12th November 1890

Guernsey Yacht Club was founded

The Board of Trade issued a warrant on 12 November 1890 to the Guernsey Yacht Club. However, it took some time for the club to get itself organised. It had its first outing the following year, on Wednesday 1st July.

Guernsey Post Office issued a series of stamps commemorating its centenary in 1990, in the covering notes for which it quoted an advert that had been placed in The Star announcing the club’s first event:

Company cruise for yachts belonging to the club to be held on Wednesday 1st July starting from Harbour at 3pm. Rowing members are invited to start with the yachts and follow to Ferman Bay where it is proposed to have the fleet photographed. In the evening of the same day there will be a dinner at the Old Government House Hotel – Tickets (excluding wine) 5s. Club uniform shall be considered full dress.

Naturally, the Yacht Club had to suspend its activities throughout the Second World War as boat use was strictly monitored and severely limited during the Occupation. However, it lost no time in resuming sailing following liberation and, in 1946, it picked up exactly where it had left off in 1939 with an announcement of that year’s prize winners.

Moving to Town

In December 1960, the Yacht Club gained agreement from the States of Guernsey to site its premises close to Castle Cornet at the heart of St Peter Port. Twenty years later, that same building was extended to provide better facilities for the growing club.

What had been set up as a very local affair is now world-renowned for the dozens of events it stages every year, including the Guernsey Regatta, which help to bring visitors to the island.

 

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Other events that occured in November

Car plane air crash caused airport fireball 1st
A hospital worker stood accused of murder 2nd
Sark’s vineyards were vandalised 3rd
The original Torteval church was consecrated 4th
Sibyl Beaumont married Robert Hathaway 5th
The papers were excited by a Guernsey execution 6th
The States agrees to pay the Bailiff 7th
States of Guernsey hired its first independent vet
The Little Theatre was reprieved… for a while 8th
Guernsey was declared free of cholera 9th
Guernsey optician Specsavers was founded 10th
The court considered a Guernsey porn dealer’s testimony 11th
Guernsey Yacht Club was founded 12th
Guernsey aimed for equal adoption rights 13th
Jethou’s tenant fell off his own cliff 14th
Dad’s Army actor John le Mesurier died 15th
A Guernsey recruit regretted signing up 16th
Horticultural painter William Caparne was born 17th
German forces confiscated Guernsey’s radios 18th
A plane crashed on Crevichon 19th
Sark featured in the music charts 20th
Guernsey recruits caused concern in Parliament 21st
First Guernsey competitor took part in Miss World 22nd
A Lancaster bomber crashed on Sark 23rd
Sark women get the right to inherit 24th
Spanish flu arrived on Guernsey 25th
Guernsey held its first full marathon 26th
Admiral Thomas Le Marchant Gosselin died 27th
HMS Boreas sank at Hanois 28th
Radio station Contact 94 went off the air 29th
Royal Guernsey Light Infantry memorial was unveiled 30th