The Notts County Officers Sailing Club was formed in 1955 and sailing took place on the River Trent at West Bridgford. The membership was restricted to employees of Notts County Council.

In February 1961 the present club was founded and renamed Nottinghamshire County Sailing Club and moved to limited facilities on the Trent at Stoke Bardolph. Four nights a week were allocated to instruction and the fleet consisted of a dozen boats, three of which belonged to the club.

In June 1962 the club sought recognition from the RYA, various schools were affiliated and racing was introduced for: Heron, GP14, Graduate and Enterprise dinghy classes. Later other classes were added, including: Fireball, Merlin, Laser and Scorpion.

The club’s next major change was its move to Hoveringham Water in April 1986. The increased expanse of water led to many Windsurfers joining. After a major building programme, involving many club members, the clubhouse was opened in 1989. In 1993/4 the lake was emptied. Tarmac removed the remainder of the gravel and enlarged the lake to its present size. A further development of the clubhouse took place in 1996, when the clubroom and changing rooms were enlarged, disabled access and facilities provided, and a new race office built. The Sports Council Lottery contributed well over half of the funds the rest being raised by the club. Sir Michael Attiyah, the Master of Trinity College, Cambridge opened the clubroom on the 29 June 1996.

The club has been recognised as a RYA approved training centre since 1975. The club achieved Volvo Champion Club status in 1999 in recognition of its commitment to junior training. This status is awarded to clubs that consistently deliver high standards of coaching, competition, social activities and environmental awareness, for youth sailors. In 2000 the ability to provide courses and training was enhanced by a lottery grant, which enabled the Club to replace its training fleet with six Toppers, six Laser Stratos and a 405. The club has a number of youngsters on National training squads, both for dinghy sailing and windsurfing.

The club was runner up in the 2008 and 2013 RYA Club of the Year national awards and won the Facilities Category in the 2018 awards.

Philosophy

The club’s objective is to promote sailing, in the form of cruising, racing and training. This involves introducing new members to sailing, providing them with training at an introductory level and encouraging them to participate in all activities of the club. A programme of race training is available, from learning to race up to competing at national and international level. There is regular club racing from March to December and cruising is encouraged throughout the season.

The Club is run by elected, volunteer members on various Committees. The Executive Committee is responsible for the administration of the club, allocation of financial resources, maintenance and development of club facilities, policies and procedures. The Sailing Committee is responsible for arranging the racing programme, ensuring equitable use of the water and liaison with club members through the Fleet Captains. The Training Committee is responsible for sailing instruction and race training, maintenance of club boats and training in the use of safety boats. Any member can put themselves forward for election to any post at the AGM. If you are interested in helping in any way at the club please contact a flag officer.Your support would be most welcome.

Facilities

The 140-acre main sailing lake and smaller 20-acre sheltered lake are situated in the Trent Valley, alongside the River Trent and provide a superb sailing venue. Details of the club’s facilities can be found here 

E-News

A monthly newsletter is emailed to members to keep them up-to-date with future events and news at the club. The newsletter is also available on the club website.

Website

The club website was relaunched in April 2022 www.ncsc.org.uk. We always welcome club related news which other members will be interested in, email anything of interest to: info@ncsc.org.uk. There is also a club webcam and weather station which enables you to view the lake shore at the club and find out the current local weather forecast and wind speed at the club.

Facebook

The club has its own Facebook page – search Notts County Sailing Club. This is used for communicating club news and events as well as allowing people to comment and Like us  of course.