Is this Norfolk sailing club the country's greenest?

Adrian Tebbutt at Snettisham Beach Sailing Club © Fran Abrams

A West Norfolk sailing club has saved thousands of pounds in fuel costs and can now guarantee its members warm showers for the first time, thanks to an eco-friendly upgrade to its club house.

Snettisham Beach Sailing Club is off grid and until this year was dependent on an oil generator and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) boiler to provide electricity and hot water.

Adrian Tebbutt, the club's Commodore for 10 years until his retirement last month, has led a programme to install solar panels and battery storage for electricity along with a solar thermal system which fills two 300-litre tanks with hot water. The final phase of the programme will see electric motors fitted to the club's safety boats.

Because the club's water is supplied through a narrow pipe which also serves local houses, members taking a shower after being out on the water often used to find temperatures fluctuated between freezing and scalding.

Now Summer sailors and Winter windsurfers and kitesurfers can use the club's showers without fear - and the cost of running the system is minimal.

The club has saved around £3000 in diesel costs since the solar panels became operational at the end of last year, along with £1000 on LPG now that the solar thermal hot water system is up and running. Although this year's sailing season is nearly over the wind and kitesurfers will continue to benefit from warm showers on windy days throughout the Winter.

Other changes have included extra insulation for the club house roof, and a grant application is now being made to convert safety boats used in sailing lessons to electric instead of petrol motors.

"It was always our concern to try to be a green sport," Mr Tebbutt says. "Yet we were burning 3,500 litres of diesel every year. It didn't make sense, and now we have cut right back.

"It was important for us as a club to go down this route, firstly to improve our green credentials but also to cut our costs."

The works, which include 21 solar panels and 30 kw battery storage, cost a total of around £64,000 and were paid for through grants and club reserves. The club is also a training centre with facilities for accessible sailing, and the new system enables indoor classes to be held without the need to run the generator.

The completion of the club's upgrade comes as a national campaign calls for more support for sports clubs facing adversity as a consequence of climate change. The Common Ground campaign has won support from stars including former Arsenal and England player Paul Merson, who played in wellingtons to highlight the plight of many teams facing flooded pitches and other weather-related issues.

Snettisham Beach Sailing Club, which has more than 700 members, is no stranger to extreme weather conditions: its former club house was destroyed in the 1953 floods which devastated the East Anglian coast. Its roof blew off in 1986, its generator was flooded with sea water in a tidal surge in December 2013 and its former committee boat was lost in a storm in 2020.

"If sea levels rise we will be more vulnerable, and that vulnerability kicks in when we get adverse conditions. In the longer term that's something we are looking at," Mr Tebbutt says.