Club nautique Ichtus

Club nautique Ichtus is a non-profit association based at the harbour of Saint-Blaise (canton of Neuchâtel), on Saint-Blaise bay at the north-east end of Lake Neuchâtel. It was founded in 1981 by a group of friends from the youth group of the Saint-Blaise – Hauterive Reformed parish and is built on sharing: members use a common fleet of water-sports equipment (canoes, kayaks, SUPs, rowing boats, windsurf boards, wingfoil gear, dinghies, catamarans and keelboats, buoyancy aids and wetsuits), maintained during volunteer work days.

For wingfoilers, the club provides board and foil sets graded by level (beginner, intermediate, expert) and wings from 4 to 6 m². Access to this gear requires an internal certification: handling and storing the equipment, a return trip across the bay to show basic control, and questions on personal safety, respect for other water users and care of the equipment. Members who are not ready yet can join the club's wingfoil introduction courses, run by members (eight courses scheduled in 2026, from late April to late August). Helmets are compulsory.

Ichtus is neither a school nor a rental outlet: the equipment is for members only, and the club has no kitesurf gear or lessons (it refers kiters to Swisskite). It rents out storage for private equipment (lockers, cupboards, board racks under the clubhouse), runs summer water-sports weeks for 10 to 16 year olds and has a youth windsurfing and racing section, the Neuchâtel Funboard Team (NFT). Its website also announces the Surf Party held each June at St-Blaise Beach (in 2026: a pumpfoil afterwork, a Swiss Windsurfing regatta and the Swiss Foiling Tour).

Membership fees as published in the club's "membership application" notice (dated April 2019 and still offered on the membership page). The fee covers the calendar year and the whole household (parents and children living under the same roof):

• Account opening fee (one-off): CHF 50
• Annual membership per household: CHF 90
• Contribution to the internal repair fund: CHF 10
• Storage space for private equipment, per unit: locker (50 × 50 × 70 cm) CHF 30, cupboard (50 × 70 × 200 cm) CHF 50, board rack under the clubhouse CHF 50

Wingfoil courses and the certification are charged and paid in the member area; their price is not published. The club does not rent equipment to non-members.