Dear CNCE sailors,

The nights are long, the days are short, cold and often wet and windy. CNCE would like to take you back to the bright sailing days of 2023 and look forward to 2024.

This year has been, we hope, a pivotal and transitional year when we cast off the Covid restrictions and began to rebuild our activities and our club. We sucessfully completed the Beginners’ Course and fulfilled the backlog of commitments that we didn’t manage to meet in 2022. BlueOne has been more active, participating in races and training activities, including the Antwerp race and important RYA safety trainings during the summer. In the Canaries, two CNCE teams gained interesting ocean experiences on a trip to La Palma calling in at the Selvagen Islands and Fuerteventura. Very importantly, we welcome three new skippers to the CNCE team: Nathalie Zweig, Boris Šlogar and Marcos Mezo.

The small-boat team was very active, keeping the dinghies sailors at Hombeek busy in the summer. Andreas has maintained with great enthusiasm the Valk sailing activities, culminating in the famous “Golden Gaff” regatta.

We have been working hard to develop next year’s sailing programme. Our project to rent a boat with skipper and guide to visit the Arctic islands of the Svalbard (Spitsbergen) archipelago in June 2024 was quickly sold out. We are also looking into new cruising opportunities in Italy, in the estuaries of the Tagus (Lisbon) and the Sado (Setúbal) in September and in the Gulf of Cádiz (5-12 May) and other dates. A cross-Canaries cruise from Arrecife to El Hierro in autum is also under consideration.

Our flagship BlueOne will keep sailing in local waters, with a focus on racing, training and experience-building. So far, Ostend-Ramsgate (9-11 May), Deltaweekend (28-30 June) and Antwerp Race (19 October) regattas are on the agenda.

CNCE Beginners’ Course

For 2024, we will go back to holding the Beginners' Course over a weekend at Bruinisse (21-23 June), offering newcomers initial hands-on experience (on a sailing yacht and on traditional Dutch valks). Oldtimers and newcomers may look forward to a big social event and a great chance to meet up and make sailing plans.

Training and Experience-Building

In 2024, CNCE will start a programme of training and experience-building activities to help members develop their seamanship and sailing skills across a wide range of topics (see our CNCE calendar preview). We are not a sailing school and we cannot offer a full training programme leading to an official certificate. But there is much more to being a skipper than holding a certificate -it is a process of building experience over time and CNCE can help with that. We can also put members in contact with local specialist trainers.

Our “package” of training and experience-building activities (applying to cruising sailing yachts over 8m in length) will help you deepen your sailing skills whether you want to become a more capable crew member, pass a sailing exam or build skills and confidence as a recently-qualified skipper.

It is made up of evening lectures, practical exercises on BlueOne led by CNCE skippers, and external trainings held by sailing schools in BE or NL.

CNCE is not a profit-making organisation but we do need to cover our costs. We will ask for a contribution of €5 to cover the theory lectures and the usual €120 per sailing weekend on Blue One. For trainings held in cooperation with sailing schools, their own commercial rates apply. On the practical training days on BlueOne, you will have some “down time” to simply enjoy sailing the boat.

Becoming a Skipper

To become a skipper it is necessary to pass an exam and obtain a certificate. There are different national sailing qualifications which may be equivalent (and recognised under the International Certificate of Competence) and we cannot survey them all here but we can point you to some good ways to start.

If you are in Brussels, the Belgian “Brevet de Navigation “ and “Yachtman” qualifications can be obtained by attending a course in a yachting school such as the “Brussels Royal Yacht Club” (incl. evening courses over the winter). These courses are offered in French only. Other Belgian schools offer courses in Dutch. The final exams will be in French or Dutch. These are theory exams (multiple-choice computer test) and a practical test on a yacht in the Belgian waters of the North Sea.
The Royal Yachting Association can issue “Day Skipper” certificates which are widely recognised. The exam is taken by continuous assessment during a 5-day live-aboard course on a sailing boat (about €1000 per person). There are schools in UK and NL that offer this option in English, but also in the Canary Islands, Croatia, Portugal... CNCE can help organise such qualification programmes.
You will also need to pass a marine radio short range (VHF) certificate and we are organising a course on that as well.

Taking charge in CNCE activities: in order to skipper BlueOne we ask that you take charge of our boat for two weekends under the supervision of an existing BlueOne skipper. The rules for using our boat are set out on our website.
We also encourage CNCE skippers to develop new activities by chartering yachts in different places around the world so that members can broaden their sailing experiences (we have organised activities i.a. in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Norway, Antarctica, the Canaries and Malaysia).

Becoming a skipper takes a certain amount of commitment and study, but it opens the door to new opportunities: chartering boats, exploring remote waters with friends or family, inside or outside the CNCE, adventurous sailing or peaceful and relaxing holidays! Should you choose to take up this challenge, CNCE is present to help and support you.

Social events

CNCE organises Nav’lunches on the first Tuesday of each month in various restaurants around the Schuman area. All with an interest in sailing are welcome. Please inform us first so we can make the reservation. Details will be posted on www.sailcnce.eu / Twizzit.

Joining CNCE

Our activities are available to members of CNCE. Membership runs from 1 April to 31 March (standard membership: €60 per year / reduced: €25).
Read more about how to join!

CNCE is run entirely by volunteers. We are short-staffed and help is always welcome, so if you are interested to join the crew do please drop us a line.

Please see our programme preview below. We will post further details of our planned activities including the registration details early in the New Year. For now, the CNCE Board and myself wish you all a happy, restful and especially very merry winter holiday season.

Nautical greetings,

Kenneth Patterson
Commodore, CNCE

Your suggestions for CNCE activities are always welcome! Please send us your ideas: Suggestion for a sailing project or Contact CNCE.

Sailing club of the EU institutions in Brussels, accredited by the "Groupement des Cercles de Loisirs" of the European Commission. CNCE activities are open only to members of the club. For all activities requiring a financial commitment, registration is done on the basis of “first paid, first served”. After registration, reimbursement will only be possible if an adequate replacement is found.