The Club runs a range of social events throughout the year, including the Commodore’s Drinks Party, Trafalgar Night, and Cruising Dinners as well as New Year’s Eve, Fitting-Out and Laying-Up parties, and theme nights. Every Tuesday during winter, the Club runs a series of talks followed by a ‘Hatch Supper’. The Dining Room and Bar, which are open daily, overlook the Cowes Fairway with views from the New Forest eastwards to Portsmouth.
On The Land
Facilities
The Beken Room, Conservatory, Dining Room and Lounge Bar are all located on the Member’s floor. Large sliding windows provide access to the Conservatory, which offers stunning views of the eastern Solent – ideal for spectating and entertaining. The Beken Room allows for a quiet retreat on busy days or an area to meet friends for a pre-dinner drink. The Bar serves a range of beers, cocktails, wines, and spirits, as well as soft drinks, teas and coffees. The Dining Room is open daily and serves everything from a bite-on-the-go, through to a formal celebratory meal. The smaller Centenary Room bar is located on the second floor and regularly used for private functions. The lobby gives access to the Roof Terrace, which also offers 700 square foot views over the Solent. During the summer, a marquee is erected for social events. The ground floor contains a second marquee, apron, slipway, and Club pontoons that can be used for ‘short stay’ Member’s mooring. The ground floor provides access to the changing rooms, while access to the Club Offices is from the entrance hall or through the lower marquee on the seaward side of the Club. To seaward of the marquee is the Foredeck, another outdoor area with picnic tables, and favoured location for children and sun-worshipers. The Boathouse is alongside the Club Offices, with access directly through to the men’s changing room. The Pontoons are reached along a connecting bridge from the Foredeck.
Burgee Collection
The Island Sailing Club has an incredible collection of 450 burgees, given by visitors and Members over many years. They adorn the ceiling of bar and restaurant in various other areas of the Clubhouse.
Most people know that the Club members gave to HRH the Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh a Dragon class yacht called Bluebottle as a wedding present. Less well-known is that the following year Bluebottle crossed the Atlantic on board a British aircraft carrier and was then campaigned all over North America. She sailed on lakes and rivers all over the North American continent, and wherever she went her crew, consisting of members of the RNSA, were given a burgee as a memento of the occasion. Her programme was a hectic one, and if the names of the clubs had originally been attached to the burgees it is perhaps not surprising that by the end of the summer nobody could remember from which club each one had been given.
Bluebottle returned to England and with her a pile of unnamed burgees. The burgees were sent to Buckingham Palace, and some years later they decided that the best solution to the problem of where to keep them would be to send them down to the Island Sailing Club, who had of course started the whole thing off with their Royal wedding gift.
The American burgees were added to our collection and exhibited in the Club, without any name tallies. Over time, visiting sailors were encouraged to contribute to the collection, while the racing flags of a few distinguished members were also added. By the late 1980s, however, technology had rendered the flying of burgees unnecessary. Club Committee Member John Power initiated a project to catalogue the burgees and reached out to various clubs across the UK, North America, and elsewhere. As part of this process, more burgees were gifted to the Club.
Thanks to John, and others, the burgees have been photographed and catalogued and are proudly displayed with name tallies.