Siblyback Lake was created when the concrete gravity dam was completed in 1968. It holds 700,040,000 gallons of water. Yes that's 700 Million gallons!
The dam was built by Reed and Mallik Ltd of Salisbury who were Civil Engineering Contractors. During construction they had an office in Redgate which was sold off once the job was completed and converted by a local builder into a bungalow:
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| The bungalow that was created from the site office. |
This bungalow has now been demolished and four new bungalows put in its place.
Three streams flow into the lake, one just near the park entrance, one half way along the Eastern bank and one in the far North Eastern corner.
During long hot summers the lake level can drop quite dramatically and the remains of field hedges can be seen, a reminder of what was here before the land was flooded.
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| Old hedges exposed by low water in 2016 |
Watersports started at the lake around 40 years ago and have been enjoyed by many people since.
The Legendary Boxing Day Icicle Race 1980
Account by SteveI arrived at the lake at first light, parked my old Morris Minor van and rigged my Circle One jump/wave windsurfing board. The wind was blowing five to six South West forecast to become eight to nine imminent according to the Radio four shipping forecast!
The wind was steady and I had a couple of hours tearing back and forth across the lake doing about twenty knots and occasionally becoming airborne, exhilarating and the superb wetsuit by Gul (a prototype) kept me really warm despite it being a chilly morning. Getting a bit tired I sailed across to the landing and pulled my board up on the grass placing the rig carefully so it wouldn't catch the wind. I went into the wooden hut which at the time was sailing HQ and poured myself a welcome cup of tea and bit into a sandwich, starving hungry as any nineteen year old is.
About this time members of the sailing club were arriving. I asked if they were intending to sail to which they replied yes! I mentioned the forecast to them but they seemed unconcerned and carried on rigging their Mirror dinghy’s and other craft. The wind seemed to be holding steady but I decided I would put a smaller sail on the rig, a 4.2m and recommenced sailing around the lake.
Soon the dinghy’s and rescue boat were launched and were jostling around near the start line, in 1980 very few people had wetsuits, just wearing warm clothing and foul weather gear and thankfully life jackets!
The dinghy’s were having a struggle in the wind and were at their limit when the gale came in like an express train, suddenly it was survival conditions for them, the lake was a seething mass of white water, the dinghy’s were quickly overwhelmed, a mirror dinghy near me with three youngsters in managed to drop their sails and I managed to tow them to the bank. The rescue boat was trying to help people but was swamped and turned over.
Windsurfing out to them I started towing people ashore, thank goodness they had life jackets on. Having got them ashore I then windsurfed downwind where people were clinging to their dinghy’s as the wind swept them down the lake and helped them get ashore. It was a chaotic scene and fearing casualties not knowing how many people had ventured afloat one of the club members drove to the nearest phone and called for an ambulance. Eventually everyone was accounted for and pronounced safe.
Thankfully no one was hurt or drowned, just very cold, wet and frightened. I got them all warmed up and dressed in dry clothing. Hypothermia was a real risk. The rescue boat was hopeless with no built in buoyancy and not fit for purpose. They were very lucky.
When the sailing club had their AGM the commodore thanked me personally and made me an honorary life member for getting people ashore and organised!
Windsurfing was only just starting then, within a couple of years it was Worldwide.
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| A hatch from 1980 rescue boat found again in 2016! |