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| Portsmouth Offshore Group (POG)
is a Division of the Civil Service Sailing Association and has approximately
500 members. It exists to provide economical sailing facilities for members
of the club, which is run as a self-financing but non profit making organisation.
Membership is open to people contributing two shares to the Civil Service Sports Council (CSSC). Retired Civil Servants and employees from some organisations which were privatised but retained rights to continue to contribute to shares in the CSSC, (e.g. British Telecom), could also be eligible. |
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The Sailing Centre is at the east
end of Weevil Lane, Gosport. The facilities cater for Cruisers only and
no dinghy sailing is permitted. The Sailing Centre has a car/boat park.
The site has recently been renovated and affords rapid and easy access to the Eastern Solent being only a mile or so from the entrance to Portsmouth Harbour. A new clubhouse, incorporating toilets, showers, tea rooms, a large meeting room and a workshop, was completed in 2004. There is no bar. A balcony on the first floor overlooks the pontoon moorings and the harbour with fine views of the Spinnaker Tower. |
| The Group has some 230 moorings
in Portsmouth Harbour for a variety of types of boat. The majority are
concentrated at or are close to the Sailing Centre at Gosport, where there
are 160 pontoon berths. A further 32 swinging moorings, most of which
dry occasionally, are off Burrow Island, six are on midstream pontoons
at Haslar and another 29 are in the north of the harbour in Wicor Reach,
where there are some large deep water moorings. Most moorings are for
craft up to 32 feet and there are only a few moorings suitable for craft
over 36 feet. Berths are allocated by group membership number seniority,
depending upon the suitability of the boat for the berth. Our mooring charges are very attractive but this means a long waiting list for the more sought after moorings in the pontoon complex. It is likely to take a number of years before a new member is offered one of these. On the other hand, swinging moorings may be available immediately. Intending members should check before committing themselves to a boat if they are hoping to keep it on one of the POG moorings. POG is able to keep costs down by running the club using committees drawn from volunteer members. It has no permanent employees. Everyone is occasionally asked to contribute muscle or brain power to events such as the launch and lay up in the Spring and Autumn when some 70 boats are craned in and out of the water over the two weekends. |
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The
Committee organises Sailing and Social Events during the year and there
is usually an excellent response to these from members. Sailing events are often followed by a barbecue, where new members can meet others and generally be made to feel welcome. There is a supper associated with the lift in and lift out weekends as well as the annual Commodore's dinner. |
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An important feature is a monthly Newsletter,
which is distributed to every member, most of whom live within a few
hours' drive of Gosport. This enables excellent communications to be
maintained and adds to the sense of belonging to the Group. This web
site also includes a "members only" section with up to date
information about the Club. |