 Club Burgee (Bosham Bell) | |
| Formation | 1907 |
|---|---|
| Location |
|
| Coordinates | 50°49′42″N0°51′36″W / 50.8282°N 0.86°W |
Commodore | Richard Lewis |
| Affiliations | Royal Yachting Association |
| Website | www |
Bosham Sailing Club is the oldest sailing club in Chichester Harbour and was founded in 1907 [1] It is located in the historic village of Bosham in West Sussex. [2] Its clubhouse is the Old Mill on Bosham Quay.
The club was founded by Captain E.K. Collis-Chapman in a converted stable on the Bosham waterfront. Its first members consisted of mostly local fishermen and recreational sailors.
At the end of World War One the club was briefly named "Bosham and Itchenor Sailing Club". It reverted to its pre-war name in 1922 and Itchenor Sailing Club was formed in 1927. [3]
In 1927 the club moved to the upper half of the Raptackle building on the Quay, from where it still continues to start many of its races. In 1947, the club purchased a Motor Gun Boat (MGB) (No. 614) to provide a clubhouse and sleeping accommodation. The club continued to use the MGB as its clubhouse until it moved into a newly rebuilt Mill House in 1954. In December 2019, the club purchased the freehold of the clubhouse.
The club's burgee is a red bell on a white background. This alludes to the legend of the "Bosham Bell" which tells of a Viking raiding party's attempt to sail off with the monastery's tenor bell, however the bell toppled over taking the Vikings and their ship to the bottom of the Bosham Channel. Local folklore has it that the bell can sometimes be heard tolling from beneath the waters. [4]
The club has a long association with the Société des Régates du Havre yacht club (Est 1838).
In October 2016 the club had 1,442 members. The clubhouse has a bar, restaurant and changing facilities, and its terrace overlooks the Bosham Channel.
There is an active dinghy sailing programme which has events on every weekend from early March to the end of October and a Winter series leading up to Christmas. The club offer handicap racing on most Sundays which allows its members to race any class of dinghy. The main classes of dinghy sailed at the club are the Laser, Finn, Wayfarer. International 420, RS Feva, Topper, and Optimist. Open events are held for many of these classes throughout the year.
Depending on the state of the tide, racing starts from a starting platform at the end of Bosham Quay, a starting line at Cobnor near the entrance to the Bosham Channel, or from the club's Committee Boat ("Glad Emma") anchored in Chichester Harbour.
Bosham Sailing Club is recognised by the RYA as an accredited training centre [5] and runs a range of dinghy, powerboat and sailing theory courses for members and non-members. It is also a test centre for the ICC.
The club has an active racing and social program for its fleet of over 100 Classic Day Boats. These are yachts of a design that would have seemed familiar to spectators of Chichester Harbour races during the years up to the 1950s having no sheltered accommodation and having pivoting centreplates. They are more heavily built than a dinghy and are capable of being left on an open mooring. The club hosts its annual Classic Boat Revival for classic racing dinghies and dayboats each September which has been described by Yachts & Yachting magazine as the "premier classic small boat event in the UK" [6]
Bosham Junior Week is an annual week-long sailing event in August each year for young sailors from 8–18 years of age (Cadets) held on the Cobnor Estate, near Chidham, West Sussex. [7] Cadet racing has been taking place at the club since the 1920s and Junior Week emerged in its current form in the 1980s.
A trophy is awarded each year for racing on the windiest day of the week in memory of the Olympic sailor and club member, Glyn Charles, who died in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. [8]
In 2017 the event attracted 149 participants in 107 boats.
Regattas in Chichester Harbour began in the 19th Century as sailing competitions between each of the harbour village's fishing fleets and were organised by the local customs officers. The first recorded Bosham Regatta took place in 1903 and the Club's Commodore (then Col. A.T.Simpson) took on the organisation of the event from 1908 onwards. [9] An annual regatta has taken place since then with the occasional break for World Wars and unsuitable weather. The oldest surviving trophy still being awarded at the regatta is the Eadie Cup which was first presented in 1923.
Team racing, also known as team sailing, is a popular form of dinghy racing and yacht racing. Two teams compete in a race, each sailing two to four boats of the same class. The winning team is decided by combining the results of each team's boats. This differs from an inter-club fleet race where boats from three or more clubs compete, with the results of each club's boats combined to determine its overall position.
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom national governing body for sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inland waterways cruising.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
A yacht club is a boat club specifically related to yachting.
Located on an isolated sandy peninsula known as "Sandy Point" or "Black Point" at the entrance to Chichester Harbour, England, the Hayling Island Sailing Club, was founded in 1921. The first clubhouse was originally a fisherman's cottage adjacent to Salterns Quay, and known as Quay Cottage. After a short while, the club moved into the premises now occupied by the Mengham Rythe Sailing Club.
Chichester Harbour is a large natural harbour in West Sussex and Hampshire. It is situated to the south-west of the city of Chichester and to the north of the Solent. The harbour and surrounding land has been designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and a biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The area is also part of the Solent Maritime Special Area of Conservation, Chichester and Langstone Harbours Ramsar site, Special Protection Area and Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I. Part of it is a Geological Conservation Review site and two areas are Local Nature Reserves.
Sailing has been one of the Olympic sports since the Games of the I Olympiad, held in Athens, Greece, in 1896. Despite being scheduled in the first Olympic program, the races were canceled due to severe weather conditions. Apart from the 1904 Summer Olympics, sailing has been present in every edition of the Olympic Games.
Larchmont Yacht Club is a private, members-only yacht club situated on Larchmont Harbor in the Village of Larchmont, in Westchester County, New York.
The West Lancashire Yacht Club (WLYC) is a yacht club in Merseyside, England, founded in 1894. In 1999 the club was awarded the status of Volvo/RYA Champion Club, recognising the standard of training and performance of its members in sailing competitions.
Pwllheli Sailing Club is a yacht club in Pwllheli, Wales, founded in 1958. Over the years its clubhouse has moved several times, and it has also become an organiser of national and international yachting and dinghy sailing events.
Burghfield Sailing Club is an inland sailing club located close to the town of Theale in Berkshire near Reading in the south of England. The club and lake are easily seen from the M4 motorway as the westbound lane approaches Junction 12. BSC was one of the first Clubs in the UK to be awarded RYA Champion Club status.
West Itchenor is a village and civil parish, on the Manhood Peninsula, in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It lies north of the B2179 Chichester to West Wittering road 4.5 miles (7.3 km) southwest of Chichester. The village lies on the shores of Chichester Harbour.
Stewart Morris, OBE, was a British sailor, born in Bromley, Kent. He competed at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London and won a gold medal in the Swallow class with David Bond.
Itchenor Sailing Club is a sailing club located in Chichester Harbour which was founded in 1927.
The Twelve Foot Dinghy was designed by George Cockshott, an amateur boat designer from Southport, England in response to a 1912 design contest. It became the first one-design racing dinghy to achieve international recognition. The class was granted the 'International' status by the IYRU in 1919 and remained this status until 1964 when it was revoked by the same authority. The class was selected as the dinghy class for the Olympics in 1920 & 1928. In 1924 the French wanted to use an alternate French design.
The Swallow is a type of one-design classic keelboat that was used as a two-man Olympic class for the 1948 Olympics. It is now sailed with three crew. Now a thoroughly modern classic, the main fleet is at Itchenor in Chichester Harbour, West Sussex, with a smaller fleet at Aldeburgh, Suffolk. There are around 40 active boats. As a National Class, the rules and affairs of the Class are regulated by the Royal Yachting Association. Many of these boats are named after birds and, in particular, sea birds.
The Britannia Yacht Club (BYC) is a private social club, yacht club, and tennis club based in Britannia, a neighborhood in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1887 by a group of cottagers.
Greenwich Yacht Club is a sailing club based in Greenwich, London. It was founded in 1908, and caters for cruiser sailors, dinghy sailors, motor-boaters and rowers. Its officers include a commodore, vice-commodore, rear-commodore, secretary and treasurer. The club is affiliated to the Royal Yachting Association.
The Royal Harwich Yacht Club is a UK sports club for sailing and other waterborne leisure activities.
Horning Sailing Club is a sailing club in Horning, Norfolk, England. The club provides dinghy racing, yacht racing, yacht cruising, motor boating, personal watercraft facilities and is a representative for Broadland inland waterways cruising. HSC is an RYA Training Centre and an RYA Sailability Centre