Over 50 years...

 

A great place for both competitive and friendly sailing, WFSA was founded in the early 1960s to promote winter dinghy racing and has grown to become a Community Amateur Sports Association which provides for both winter racing and summer pottering. The lake at Westbere, just to the east of Canterbury, Kent, is the club's home water. The club has a current membership of around 70 and is open to all prepared to pay its nominal fees.

The lake extends to around 50 acres and is the property of the Brett Group who have licensed the WFSA to operate it. A large part of the area is a nature reserve and both sailing and angling take place year round in tune with the needs of the native and immigrant populations of birds and animals.

Sailing is for dinghies only and operates in two ways:-

WINTER: Series racing takes place on Sunday mornings from November to the end of March. Sailors come from all over East Kent and the standard at the front of the fleet is highly competitive. Further down the fleet, less experienced people still thoroughly enjoy their sailing and are equally welcome. Note: Lone winter sailing is not recommended as water temperatures can drop to freezing.

SUMMER: Sailing is non competitive for those who enjoy messing about in boats and appreciate beautiful scenery.

Local schools teach youngsters to sail in the safe environment of the lake and Westbere Sailing Opportunities, an RYA Sailability Foundation site, caters for over 300 people with a wide range of disabilities. WFSA members may appreciate that, on Thursdays and Fridays, there are safety boats on the water from 10.00am till 2.30pm.