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Dougal 
Really should get out more 
Joined: 23 Sep 09 Location: England Online Status: Offline Posts: 556 |
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 Topic: Clubs.Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 11:25am |
Yes, spot on!
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What could possibly go wrong?
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turnturtle
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Joined: 05 Dec 14 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2538 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 11:16am |
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can't argue with that- it's always feckin' cold there in winter!!!
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Steve411
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Joined: 09 Sep 08 Location: Cheddar, Somerset, England Online Status: Offline Posts: 705 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 10:57am |
That's exactly the reason we decided to forgo Grafham for our Winters this year and head off to a smaller club instead. Winters they may be but you can overdo the windchill at times. Grafham in the summer can be outstanding though.
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Woodburner
Far too distracted from work 
Joined: 13 Mar 15 Location: Folkestone Kent Online Status: Offline Posts: 332 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 10:49am |
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I wouldn't exactly go as far as to say 'unfriendly' there's a big difference between the two ends, but municipal would probably best describe it, neutral and tolerant. '78 was the first time I've been up there dozens of times at lots of events all through the eighties, nineties and a few noughties, I also used to have to visit a customer I had there over the years. Silliest thing they did was refuse kites, it was a big enough piece of water to get kites on.
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JimC
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Joined: 17 May 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 6662 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 10:25am |
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I've never found Grafham unfriendly. But cold? Grief yes, as soon as the air sees that particular reservoir it seems to get an extra 10 degrees of wind chill...
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jeffers
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Joined: 29 Mar 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 3048 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 10:03am |
Pleased you liked the club Grumpf. You would be more than welcome to come visit and have your *rse handed to you by the fledgling D-Zero fleet any time you like....
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Paul
---------------------- D-Zero GBR 74 |
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turnturtle
Really should get out more
Joined: 05 Dec 14 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2538 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 10:02am |
so your entire opinion is based on experiences in 1978? ... long memory, but you are not alone in the 'big unfriendly' perception. I remember being told that about Grafham in the early 90's, I almost believed it too for a while.... oddly they were unfriendly and unwelcoming enough to let 100 or so kids access to their water, use of their rescue facilities, hot showers and decent catering. We also kipped in their club house, drank ourselves stupid on smuggled-in booze and still 'welcomed' us back, year after year. How very unwelcoming of them..... and no, I was not in a youth squad, this was just 'regional training'- a pooling of local club sailors who did the odd open or two. Ironically the youth squad were training at the same time as us... they also got access to all of these facilities. I wouldn't want to count how many medals and podiums were reached, in part, as a result of clubs like Grafham providing these vital services in the middle of winter when coastal sailing shuts down.
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Woodburner
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 13 Mar 15 Location: Folkestone Kent Online Status: Offline Posts: 332 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 9:52am |
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I have the same feeling of Grafham, spent the entire winter of '78 up there training, dinghy's were still in their hey day it was still a relatively new club back then, but all that time,at the end of it I hadn't met and got to know anyone other than the folk I was training with, oh and maybe the bar guy. Then again I suppose you can say that about most of the big clubs, but Hayling, which is the other monster just seems a bit more accommodating, they do at least take you money with a smile and maybe a chat, just Grafham there never seems to be anyone, except on that demo day I did with RS and Rodney, the commodore guy did show up for that for a bit.
You kind of expect Sailing Clubs to be up their own dark places, so it's to be expected, which is why when you come across the Hunts and Broxbournes of this world you're pleasantly surprised
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JohnJack
Far too distracted from work
Joined: 12 Mar 13 Online Status: Offline Posts: 246 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 9:41am |
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We did an Open at Grafham two seasons back. We found it a cold, soulless, unwelcoming, unfriendly place and would probably not go back.
In comparison we went to Carsington in the same year and found it very warm, friendly and with a great feel to the place. I have been to quite a few clubs, and admittedly find the member ran clubs a bit more invested in visitors. Staunton, Pennine, Notts County, Papercourt, Frensham Pond, Elton, Budworth, Both Southport Clubs, West Kirby just to name a few (they all tend to allow you to through a tent up as well, which makes it easier). Datchet had a very modern feel to it, I kind of liked the place however the wind was pretty torrid, but the novelty of ducking under jumbo's from Heathrow was a bit strange |
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turnturtle
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Joined: 05 Dec 14 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2538 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 15 at 9:39am |
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I wouldn't write off Grafham completely.... despite the 'big unfriendly lake' moniker they seem friendly enough to get a new fleet of *eros off the ground- no mean feet. And maintain some excellent racing for asymmetrics, cats and Lasers etc. Their winter event is the BEST in the SJ series by a country mile imho and they have put a lot back into the sailing community hosting all manner of training camps, open meetings and inland championships over the years.
There's also a guy who has intermittently raced a board against dinghies and been welcomed to do so - as have I at our 'big unfriendly club', that just happens to cater for anything from open meeting grade class racing to a menagerie of pretty much anything else you can squeeze on to the water.
And by stating this I'm not knocking the efforts of those involved in smaller operations- quite the contrary.... horses for courses, different strokes for different folks etc. But I know which one I would join if I lived over there, and it would probably be the one where I wouldn't feel like an outsider because I left my wife and kids at home doing what they actually wanted to do with their free time, rather than playing lip service to my own selfish pursuits, or worse, on 'galley duty' with the other lesser-WAGs like something from the 1950s.
Edited by turnturtle - 22 Apr 15 at 9:53am |
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