The Cruiser Fleet
Welcome to the Cruiser Fleet webpage. We are a friendly-bunch that prefer to sail with warm hands and dry feet ! Whatever your age or sailing ability a warm welcome awaits you within the fleet.
Members of the Cruiser Fleet have a wide range of sailing interests. This includes pottering about on Carsington Water, cruising British and European waters and racing around the cans both here and at regattas around the UK.
The Club's Measurement Committee have assessed and approved around fifty different types of cruiser for use at Carsington Sailing Club ensuring that there is a cruiser to suit everyone. We have many recreational boats such as Cornish Crabbers & Shrimpers, Corabees, Drascome Luggers, Sailfish and more.
Many fleet members enjoy racing their boats and further information designed to help you choose a Cruiser suitable for racing at Carsington is available on this website. Those most commonly raced during 2020 season were Baycruiser 23, Benetau First 21.7, Sportina 730, Swift 18 and Sunfast 20. In previous years the First 18, Hawk 20, Parker 21 and Squib have also been raced regularly.
The fleet race throughout the year on a Saturday when the "pond" isn't too crowded. Even if you aren't particularly competitive there is no better way to sharpen your boat handling skills than a bit of light hearted racing. Our first race starts at 11:00 am with two afternoon races starting at 1:15pm. We do race to win but we don't take it too seriously (most of the time!) as we want everyone to enjoy their day on the water.
If you are interested in sailing a cruiser, just trying one, or if you would like more information about cruiser sailing in general please ask any fleet member or contact Lawrence Key our Fleet Captain who will be happy to help. Lawrence can be contacted by e-mail.
The cruiser fleet racing results are compiled by Lawrence Key and once calculated they are posted on the results section of the Club website. We calculate the results using a handicap system. We have used most of the different Yardstick and Personal Handicap systems that are available. Our currently preference is to use RYA Portsmouth Numbers.
As the time of posting will inevitably vary, depending upon Lawrence's commitments, an e-mail notification is sent out whenever the Cruiser Fleet results have been updated. If you would like to receive this notification, please let me know. We also run a WhatsApp group to keep everyone up-to-date about cruiser sailing and racing at home or abroad.
As a fleet, we hold a laying-up supper and prize-giving on the last Friday of November each year.
To view a range of documents relating to Club Racing please click here. These include the Racing Calendar, Sailing Instructions, Fleets and Handicaps.
Lawrence Key, Fleet Captain
February 2021