Photos of Get Sailing

Enjoy these photos taken by Doug Moxey during the Get Sailing courses last week.

End of Term Ahoy!

With the end of the school year in sight we have been welcoming our last few school groups before the summer holidays – St Jude’s for a weekend of activities and Amery Hill for two non-residential days. We were also pleased to be able to offer St Bart’s a day of activities to make up for the day they lost due to the flooding.

In other news the Kogs enjoyed a great day’s sailing and racing (and some capsizing) and a sunny picnic lunch on the beach at East Head.

Now we’re busy with sailing and paddling courses – and the summer camps are once more on the horizon.

What else is new?

We were delighted to welcome our first corporate group to CYE when members of the sales team from Seco Tools joined us for a few days at the start of July.  The businessmen enjoyed a day of team-building activities on the water as well as the opportunity to hold their own meetings in this beautiful location.

St John’s Church of England School in Croydon also visited us for the first time, and apart from the disappointment of an aborted day sail due to the poor weather they were able to enjoy all the usual CYE activities.

The European School made a return visit – giving our activity staff the chance to work with some older students again. All the kids had a great time, but some heartfelt groans were heard when Jake tried his hand at speaking French. I think he mastered “equipe” but he’s already forgotten what it means…..

And so to my “quote of the year” – a spontaneous remark by a pupil from Grey Coat Hospital School, Central London:

“Wow Miss, it smells like oxygen”

"And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided"

.....but Chidham Lane is still partially underwater after the recent deluge!

Last weekend Care for the Family brought 4 pairs of “Dads and Lads” and 1 “Mother/Daughter” group to spend some quality time with each other at CYE .They had a fabulous time sailing in Picos, rafting and using the wind in this week’s title to go for an exhilarating powerboat ride.

Cranleigh Junior arrived next, and enjoyed some long-awaited sunshine for all their activities! The children spent much of their free time crabbing from the decks of Resolute.

Interviews are underway to fill the position of Schools Worker when Matt and Sarah leave for Zambia later this year – just one of the many staff changes facing us, as all our current Gap Year staff continue to make plans for the future and number their remaining time at CYE in weeks rather than months.

Water, water everywhere .......

We can expect to get wet occasionally in this job – but nothing could have prepared us for the torrential rain and flash flooding we experienced last week!

This was Mark Sheldrake at Chidham Pond on Monday.

Obviously our school group from St Bart’s had to turn back but fortunately the floodwaters subsided enough for them to reach us the following day.


In other news, our Pacso group returned for more activities and an overnight stay and Resolute provided around 40 people with B&B each night last weekend for the annual Cobstock festival.

Jubilee Celebrations and an Old Friend ....

Over a windy Jubilee bank holiday weekend 34 young people aged 9-12 had their own version of the Jubilee celebrations - with a flotilla, a Royal ball, Royal visits and audiences, Royal toasts, a jubilee concert, beacon lighting and a tea party. There were some surprising visitors too!
Meanwhile on the Thames, the Gerald Daniel celebrated in style!

Norman on Radio Solent

Julian Clegg recently had his regular catch up with Norman on Radio Solent.  In the interview Norman describes how well the new ship has been received by everyone who comes to CYE, and talks about our new partnership with PACSO, and the Family Fun Day that we held last Bank Holiday for around 20 PACSO families.

 Click here to listen to the interview (3.8MB MP3 file)

Tell the teacher we're surfin' ....

The season is well underway here at the Centre with school groups following each other in quick succession, and sometimes even overlapping!

We were pleased to welcome back the Women on the Water, who visit us at the beginning of every new season to improve their confidence and refresh their sailing skills. With a ratio of one instructor to two students they had plenty of opportunity to concentrate on specific skills and enjoyed an exhilarating couple of days sailing in strong winds in a safe and controlled environment.

The particularly wet weather at the end of April meant that the eagerly-anticipated Lads and Dads Wilderness Trip had to be postponed for safety reasons. We look forward to running the event later in the season when the rivers are no longer in flood.

And now our surfers are "waxing down their surfboards" in preparation for the trip to Devon this weekend.

Blink and you miss it!

Getting Active!

This non-residential event was enjoyed by a small group of young people, with numbers fluctuating daily from about 7 to 14. We were most encouraged when many children persuaded their parents to sign them up for more days during the week.

All types of activities were tried - from sailing and kayaking to archery and the assault course. Due to high winds, the day sail to East Head had to be postponed, but Plan “B” - the fudge trip to Bosham in open canoes - went down a treat.

On Friday the CYE site was invaded by pirates; cutlasses were discovered in the saloon and treasure found aboard FloBob. Despite high winds and strong tides rafts were made, judged and raced. On dry land all rafts were considered winners in their own unique way, but in a dramatic reversal of fortunes it was Titanic that stormed ahead on the high seas, leaving the others upturned in her wake.

Come to CYE and expect the unexpected!

Sail and Study

The first week in April was Holy Week this year - and also the chance for young people preparing for public exams to come to our Sail and Study Event. 

Many of these campers commented that they did more revision here than they would have done at home, and the great weather meant that the afternoon activities were often enjoyed as a whole group. 

Alongside studying and socializing there was also plenty of opportunity for discussion -  led by Mark Stratton and covering topics from Jesus and the Bible to the purpose of life.

All the staff at CYE wish these young people well in their exams and hope that the week spent in community here will have supported them in their studies and also encouraged them in their faith journey.