Cobnor sailing centre,chichester

[Wansworth]

Spent a week there sailing 420s and a sharpie but I cannot recall the set up,we stayed in tents but the toilets and who did the cooking….

 

[Mark-1]

I know it quite well. Camped there this year and visited last week.

These days you can book camping as a group but not as an individual punter. You have to provide your own toilet if you camp but there are limited toilets and showers neared the SC boat park if you're sailing. Three separate entities there. The Christian Sailing Centre in a Barge, the Sailing Centre and the Sailing Club.

From the boats I guess you're going back to the Martin Beale days?

 

[Wansworth]

Yes,I think it was a school group……just my memory decided it wanted to fillin the blank spots of when I was 17

 

[Chris CJ]

In the late 60’s accommodation was on an old Thames sailing barge “ the isle of Sheppey “ with Alan Broomhead as the chief instructor and organiser encouraging the youth of West Sussex to learn to sail. I am very grateful to him and all those instructors who opened up the world of sailing to those who would otherwise not been able to have that opportunity and experience. I’m still sailing now at nearly 70. Cobnor Point has a special place in my heart , also a big thanks has to go to the Beale Family for supporting Alan getting this off the ground and their continued support throughout many years and not forgetting the great investment by West Sussex County Council and all those town council’s who made grants available to the young people of West Sussex. In those days we sail bosuns with bright yellow sails.
All in all a fantastic enduring success

 

[RAFFY]

I camped and sailed from there in the 70s and early 80s with a Sea Scout group. We took our own boats and discovered the delights of Chichester Harbour. Now 45 yrs later, I look back with fond memories. I have just left Chichester Marina and am working my way through Dutch Canals. Great formative years!

 

[Chiara’s slave]

In the late 60’s accommodation was on an old Thames sailing barge “ the isle of Sheppey “ with Alan Broomhead as the chief instructor and organiser encouraging the youth of West Sussex to learn to sail. I am very grateful to him and all those instructors who opened up the world of sailing to those who would otherwise not been able to have that opportunity and experience. I’m still sailing now at nearly 70. Cobnor Point has a special place in my heart , also a big thanks has to go to the Beale Family for supporting Alan getting this off the ground and their continued support throughout many years and not forgetting the great investment by West Sussex County Council and all those town council’s who made grants available to the young people of West Sussex. In those days we sail bosuns with bright yellow sails.
All in all a fantastic enduring success

I went in 1975, much the same experience. Though I recall my instructor, a lady about 3 years my senior, deriding my ability to sail upwind because I couldn’t fetch a channel buoy. I did try to explain that the tide was ebbing, but she wasn’t buying it. Perhaps she’s still there, tacking endlessly against the tide.

 

[Wansworth]

As Op I was interested in Cobnoraround 1967 when they hada few 420s which I couldn’t get on with asI learnt to sail in an old tore out wooden dinghy.The 420s hada habit of nose diving Ibecame good at capsizing and getting back sailing …….but much preferred my old boat….more like proper cruising

 

[Chiara’s slave]

As Op I was interested in Cobnoraround 1967 when they hada few 420s which I couldn’t get on with asI learnt to sail in an old tore out wooden dinghy.The 420s hada habit of nose diving Ibecame good at capsizing and getting back sailing …….but much preferred my old boat….more like proper cruising

They moved on to Bosuns not long after you, I think. A steadier craft altogether. Doing capsize drill was hard work. The work was in getting them to lie down.

 

[Greenheart]

Bosuns at Cobnor! That's a blast from the past. One day in summer in the late 1980s a schoolfriend who was also a Laser 2-sailing neighbour, stuck his head round the commonroom door and asked if anyone could sail. In about three minutes I had escaped exam preparation for the day, as several of us bundled into a Ford Transit and were driven to Cobnor.

We spent the day teaching German students how to sail. It was hot, the breeze was moderate, the students agreeable. The best schoolday I can remember.

I've had a soft spot for Bosuns ever since.

Here is a spectacularly beautiful 360-degree aerial pic by Compass Photography, taken from a drone above Cobnor.

Back in the 1980s, there was an old minesweeper (I think), the Gerald Daniel, semi-permanently moored to the Chidham bank of Bosham Channel as some sort of youth-group clubhouse or accommodation. I often sailed past on the way from Bosham SC to East Head.

Decades later I saw on Google Maps that she'd gone, and I assumed the worst and felt regret...until, still on Google Maps but beside the Thames at Battersea, I realised I could see the old boat again, now in dazzle paint!

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