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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 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 over 230 moorings
in four areas of Portsmouth Harbour to suit a variety of boat sizes and depths: 1. Weevil Pontoons : mostly individual finger berths, 165 altogether. All have water and electricity. They are located at the Group's main site: the Sailing Centre at Weevil Lane, with walk ashore access to secure car parking and the clubhouse (Toilets, showers and workshop). Two drying hards, also with water and power, are on the same site. Boats of up to 11m can be accommodated, though there are only a limited number of moorings for boats of this size. There are two “Amenity Berths” on the pontoon hammerheads. These can be used by any member for short overnight stays, or during the day for taking on crew or stores. 2. Burrow Island: twenty eight swinging moorings, mostly semi-drying, for smaller bilge or lifting keel boats but a few deep-water berths for boats up to 9m. Located between Burrow Island and Shell Pier, they are accessed by dinghy from the Sailing Centre. These moorings are available between April and October only, but the use of a Weevil pontoon for the winter is included in the mooring charge, as is secure dinghy and outboard storage afloat or ashore at Weevil. 3. Wicor: Situated in Fareham Lake, we are extremely fortunate in our location which offers fine views over the harbour, much wildlife and considerable peace on the moorings. Portsmouth harbour entrance is about half an hour from the moorings and the sail downstream is perfect for shaking down and preparing for the Solent. Access to our moorings is via Fleetlands Centre where the moorings are just a short dinghy ride. Hear there are deep water mid-stream pontoons for roughly 35 boats of undefined length and pile moorings for 4 boats. All moorings have at least 2m at LAT. The Fleetlands centre has secure car parking and secure storage facilities for dinghies and outboards as well as a small Club room where refreshments can be made. 4. Haslar Creek: 6 moorings on a detached pontoon at the bridge end of Haslar Creek for boats up to 10m. Access is by dinghy from the slip on the North bank above Haslar Bridge, or from Hornet on the South side. 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. |