Cody Sailing Club

Cody Sailing Club – a virtual sailing club specialising in fleet dinghy cruising and family camping.

A number of innovations have been proposed by club members for 2020.

I seek to find out how many members would be – in principal – interested in these proposed events.

Two day cruises at a weekend with accommodation ashore near the launch site.

One of the innovations that has been proposed by club members for 2020 is a number of two-day weekends.

We would plan to camp or stay ashore, not necessarily as a club in the same location. Hotels, B&B and camping all feature in the alternative accommodation, so great for those who do not camp.

We might be hosted by a real Sailing Club or use a public slipway, and cruise from the given location on both Saturday and Sunday, probably arriving Friday.

So it’s not a Cody Camp, like Keyhaven or Cobnor, where we all stay in the same location – we would stay in whatever accommodation we’ve arranged ourselves (to suit our budget) and sail each day from the given location as a fleet.

Just so that I have an idea of numbers, and assuming that the weather is a F4 with bright sunshine and warm weather – so this is very much in principal, would you be interested in this?

Thoughts on locations could include
River Exe
Chichester / Portsmouth / Solent
East Coast
Bristol Channel

5 day or multi-day daysail dinghy cruises further afield

Very much in the spirit of above, but travelling much further away, would you be interested in making up a team for an away-trip adventure?

Thoughts include
Northern France
Lake District
West Coast of Scotland – Mull or Jura (look up Craighouse, Jura, and see the stunning marine environment that is aching for exploration).
Cornwall/Devon

These would be from a fixed location with daysailing every day and will not require sleeping aboard.
If multi-day daysailing like this interests you, please let me know and we will take your aspirations into account while planning sailing next year. If you are happy to Advance Organise, and lead the daysailing, please also let me know.

Rear Commodore.

Bridging the gap between RYA Level 2 and confidently sailing in a wide variety of conditions on your own.
Come adventurous dinghy cruising in company – fleet dinghy cruising
Join us family camping with club and personally owned sailing dinghies. Bring-your-own canoes, windsurfers and Stand-Up Paddlers are welcome. Camp by the waterside in beautiful locations
Extend your range… Coastal cruise your dinghy on a family camping holiday.

We are a friendly Club and we welcome anyone interested in dinghy cruising, yacht cruising and camping – and you don’t have to do them all – we also walk and cycle sometimes.

The whole family, and singles, will enjoy the good life getting back to nature with Cody.

RIMG0020 — Preparing to sail to Swanage as a fleet from Poole Harbour

We have a wide operating area, across the South of England, and we venture further afield for camps. We sail in Sussex, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

We are based in Hampshire, with a membership across the South of England. We currently keep our club boats at Frensham Pond and Southampton SC, and run some activities at both locations. For daysails we travel to great locations on the South Coast, and we travel further afield for camps.

RIMG0153 — A family day on the beach at Mill Bay in Salcombe Harbour. Seven boats sailed and some more members drove to the beach.

The primary purpose of the club is to organise affordable coastal sailing cruises and sailing-themed camps for our members, in a friendly and supportive group environment. The sailing is designed to suit a wide range of sailing abilities, whilst the camping also appeals to non-sailing members of all ages.

While we are most definitely not a racing community, we welcome members with all levels of sailing competence, and there is always a healthy interest in effective and efficient sailing.

We do not offer clubhouse facilities or storage for club member’s boats.

Instead, the club operates primarily as a tidal cruising organisation for sailing dinghies and yachts. We sail in a wide variety of sailing locations in and around the UK.

RIMG0193 — Members bring Canoes, SUPs and Windsurfers to camp. Here the canoeists are preparing for an early morning paddle towards Salcombe.

Our programme provides both tidal and inland sailing events that are tailored to suit the mixed interests of our membership.

AlumBay — Two dinghies on the beach at Alum Bay for lunch.

Many of our camps are on private coastal sites that landowners have made available to the club over many years.

We enjoy fleet dinghy cruising in tidal waters in the Solent and other prime UK locations.

RIMG0166 — Enjoying the beautiful scenery at Lannacombe Beach. Sail out of Salcome on the ebb, turn left and round Prawle Point. The headland of Start Point is in the distance.

We support Cruiser Rally’s for our Yachting community and dinghy fraternity alike, and in order to maintain social contact all year round we hold winter events both on the water and ashore.

To provide dinghy space for non-boat owners on our cruising events, the club also provides access to three Comet Trio club dinghies, subject to an additional Dinghy Section membership fee. These boats are also available for hire by qualified crews.

Comet Trios at Frensham — Club Boats being sailed by members after they have passed RYA Level 1 and 2, and want to now build their skills and experience.

We are an active and friendly sailing club whose membership used to be drawn mostly from around the Farnborough and Portsdown, Hampshire area, and now we have membership from Yorkshire to Somerset, Sussex to Dorset. We organise regular dinghy cruises on the sea and inland waters as well as yacht cruises and many family camps. Other activities involve friendly racing and many social activities including visits and talks.

RIMG0213 — Enjoying a three sail reach in the beautiful Salcombe Harbour.

If you would like to join or would like some more information please contact us, or find us on Facebook.

I for one take great comfort when sailing with Cody friends knowing that there is an intent and experience to give assistance to others.

I love sailing because there is always something to learn. I love dinghy sailing because it’s so immediate.

Thanks to all for 3 great days of sailing and especially to everyone who has worked tirelessly to make the weekend possible

Thanks for a great couple of days!

Cody_Needles_s — Cody Trio sailing off the Isle of Wight Needles – Thanks to Jenny for the photograph.

A last minute decision to take a trip to Exmouth on the evening of Friday 5th October saw Mel and Steve travel to Exmouth to join Nick and others on a daysail in the estuary on Saturday.

The forecast had been for F4-5 from the East and Topsham would have been an easy destination, but as the week progressed the forecast abruptly changed to zero for Saturday morning.

The millpond of the estuary – paddling only…

And it is onto a millpond of reflection that four boats began the paddle; Nick and his crew in his beautiful Trio, two people in the Wayfarer and two in an RS Vision (I apologise, I am useless at remembering names). After an hour, and with 20 minutes left of the flood tide it was clear that Topsham was not a likely destination, and we diverted to the unbelievably picturesque Lympstone. This is where the laundry comes into the story – the dwellings in Lympstone have no gardens, and the locals have taken to hanging their washing on the shoreline on ropes strung between great wooden poles to dry.

We avoided the laundry as we made land and shortly afterwards enjoyed the hospitality of Susannah’s Tea Room, a lovely traditional coffee-shop cum centre-of-village-life walkers cafe with yummy cake and drinks.
While we were enjoying the good company and coffee, the wind built to a F3 from the SW. The other boats headed back, and we followed the navigation marks to Topsham. As it happens, the twists and turns of the navigable river forced us to enjoy some lovely spinnaker broad reaches.
The water gets shallow in Topsham, and without local knowledge we chose not to land, because it looked like it would be easy to get stranded; at one point it looked as if we were in the middle of the channel and were in only in 70cm of water with 40m to the shore…

The beat back to Exe SC was in F3-4 was with the ebb tide under us. We briefly stopped at a secluded beach just north of Lympstone, nestled between the red Triassic rocks of the area, and mused that a Cody SC expedition to this estuary should include a stop here for lunch. In total, we sailed about 14 miles.

Thanks to Nick for arranging the facility at Exe SC, and pies, Laura for helping us drop the boat at the sailing club late on Friday, the skippers and crew of the other boats (I should have taken a pad and paper with me) for their engaging and knowledgable company at the coffee stop, and apologies again to Annie for shying a soft drink all over her just after she’d provided it to me at the bar.

The wind on Sunday was forecast F4-6, and when we got to the club, also blowing a F4-6 so we left the racers to it.

Family Camping and Fleet Dinghy Adventures in the Solent and beyond – Now at Southampton SC as well as at Frensham Pond SC

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Mind the laundry – adventures on the Exe.