Sailing Club Camps
The Club runs a number of camps through the summer season usually held in out of the way locations on coastal estuaries, harbours or larger inland waters. These camps have proved very popular with our members over many years and offer a combination of good sailing in superb locations with additional social activities.
The camps scheduled for this year will be listed in the Programme, but below are some of the favourites. Most camps will have one or more of the Club Boats for members to sail. As with all our events the camps will have and Advanced Organiser listed in the programme.If you are interested in joining in any of activities make sure you contact the AO plenty of time in advance.
Summer Camp
Our main event in the Summer Programme is a two week camping/sailing holiday usually held in the West Country during August. Previous Summer Camps have been at Poole Harbour, Salcombe, Plymouth, Carrick Roads, Helford River and Milford Heaven.
This is the sort of things that we get up to on camp – none of these things can be done at a single location, but these are the sorts of things our family camping programme tends to offer.
| Day | Activity |
| 1 | Set up camp. Local sailing PM |
| 2 | Shakedown Sail – local fleet sail to nearby destination |
| 3 | Long fleet sail – 20 to 26 miles, experienced adventurers only. Local sailing for families |
| 4 | Long fleet sail – meet families who have travelled there by car |
| 5 | Pirates Breakfast – early morning adventure for kids under 8, followed by a waterfight for all. Afternoon paddle to local venue |
| 6 | Family walk, local sailing |
| 7 | Day out at the beach, sand castle competition, body boarding |
| 8 | Fleet sail to a local beach with kids and picnic. |
| 9 | Long fleet sail – over 20 miles |
| 10 | Fleet sail with families for brunch at a local town. Fun games on the field for all ages, including egg and spoon and egg sandwich, welly throwing, tug of war, ridiculous games where everyone gets wet. |
| 11 | Late evening fleet sail and paddle to a pub, night sail and paddle back in absolute pitch black looking for phosphorescence in the water, navigation lights are a good idea |
| 12 | Regatta – series of sailing races culminating in an all-in swimming / canoeing / sailing relay race. Camp fire in the evening. |
| 13 | Sail to a pub for ice-cream |
| 14 | Chicken Run – a sailing game where the aim is to arrive at the finish line at a particular given time. Pub lunch. |
| 15 | Treasure Hunt, Walk, Local sailing |
| 16 | Camp closes |
Rutland Camp
In 2004 about a dozen CSC members spent a very enjoyable long weekend sailing and camping at Rutland – In 2005 Rutland was formally included in the CSC programme of activities.
Rutland Water is approx 2.5 to 3hrs drive from the Farnborough area. Rutland Water is said to be Europe’s largest man made lake with over 3000 acres with 23 miles of shore (ie somewhat bigger than Frensham). Being inland, the water is obviously non tidal, not too choppy and, other than other dinghies and windsurfers, virtually traffic free – so lots of space to master that spinnaker.The Club launches from and uses the facilities of Rutland Sailing Club – and they offer good facilities (firm smooth launching ramps, a pleasant clubhouse with food & drink, changing rooms showers etc). Their dinghy/trailer parking is also reasonably secure for overnight parking.Launch fees are approx £12.50 per day per boat. The camp site is a flat field with water standpoints and chemical loo emptying facilities – but unlike the usual CSC Summer and Poole camps it is a public site so we will have to share the field. The camp site is immediately adjacent to sailing club and, with the club facilities opening from around 0800-1800hrs each day, the chemical loos are only needed at night. The cost is a very reasonable £4 per night per pitch/tent Edith-Weston is a lovely old-world village a short walk away (with a good food serving pub), but these is not much else (shopping wise) in the village.The area probably has many B&B offerings for those of you who don’t fancy sleeping under canvas – but I’ll leave you to sort that out. For the walkers or cyclists I am told there is an excellent network of paths and bridleways – including a bridleway right around the water (19 or 23 miles) – so if the wind doesn’t behave we have some alternative activity options.
The club welcomes children of all ages and encourages them to participate in water-based activities with their parents. However, parents remain responsible for their own children at all times and the club cannot accept responsibility for them.
Children enjoy many of the CSC events. So much so that several current members originally came to camps and other events as children and now bring their own children or grandchildren. Older children may accompany parents on trips if they consider it suitable, but only if the Officer On Duty (OOD) also allows it.
Events, especially Summer Camp, are organised with activities for children to complement the more demanding adult cruises. The sites are on river estuaries so that there is an expanse of calm water in sight of the tents so that older children can enjoy themselves on the water on their own but in safe water. The age range is not restricted, sometimes there have been babies on site, right up to late teenagers.