club at Arnside.

There isn't much in the way of large expanses of water for skiff type boat in the north west- most support is for traditional classes (bar the 400s at L&L and 200s at Budworth). Most large areas of water are in muddy estuaries- not pleasant!

You see a list of clubs by following one of the links below.

http://www.noblemarine.co.uk/clubfinder.php3?county=Lancashire - Sailing and Yacht Clubs in Lancashire

http://www.noblemarine.co.uk/clubfinder.php3?region=d - Sailing and Yacht Clubs in the North West

We have tried to include as much information about each club as possible, such as the classes sailed, contact details, location map and a short description.

Having been a member at several NW clubs and been to opens at most I would say you have two options:

1. Keep the 14 and sail at Ullswater (along with 49ers etc..)

2. Join Leigh and Lowton, sell the 14 and buy something like a rs400. While I'm not an rs400 fan, Leigh is too small and shifty to sail anything faster than either a 400 or fireball.

While there are other clubs around you these two would be your best options: Ullswater if you want to keep the 14; Leigh if you don't mind sailing something slower. Other clubs around don't have enough water for you plus you would be at leigh very quickly from preston: 5 mins from the M6

Well, all good comments from the previous replies, but I live in Preston and have just taken delivery of new Musto Skiff, having previously sailed an RS300 at Glasson SC on the River Lune estuary near Lancaster, 30 mins from Preston on M6.  I've been a member there for 30 yrs and wouldn't go anywhere else. Small friendly club with great sailing water. Tidal but giving 3 hrs of sailing each full tide. Also good size waves when wind vs tide -

GSC has mixed fleet from Blazes, RS400, Laser, MPS, Dart 15...

Come on up and give it a go!

Glossop & District could be worth a shout - It's 160 acres and a full beat is about a mile from end to end - the only downside is that there is a narrow bit at one end of the reservoir. We're a friendly bunch and it's definately a high performance friendly place.

We have about 12 Javelins, 6 ISO's although they're not sailed that regularly any more, 3 contenders with possibly another one to come as well as a couple of RS400's, RS300 (mine) and few Lasers. We've had B14's and I14's sailed there before - you won't win any handicap series in the 14 but it'll be good sailing - usually pretty windy up there!

Thanks for the replies guys, lots of clubs to check out.

One thing that concerns me with a few of them is the size of the sailing area. Once a boat like a 14 really gets going downwind you get through water like nobodys business and it really is a pain to sail somehwere small and not anywhere as much fun as it could be :(

The other problem is getting crew. If I keep her at a club with few high performance boats the chances of getting a crew for a boat like a 14 might be small and I'd end up selling her anyway

It might be a while until my sister moves from Portsmouth and I can have the 14 up there anway, so I have some time to think about it. Despite the boat being old (gbr1333) I'm quite attached to her, but maybe an RS600 or something might be a better option since they are single handed, cheap and a bit slower!

There's always Blackpool Light Craft Club, opposite the Pleasure Beach. Small club, they mainly sail Cats. No shelter, you launch off the beach into the wind and the waves. But once you're out, I imagine you couldn't get a more dramatic expanse of water anywhere in the NW!!! (In the hayday of the two clubs, we used to have an annual club challenge race from Ribble CC to BLCC, often a screaming reach for 10 miles along the coast .)

I've a good mate there, so you could probably visit for a trial sail, and if you're short of a crew .....

Mark

Before moving to Pompey I lived in Blackpool & did all the RYA Northwest Traveller series' etc so I got to know all the clubs very well. Your best option is Leigh & Lowton (inland) or Blackpool & Fleetwood (tidal). Leigh has always been well known for it's high performance fleet with a very good sailing area. B&F (where I was a member for several years) has a very good & interesting sailing area, however their fleets usually consist of mainly lasers & Dart 18's. Both are very easy to get to so basically it's depends whether you want tidal or inland really.

Craig - Cheeky says hi