CSORC - The Civil Service Offshore Racing Club

Wave Train - photograph copyright Hamo Thornycroft

A division of the Civil Service Sailing Association - Civil Service Sports & Leisure.

About the club
The club offers sailing and racing opportunities for all, from complete beginners who would like to try a day sail in the Solent, to experienced sailors looking for competitive yacht racing. The emphasis is on having fun, with a friendly atmosphere. There is no minimum level of experience to sail with the club. For details of membership and eligibility click on the "Membership" menu item at the top of the page.

Throughout the season we enter a variety of racing events:

Inshore races in the Solent such as the Warsash Spring Series, the Hamble River Winter Series and Sunsail Regattas;
Offshore RORC and JOG races to France and the Channel Islands;
Campaigns such as Cowes Week, the Fastnet, and Cork Week.

NEWS updated 22nd July 2008.

Sunsail regatta #5 After a windy couple of days in round 4 of the Sunsail race series we must be due some relaxing summer sailing for number 5 on the weekend of August 16th - 17th. Contact the crew bureau for details.

Sunsail Race Series #4 Squalls, force 6 winds and lots of excitement were the unlikely ingredients of the fourth in the Sunsail Race Series in July. We managed 5th place overall, out of a field of 8, with a best place of 3rd. The racing was incredibly close, with the whole fleet converging on the downwind mark at one point, and emerging on the other side in a totally different order.

Weymouth JOG The sun shone, the wind blew, and we had a reasonable result (10th out of 16 starters). We would have been 8th but for an error in reading the sailing instructions (more...).

Interdepartmental Offshore Regatta (IDOR) Blessed this year with both sunshine and wind. The racing was very exciting, with the Round the Island race in particular producing some scary moments at the Needles, and the closest finish imaginable when we grabbed 7th place by 2 seconds after 9 hours of sailing. We continued to improve through the week and crossed the line first in the Friday race (more...)

Programme for 2008 For an updated list of races for this year please see the Events page.

Sunsail Regatta - CSORC entered Rounds 2 and 3 of the Sunsail Regatta series in the Eastern Solent. Skipper Trevor Drew on Round 3:-

Strong winds meant racing was called off on Saturday, so we had a lively sail to Cowes in a 34 knot wind and had a highly successful shopping expedition, also celebrating Tracey's birthday in The Union - complete with a surprise cake.
Sunday was a dead calm, with race 1 timed out, when we were in 6th position and race 2 cancelled. We were anchored off Hill Head for about an hour and, with the vote of the crew, decided that, rather than risk a whole day without sailing, like many others, we'd retire and motor to Ryde, where we picked up some wind. Race 3 did eventually happen, but was very short and without us. But we got in much more sailing, with some spinnaker and MOB practice, so everyone was happy.

Civil Service Sailing - March Click here to download the latest edition in pdf format.