Zeil- en Surfclub Gavermeer
Zeil- en Surfclub Gavermeer (ZSG) is a sailing and surfing club on Lake Gavermeer in the De Gavers provincial park in Harelbeke, West Flanders (Belgium). The club offers sailing, windsurfing and stand-up paddling for young people, adults, groups and companies, with a clubhouse cafeteria, changing rooms, showers, sanitary facilities, equipment storage (loods) and boat parking. The programme includes sailing and surfing school, holiday camps (Easter and summer), evening courses for adults, supervised youth sailing, club races and national ILCA regattas. After the merger of the sailing and surfing clubs in 2014 and the move into the new watersports building, the club is a central hub for watersports on the roughly 65-hectare Gavermeer.
History
For the construction of motorway E3 (now E17), high-quality sand was needed from the Gavermeersen. From August 1968 an area of 80 hectares was dredged; by the end of 1970 about 4,000,000 m³ of sand had been removed, creating a water body of around 62 hectares. In 1974 the Province of West Flanders took over the area. Shortly afterwards two sailing clubs (socialist and liberal) were founded and soon merged into Zeilclub Gavermeer Harelbeke (ZCGH), initially using a small clubhouse on the opposite shore. In 1978 the club moved to the Eikenstraat side, roughly where the boat parking is today. In parallel a surfing club grew at Gavermeer from the windsurfing federation movement; starting with seventeen founding members it counted over a thousand members within a few years, with regattas of up to 120 participants and major events such as the “24 uren van de Gavers”. In 2014 sailing and surfing clubs merged into Zeil- en Surfclub Gavermeer and moved into the new watersports building. Former chairpersons included Gilbert De Roose, John Devos, Filip Vansteenkiste, Louis Vantomme and Michiel Missiaen; currently Christ Lanneau chairs the sailing section. The De Gavers provincial domain today covers about 192 hectares in Harelbeke and Deerlijk with the roughly 65-hectare Gavermeer.
Information
Facilities
Clubhouse with cafeteria and WiFi; changing rooms, showers and sanitary facilities; equipment storage (loods) for surf, wing and SUP gear; boat parking for sailboats; badge access to facilities and parking barrier; location on Gavermeer in De Gavers provincial park
Activities
Sailing, windsurfing and SUP; sailing and surfing school with rental; holiday and combination camps; evening courses for adults; wingfoiling; club and national competitions; SUP yoga; annual club party and Waterstart
Youth section
Active youth programme with supervised youth sailing on Sunday mornings, Optimist and sailor camps, and Smurfsurf for children aged 8 to 10
Parking
Yes, parking with club badge