History of the Club

Adastral Park is a science campus based on part of the old Royal Air Force Station at Martlesham Heath, near Ipswich in the English county of Suffolk. The first occupant in 1975 was BT and there are now some 98 high tech companies on the site with more than 4,000 employees. The name Adastral is derived from the RAF motto: Per Ardua Ad Astra (through adversity to the stars). More details about the history of the site can be found here.

BT (formerly the Post Office Research Centre) has always had a Social Club for its current and former employees from its original days in North London. When BT rebranded the site in 1999 it also changed the name of the club to Adastral Park Leisure and Sports (AtLAS). Membership was expanded to include all Adastral Park based company employees. And more recently, the range of Membership Plans for AtLAS now enables Associates and Friends, who are not current or former employees at Adastral Park, to participate in the activities.

AtLAS now encompasses 16 sports and leisure clubs, including Adastral Park Sailing Club as an Affiliated club, and more details can be found here.

For convenience, the name of the Sailing Club is now routinely abbreviated to Adastral Sailing.

Governance, Management & Structure

Whilst Adastral Sailing is a modest sized Club, it employs a formal structure for its governance and management.

Current versions of the Club's governance documentation can be found through these links:

The Club is managed by a Committee that draws from across the Membership to represent the various interests. There are additional roles beyond the formal Committee that other Members volunteer to fulfil. Details of these Roles and Responsibilities can be found here.

We conform to the data protection requirements of GDPR legislation. The Club's policy can be found here.

Within the overall Club structure, the activities will typically fall within one of the 2 main Sections of the Club: Yacht and Dinghy.

Sailing Opportunities

Practical training sessions for the yacht and dinghies are held throughout the season. Our training programme is aligned to the RYA syllabus. Adastral Sailing is not an RYA Recognised Training Centre but we can provide training on the Yacht Carina up to RYA Yachtmaster standard.

For Members with little or no sailing experience, it is possible to work through the Club's training scheme at various levels equivalent to the RYA's Competent Crew, Day Skipper and Offshore qualifications.

RYA qualified and experienced skippers can take our Familiarisation and Local Skipper Tests to become initially an Adastral Sailing skipper on our yacht.

Other yacht training is arranged by the Club over the winter and includes VHF radio, First Aid, Navigation, Chart work and Astro Navigation.

A great variety of sailing (both dinghies and yacht) is arranged throughout the season including races, rallies and social sails. In addition, independent sailing is possible via private boat hires by qualified helms and skippers.

The yacht is also used for Club summer cruises, which over the years have taken us from the Baltic to the Scilly Isles.

Linking up with other clubs and organisations, we also have access to classic yachts, the Norfolk Broads, and the sun-drenched Mediterranean.

Social Events are arranged, which allow us to share our sailing tales and experiences over a meal and a drink.

What it means to be a Member

Membership of Adastral Sailing Club brings a number of responsibilities for the individual Members. It is important to understand the culture of the Club and how we operate.

Our Members are expected to help with the Club's organisation by taking on roles within the structure. This can include organising events and rallies.

They are also expected to support working parties for boat maintenance throughout the year, which helps to keep our costs down.

This means we can provide a variety of sailing at a cost much lower than most commercial organisations.

A further example of 'giving something back' might be that when you have benefited from the training at highly competitive rates, you then help others to learn as your own experience increases.

But above all, joining as a Member of Adastral Sailing means you will be amongst like-minded enthusiastic sailors who will help you explore the options available with the yacht and dinghies that belong to the Club.

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