Wraysbury Lake

[Rapier]

A few years ago I bought a 1960s Jim Umbarger Hustler Penta from a member of this club. As they appeared to be struggling with membership, at the time, I thought it'd be ideal for some form of sharing arrangement, as the infrastructure, although tired, appeared to be adequate for CMBA needs, either to run a rally or use for test days. They had perfunctory buildings and numerous pontoons and easy access to the M4, M25, etc., but I was concerned about the houses nearby and memories of Wellington Park. As time went by I let it lie...so, with the flood warnings around that area I thought I'd look at it again on the sat. map and linked to the website, only to find they've given up the lease. Wish we'd known about it before it happened.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?oe=utf-8 ... CC0Q8gEwAA

...top right of map.

http://www.wlsc.org.uk/ee/index.php/

[rnb]

Seems the boaters have lost out to fishermen :-

http://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/ro ... p-of-lake/

Made me think also about the nearby Princes water ski club which folded after a tragic boating accident occurred there , young girl sadly losing her life . Think that lake is now owned by the airport and probably also lost to boating .

[Rapier]

Missed that one, def shades of Wellington Park. With rising costs and declining memberships everywhere, I wonder whether Silver Wings Sailing Club might be interested. Probably not though. attitudes to sports boats are not good within the sailing community either. In the 90s I used to spend a lot of time at Princes Club, they were very safety conscious, so was surprised at that story.

[rnb]

In the 90s I used to spend a lot of time at Princes Club, they were very safety conscious, so was surprised at that story.

Just brings it home for me , we need to be very safety pro active when boating , yes I know safety is not an exciting subject and we don't want to be all wearing fluoro and hard hats .

However an accident can finish a club ,reference Princes Ski club and the Brighton speed trials as an example . Pretty sure the committee are more than aware of this , not always sure some members are always fully aware of it all of the time ...


On a lighter note , picking up on your original post , still think it would have been tremendous for the C.M.B.A to have its own home water , but thought that it was not actively being pursued now .

[Alacrity]

Just brings it home for me , we need to be very safety pro active when boating , yes I know safety is not an exciting subject and we don't want to be all wearing fluoro and hard hats .

However an accident can finish a club ,reference Princes Ski club and the Brighton speed trials as an example . Pretty sure the committee are more than aware of this , not always sure some members are always fully aware of it all of the time ...

We have recently taken some specialist legal advice regarding this very subject. Further information will be forthcoming late Feb early March.

[Rapier]

On a lighter note , picking up on your original post , still think it would have been tremendous for the C.M.B.A to have its own home water , but thought that it was not actively being pursued now .

Having home water brings up so many issues, so at the time I thought it'd be just good to share facilities, patronise the bar and be able to camp; was awhile back and we only had Chertsey available..

Re safety, the world has changed around us, what used to be common sense is no longer...or enough, to prevent litigation, even if someone not being deliberately stupid, which is why we all have high premiums and massive maximum liability insurance. Look forward to hearing the detail, if we can limit that liability and make boating safer, without putting on the braces, it can only be a good thing.

[welshhealey]

What a pity nice piece of water too ... most frustrating these fishermen get all the luck, if anyone remembers pre Cardiff days we had a rally on a great lake near Tredegar called Bryn Bach Park (Parc Bryn Bach in Welsh ) only to be spoiled by the "fishermen" kicking off ! why don't they go to the place where the authorities, environmental chiefs, health and safety (call it what you will) are trying to push us "Classic Boaters" to, ..... the Sea and give us a chance !

[floater]

There seems to be a heirachy as far as lake usage goes, fishing first because it's an easy income with no noise or access issues then sailing dinghys and boards, again minimal noise then finally ski boats etc bit of noise and bank erosion to deal with. The trouble is as a lake owner you can get a far easier and greater income from a bunch of knomes content to sit next to a puddle than you can from a sailing or ski club. The only way they manage to survive is from the energy and determination of the club members . I imagine local authority planning also plays a big part in the pecking order too.

[welshhealey]

Aye, thinking about it your quite right Floater and very well put too . We could always replace our noisy engines in our classic craft(s) with electric motors it would make boats lighter too with less wake and erosion on the banks or better still move to a Country with less restrictions ! a very good business man mate of mine once stated; In this Country, every man who wants to set up a business or do something enterprising, there will be ten men trying to stop you !

[welshhealey]

Looking at today's news the residents at Wraysbury will be only be to glad to have us as rescue boats right now ! awful flooding there . Very serious devastation ! cannot make out the line of the rivers/lakes to the roads !