Snippets of RLymYC History
When did we become “Royal”
It was in November 1938 that the late King George VI was graciously pleased to command that the Lymington Yacht Club shall henceforth be known as the ‘Royal Lymington Yacht Club’
The First Patron
It has been conjectured that Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, had been brought to the Club, probably from one of the ‘J’ class yachts which during the inter-war years were a familiar sight in the Western Solent. It was from this chance event and his contact with the Club’s Commodore, that Prince Henry later became our first Patron, until his death in 1974.
That first Commodore, Major Cyril Potter OBE, was also a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron.
H Andrea Esq, who was a Member of our Club owned a ‘J ‘ called “Candida”. Being of considerable draught, the ‘Js’ could not enter the river. Perhaps it was from her that Prince Henry payed his first visit to the Club.
The silver wine coaster known as the Potter Ship was the gift of an early Commodore, and the Andrea Trophy commemorates the sometime owner of Candida.
The Royal Lymington Cup
The Long Beach trophy had been presented by Congress and was called the “Congressional Cup”
We had copied their unique idea and were in fact the first of many clubs to do so.
Subsequently we learnt a lot from Long Beach and became the best of friends.
The name changed to the Royal Lymington Cup and we then had to find a trophy to present. A small silver rose bowl was put up and a few years later, when it was presented to the American Dick Deaver, he was taken aback and said in a loud voice “is that it’?’ – he had just won the enormous Congressional Cup. Fortunately Roger Hawkes had persuaded an unsuspecting watch maker to give us a gold watch as a prize and it saved the day. Our cup today is much more impressive!
Helpers
By Eileen [Caulcutt] Elliot
I wonder how many Club Members have been involved over the years – on the race committees, lending their yachts and whiz boats, sorting out the repairs, providing crew accommodation, feeding them, arranging the social programme, jury members and observers, working in the race office …. and so on? I would guess somewhere around a thousand.
Club Members beware! You may well get swept on to the bandwagon, but if you do I can assure you that you will have a lot of fun.
Muddy Waters
by Annie Littlejohn
Many moons ago there was a young lady who regularly visited the Club to spend a weekend cruising about the Solent with family. The ‘lady’ was unsociable and minced through the clubhouse dressed in her exclusively tailored city clothes, nose in the air, to the amusement of the sailing lady Members.
On Sunday evenings the reverse applied. The dinghy returned “Lady Laceholes” to the ancient Club pontoon; she then swept through the Club like a galleon in full sail.
Alas, on one occasion the dinghy could not quite make the pontoon and ran on to a mud bank just a little short of the decking. Not wishing to be overlooked by all and sundry she attempted to leap across the gap, but in doing so demonstrated Isaac Newton’s third law of motion: ‘To each and every motion etc’. The dinghy moved off the mud and madam fell face down into the mire. It is said that there was no rush to help for some little while!