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Home > About > Club Info > History of Brightlingsea Sailing Club
Home > About > Club Info > History of Brightlingsea Sailing Club

History of Brightlingsea Sailing Club

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1888 - Formation of Brightlingsea Sailing Club

Easter Monday 1888 - The first recorded BSC race takes place

30th November 1888 - First BSC Laying Up Supper takes place at the recently opened Royal Hotel in Tower Street - After dinner "several songs were rendered"

1895 - Edward Sycamore skippers Valkyrie III in the America's Cup

Late 1800s - BSC goes into decline, partly because so many of the top Brightlingsea sailors are asked to crew on the big racing yachts of the day and are away all summer

1901 - Edward Sycamore skippers Shamrock II in the America's Cup

1903 - 1913 - Crabchicks Sailing Club is formed by a group of BSC members from the Crabchick dayboat class to fill the void

1910 - Club race entry fees are noted at two shillings and six pence. Races are run on courses very similar to those we still use today from a start hut on Point Clear

23 September 2013 - Crabchicks Sailing Club organises Brightlingsea Regatta - the last event run by the club before:

1914 to 1918 - First World War - all leisure sailing suspended

1921 - With the country now in recovery after the First World War, Brightlingsea Sailing Club is reformed. Club meetings are held in the The Yachtsman's Arms and a board outside the pub advises details of forthcoming races. Races are started from a hut on point clear

1927 - Robbie Stone approached the club committee with a proposal for a new one design class and the Brightlingsea One Designs are born.

1930 - A Social Committee is elected for the first time - 60 members attend the annual dinner at the Royal Hotel

1937 - An exceptionally high tide floats the start hut off Point Clear and onto Cindery Island. It is retrieved using a raft and relocated on the James & Stone shipyard site (now the site of the Waterside Marina)

1939 - 1945 - Second World War - all leisure sailing suspended

May 1946 - The first post-war club committee meeting is held

June 1952 - The first BSC Club House and boat park in Fieldgate Dock (where the waterfront Fieldgate Dock townhouses now sit) is opened by Ralph Sutton

1960 - Agreement is reached with Tendring District Council to lease the land on which the current clubhouse, dinghy park and car park sit

1960s - Cadet nights start

1 April 1962 - New clubhouse on the present site opened by Sir Miles Wyatt, Admiral of the Royal Ocean Racing Club & donor of the famous Admiral's Cup

December 1969 - Two storey extension with enlarged changing, galley and bar extension completed

1971- Telephone installed in the club

1975-1977 - Launching ramp constructed

1976 - Reg White & John Osborn win Tornado Olympic Gold

1977 - Further extension of the clubhouse and new bar

1983 - Club hosts National Schools Regatta

1983-1984 - Further improvements to the changing rooms, gas heating installed

1985 - Launching ramp extended to low water mark

1992 - New galley, training/cadet room and bar store constructed

2012 - Latest club house extension officially opened and wi-fi installed

2013 - Awarded RYA Champion Club Status

December 2013 - Club floods and undergoes another major refit

2015 - BSC becomes RYA Club of the Year and is awarded RYA High Performance status

2017 - Awarded RYA Sailability Status

2018 - Club celebrates its 130th Anniversary

March 2020 - The new Sailing Management Centre is opened, replacing the old simple wooden start hut with a two story building combining the race office on the first floor and a race administration office/small training room on the ground floor.

2020 - The Covid-19 pandemic delays the start of the 2020 season until June, when the club is one of the first in the country to restart sailing under special measures.

2021 - The club purchases a Mitchell 31 motorboat to act as its new Committee Boat, providing and technically superior and more comfortable platform for running racing. Covid restrictions continue but are reduced enabling an almost full programme of activities to be delivered.

2022 - Covid restrictions are lifted and following a major refit of the lobby and clubroom, the club launches a new combined bar/cafe service for members, offering longer and more flexible opening hours and a range of hot and cold snacks and light meals from the bar.

See the club's Honour Boards for a full list of our Champions

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Last updated 12:29 on 4 March 2024

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