Since 1953 Chipstead Sailing Club, near Sevenoaks, has provided a hub of friendly water based activity.
This Kent club is a popular venue for sailing, paddleboarding, open water swimming, radio sailing, canoeing and fishing. A membership of around 500 creates a friendly, helpful, supportive atmosphere at this volunteer run club; making it the perfect place to begin or develop your sailing skills.
The president of Chipstead Sailing Club is world-renowned sailor Ian Walker, who was announced as the CEO of Athena Racing’s America’s Cup challenge at the end of last year. Ian learnt to sail a Mirror dinghy at the club and his continued support of Chipstead includes giving talks.
The roughly 70 acre Longford Lake, also called Chipstead Lake, is fed by the River Darent. It is very accessible, being at the junction of the M25/M26/M21, though thankfully traffic is not visible or audible from the lake.
There are many ways to get afloat here, for example, the Saturday Adult Club has become a very successful route to begin or return to sailing. This is an opportunity to use club boats with RYA qualified instructors for a taster session, have support with a new/different boat or develop existing skills.
From this starting point sailors are encouraged to sign up for RYA training courses at Chipstead. These include RYA level 1 and 2 as well as Stages 1-4 for juniors, but also RYA Powerboat 1 and 2 for those interested in developing their skills for safety boat duty.
The club has recently achieved RYA Pathway status to evolve future junior progression.
WOMEN ON WATER
In addition to RYA courses there are opportunities for small group peer coaching sessions, such as Women on Water which meets weekly from May to October and has run for 10 years. This has proved a very successful format providing a supportive learning environment enabling female sailors to practise and develop their skills.
Polly, whose daughter takes part in Women on Water, said: “From the first time we came to WoW together, when my daughter was 10, everyone has made her so welcome, and she has loved being part of it. Attending has given her a huge amount of confidence, friendship and fun. Meeting people and chatting, developing her teaching and powerboat skills, as well as racing and sailing. Whatever the future holds, she will be a more confident woman for the hours at WoW – thank you.”
The peer coaching environment builds confidence through practising racing related techniques such as mark rounding, boat control etc. Short races each session put the learning into practice and allow for discussion of how the rules might apply to specific situations. The group is regularly around 10 and has facilitated 90 per cent of attendees to feel able to participate in fleet racing at the club.
RACE DAYS
Currently there is racing all day on Saturdays and Sundays as well as a Wednesday evening series. Handicap races are always available alongside races for the eight fleets: Topper, Comet, Heron, Solo, Laser, Graduate, Enterprise and Firefly. Sailing can often be viewed as an expensive sport but with Class boats available to borrow for a small charge and second hand kit the opportunity is there to try out the sport before significant spending is required.
MODEL YACHTS
Chipstead has an active Model Yacht Section, with up to 30 sailors sailing weekly, all year round. The lake has superb facilities with easy launches and the ability to set a variety of courses. They sail two classes: DF95 and International One Metre yachts. The annual programme includes a variety of Class Opens and Rankings meetings including a national ranking for Marbleheads. A senior official from the Model Yacht Association recently commented that he wished all clubs had such active volunteers and facilities.
WEALDEN SAILABILITY
Twice weekly from April to October Wealden Sailability run a racing programme, instruction and experience opportunities for sailors with disabilities.
Last year they won Disability Charity of the Year at the Kent Charity Awards for their extensive work encouraging skill development and sailing confidence for their clients. Their volunteers do a tremendous job and new recruits are always made very welcome. ■
chipsteadsc.org.uk
