Alpha 2011

Alpha 2011 had the theme of "Elections" which could sound bit dull, but it was awesome. The three teams thought up their own party names, with the "Rah" party, "Partay" and the "Bland" party all competing for who would rule over the new ship!

As well as the normal activities, we had bacon and sausage sandwiches for breakfast on the beach on Sunday morning, we went on a late night walk from Bosham back to CYE and had an awesome day trip which involved canoeing all the way to the very top of the Harbour at Fishbourne (where the high reeds make it seem like you're canoeing down a small river in the Amazon!) and then walking into Chichester to try and get members of the public to sign the three party's petitions - the winning team came up with a petition to ban people in Chichester from asking members of the public to sign random petitions... pure genius!

Ralph Buckingham (a past CYE staff member) gave the talks, which were really interactive with loads of video clips and followed the election theme and asked "Who's in control" of our lives?

The new ship was incredible to stay on, with the en-suite cabins and SO much space, one camper said "it's 10 times better than the old ship, I'm definitely coming next year"

If you want to get in early, Alpha next year will be 28th July - 3rd August 2012 and we can already take bookings.

We hope to see you there.

Bravo 2011 was nothing short of EPIC! A great bunch of campers, a brilliant team, crazy activities and awesome worship.

The competition was intense, Blue team eventually triumphed after a slow start, by 1 point to claim the chocolate.

Highlights were the mud assault course, no one came away looking good! We had CYE’s first Grand Prix won by the Reds and our very own version of ‘Total Wipeouts’ big red balls!

As well as some great times on the water a BBQ on the beach and where at least 3 of us turned up looking like drowned rats!

Each evening we had a time of worship which literally blew the tent away, God moved powerfully and the talks by Dave and Emma were challenging and relevant for everyone. We all crowd surfed at the end of one meeting as a blessing!

All in all a brilliant week of fun, fellowship, friends, food, mud and lots of laughter!

See you next year!

Kids at CYE

We have just one more school group before the Summer groups kick in over the next few days. Since April, we have had numerous Primary and Secondary schools enjoying the wonderful new facilities. Comments like 'It's like a -star hotel" and "It's so spacious" sum up the general feedback. With lots of "Get Sailing" courses about to start plus the Summer Camp residentials to come, it has been a fantastic first season with 'Resolute' in place.

Retirement of Key Trustee

David Edwards, on the left, is one of the founding trustees of CYE Sailing Centre and has been a key figure from inception until now. David was first RYA principal, and instrumental in the building and development projects over 26 years. Latterly he was project manager of RESOLUTE.

Here he is being given a framed photo of RESOLUTE in the CYE berth as a token of thanks for his dedicated service.

He hopes to spend more time on his own yacht "Tinkerbell".
Thank you from all his fellow trustees.

The site, the kids and ducks ...

With the site now looking great, we are fully into our schools programme. As you will, not much stops the pupils from their tasks, although in this case, the competition was put to one side as Mum and her chicks were allowed to walk through the activities. Good job 'Smokey' the cat is no longer at the centre otherwise these little fellas would be diminishing in numbers by the day.

Get Active

Our recent 'Get Active' week was great fun. Kids from the local area had a fun-filled pirate themed half term including rafting, sailing, canoeing, assault course, team games and more.

In particular, our new assemblies were a real hit where at lunchtime, the kids participated intelligently and enthusiastically with discussions about Christianity.

Christine McLeish (Mrs Power) joins Denise

We are delighted to welcome Christine McLeish (right) to CYE. Christine is helping Denise (left) with the ever-increasing demands of feeding guests, menu planning, shopping, paperwork etc.

We know that she'll be fine working with the crazy gang here - after all, she is directly responsible for bring our Bosun into the world - but then none of us are perfect.

New Bomb-proof shelves

As the saying goes at CYE, in the event of a nuclear war, take cover under one of Dave Moseley's shelves. Dave has replaced our tired lockers with these great new lockers and shelves as part of an overhaul to the briefing room. Our thanks and gratitude go to Mr. M for a cracking job.

Hello Toby

Our schools manager Matt Winfield and wife Sarah have produced our newest and by far - cutest new CYE recruit. Toby Zac Winfield was born on 28th March and after a few worrying days involving heart surgery, seems to be going from strength to strength. Matt and Sarah would like to thank everyone for their best wishes and prayers and are hoping that Toby will be home for the first time around 12th April.

Bye Bye Ben

After all the official Grand Openings of the past fortnight, it was good to get back to what we do best - throwing our friends in the water. Ben Ritchie got the usual send off along with some decent pressies, for his amazing work for CYE over the past 3 years. Ben is starting a new job in Edinburgh next week. We will miss you Ben, God bless and good luck.

Jon Bennetts