Sunderland Yacht Club Annual Open Day
Saturday 1st June 2013
FREE EVENT
Sunderland Yacht club is hosting an open day on Saturday 1st June from 10.30am to 3.30 pm where members of the public can visit the club and take part in sailing taster sessions where they will be taken out an either a sailing dinghy or a sailing yacht for a short trip to sea. These sessions lasting about one and half hours are open to adults and Children over 6-year-old, and can be pre-booked by phoning 07753 1760601
Sailing is a sport that can be undertaken by almost anyone, age is no barrier as the club has sailors from six years to regular sailors over eighty. The is now a RYA (Royal Yachting Association) training centre, and offer training courses throughout the year for club members along with regular coaching sessions.
Sunderland Yacht Club’s cruising yachts sail locally between all the northeast ports on a regular basis but some travel great distances often as far as the Shetlands or the Netherlands (occasionally much further). Cruisers race largely within Seaburn bay throughout the summer. The club programmes racing on Wednesday evenings, Saturdays and Sundays. The club promotes dinghy sailing, cruiser sailing and racing for both dinghies and cruisers, owning a cruiser may be expensive, many owners are looking for members to help crew the boats giving an inexpensive way to sail. This year to help in the current difficult economic climate anyone joining at the annual open day event will be offered a 10% discount from the usual fees.
Alan Dixon the clubs commodore said “Our Open days are now an annual event and allow anyone with an interest to try sailing as a sport, and we hope that all our visitors on the day will enjoy our sport as much as we do. Sailing has always played an important role on the Wear and is recognized as one of the early centres for the sport. 1837 saw the first of the Sunderland Borough Races which included all water based craft and preceded the formation of the first Yacht Club on the river. This happened when in 1856 the Wear Yacht Club was formed. 1856 saw the first regatta which was held for the Gold Cup valued at eighty guineas; In the same year the Wear Yacht Club was granted an Admiralty Warrant and became the Royal Wear Yacht Club. The Royal Wear Yacht Club saw a decline and a new club was formed in 1905 called “Sunderland Motor Boat and Yacht Club”.
This club then changed its name in 1912 to “Sunderland Yacht Club”. The First World War saw the cessation of sailing from Sunderland Yacht Club and it was not formally started again until 1935. From 1935 the Club developed by first building a clubhouse on the west side of the North Dock. This was a brick built building and stood on the top of the old staiths retaining wall. During the war the Club house was occupied by the navy and after the end of war the membership had dwindled to twenty so the clubhouse was sold to the Sea Scouts.
Sailing started again in 1946 from a new wooden building which was located at the base of the staiths retaining wall on the west side of the North Dock. In 1957 alterations to the North Dock entrance saw the Club relocated again to the site close to where we are now. The clubhouse was again wooden which proved more than adequate through to the 1990s. As the area was redeveloped the Club was rebuilt on the present site with the aid of funding from Tyne & Wear Development Corporation and the Lottery.
by Alan Dixon Commodore Sunderland Yacht Club
0775 4192 306 and 0191 548 2714 Email Alandixon10@gmail.com
Website: Sunderland Yacht Club
