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Star letter & Where in the World Club class
This is the most easterly club in Britain, the Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club at Lowestoft. Founded in 1859 to organise yacht racing on the Norfolk Broads and on the North Sea, the clubhouse itself was built in 1903, designed by the much-loved Norfolk architect George Skipper. In the early 1960s I was
privileged to be asked to crew a Dragon for the Saturday afternoon racing. Coming from sailing my International Cadet on the sheltered waters of the Broads it was a baptism of fire! Crawling along the pitching, sea- soaked windward deck clutching
The sheltered marina of Royal Norfolk and Suffolk Yacht Club belies the upredictability of the North Sea, which it looks onto.
the spinnaker in its ‘turtle’ (no spinnaker chutes in those days) as we approached the windward mark, wrestling with the hefty spinnaker pole as we gybed the ‘kite’ and spending the entire beat under the cuddy before the mast as we thrashed to windward in the nasty North Sea chop. Nevertheless, I returned week after week for several seasons. Later, I would crew the Ajax National 23 and Flying Fifteen and race Enterprise dinghies at the Sea Week regatta. Later still, I would race my International Star, including a District Star Championship. The club thrives today with a healthy fleet of the local Broads One Design keel boats in which I currently sail. I’ve enjoyed the club for over 60 years, not just because of its beautiful clubhouse, but as a club steeped in history that also offers all the training and modern facilities that the sport now demands. Long may it continue!
Anthony Knight
Anthony wins an HX210E from Standard Horizon – a great piece of kit when you’re out on the water. Not only is it a handheld VHF radio, it also includes an FM radio, which means you can listen to your favourite stations too. It’s waterproof, floats, and has a strobe light that immediately activates if dropped overboard.
www.standardhorizon.co.uk
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU
As well as your comments about RYA Magazine and the topics covered, we’d like to hear about your time on the water. If you’ve had a good, bad or funny experience, want to thank someone, or maybe have a tale of a good deed, we’d like to hear from you.
Where in the World Ireland-hopping
I remember the club well as I berthed there at 2am in 2019, three-quarters of the way round my circumnavigation of Britain in my Sadler 25, Vela. I’d sailed from Grimsby with a relative who had suffered from severe seasickness and wasn’t able to effectively crew. I’d been on the go for 22 hours and had intended to go on to Southwold, but decided I’d had enough at Lowestoft! I gratefully pulled into an empty berth and crashed to sleep. I remember thinking how lovely the clubhouse looked the following morning, the finer points of its architecture having passed me by the previous night.
Jill Rogers
Your comments on social media
On Facebook: new research has shown an alarming relationship between warm weather and spikes in drowning in the UK. Here are some simple reminders about how to stay safe in the water:
www.rya.org.uk/ news/heatwave-research- drowning
It’s shocking the amount of people I saw on the water
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rya.org.uk WINTER 2024
Photos: Alamy
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