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...About AYC |
Club History
The Arun Yacht Club was founded in Littlehampton, West Sussex, in 1956, the inaugural meeting taking place on Sunday 8th April in the Red Cross Room in the gardens of Winterton Lodge, East Street, the home of the parents of Pip Mitchell, one of the Club’s founding members. Over 90 people attended and agreed to form a family sailing club, where ladies and children could share membership on an equal basis, which was a novelty in the area at that time. 95 members signed up at that meeting and this number increased rapidly to 160 by May and over 300 by October 1956.
Rather strangely, the Club burgee was decided before the Club’s name! The black diamond was chosen to depict the then top-mark on the east side of the harbour entrance, against the background of the golden sands of Littlehampton. Debate over the name was between the Arun Sailing Club and the Diamond Yacht Club, so the inevitable compromise resulted in the name we know today.
After a brief search for a suitable clubhouse, which included the possibility of a top flat in River Road, an old wartime motor-torpedo boat, lying on the west bank of the river and previously used as a houseboat, called “Lisboa”, was purchased for around £200, financed by loans from the early members.
Figure 1 Lisboa with the piles and floor beams for the new clubhouse, laid in 1960, visible to the right.
To make the craft more easily accessible, there were many working parties of enthusiastic members who excavated a channel and then manhandled the boat further up the beach before she could be officially opened as the Club’s premises in July 1956. Even then, access was from a very steep ladder which was considerably easier to climb that descend, particularly after one of the Club’s legendary Fitting Out or Laying Up Parties! It is from this origin that the Club still uses the name “Lisboa” as its call sign on VHF channel 37 (M1).
The founding committee and leading lights comprised Dr Keith Keith (Commodore), a 1936 Olympic yachting trialist, and his wife, Molly, Charles Rang (Vice Commodore), Brigadier Napier (Rear Commodore), Tommy Heasman (Hon. Secretary), Jimmy Winter (Hon. Treasurer), Len Nolan (Hon. Assistant Secretary), Neville West (Hon. Auditor), Pip Mitchell, John Westcott, Chris Towler and Roy Cole.
Figure 2 Start or first ever club race on 29th April 1956.
The first Club race took place on the river on 29th April 1956 and was started from the stern of Lisboa, some three months before her official opening.
The Club’s first steward, Bert Williams, lived on the houseboat alongside, called Kulali, from which he was able to keep a watchful eye on the Club premises.
Figure 3 Houseboat "Cotton Blossom."
Around that time there were many houseboats on the Arun; the one pictured above being “Cotton Blossom”, home to George Andrews and his elderly mother. George Andrews was the Littlehampton Pilot in the 1960”s who’s tragic loss holds a story and a lesson for us all. After taking a ship out of the harbour in heavy seas, with the pilot boat towed alongside, he climbed down a rope ladder from the ship ready to transfer to the pilot boat, and was never seen again. It is thought that he lost his footing, fell overboard and drowned. The lesson is that he was alone and not wearing a lifejacket.
At that time the club was exclusively a dinghy and open day-boat club sailing a variety of classes including the Firefly, Albacore, Enterprise, Flying Fifteen, Island OD, Sprog, etc. However, it was not long before a few members acquired small cruisers so, in 1958, a number of swinging moorings, secured with chain and sinkers, were laid on the foreshore between Lisboa and the, then actively used, Ferry Steps, with access by rowing tender from the shore.
Over the first few years the membership grew rapidly, whilst Lisboa started to show her age and progressively broke her back. At that time, the gents changing room, in the stern of the boat, would flood at high spring tides, making life aboard nearly as wet as afloat! A Captain Trussler from Hove donated survey fees to start a new Clubhouse Fund and the project was coordinated by George Hemmings. After much debate, based on a design prepared by Samuels and Ross, plans for a new clubhouse were approved and the test piles for the existing clubhouse were driven in September 1961. The building was completed, and officially opened at a grand ceremony, by His Grace the Duke of Norfolk on 22nd September 1962. The Duke was accompanied by his daughters, Lady Anne and Lady Mary, one dressed in red and the other in green, as the Duke’s “port and starboard lights”.
The original building cost £12,600 and was funded through a variety of means including non-interest bearing loans in return for reduced subscriptions, fund-raising efforts and the sale of Life Membership (initially for 60 guineas). Such was the success of the venture that, by 1970/71, all the members’ loans had been repaid.
Figure 4 the 1962 Clubhouse, before any moorings were laid.
Once the new clubhouse was in operation, Lisboa was towed out to sea on Guy Fawkes Night and given a Viking’s funeral, spectacularly assisted by a tank full of aviation fuel that had been resting in the bilges!
Whilst the Club’s sailing and social activities prospered, the new galley was little used for the first few years until Charles Carnes organised a curry supper, which was so successful that a regular programme of weekend catering, suppers and dinners became established.
The Club’s first foray into the running of major dinghy championships occurred in 1971 with the hosting of the Albacore National Championship. This was secured when Barry Pickthall and David Robinson attended the 1970 championship and were told that the Class had been let down by the intended hosts for 1971, and another venue was being sought at short notice. Taking the bull by the horns, they had said “no problem, come to Arun”! Expecting an entry of about 60 boats, the event was planned to be run from the Clubhouse with launching from the river. In the event, a total of 113 boats turned up, all of which needed to be towed in and out of the river each day! Notwithstanding that, the championship was a great success and was the fore-runner of many more, although in future these were run from marquee accommodation and a dinghy pen on the town Green, with beach launching directly to sea.
By the early 1970s the growing number of cruiser members were getting tired of rowing out to their boats and the annual chore of digging up and renewing their mooring chains and sinkers, so a scheme for laying pontoon moorings was devised and these were established in 1974. By today’s standards, this was a relatively simple affair comprising light-weight metal-framed pontoons, laid north-south, with timber decking. No basin was dug, so sailing times were still restricted to about three hours either side of high water for the outer moorings, but only two hours either side for the inner.
Further dinghy championships followed, with two further Albacore Nationals (1977 and 1990), two Laser Nationals and one National and one World Championship for the Enterprise class (1979 and 1984). These events were extremely hard work, but most rewarding, generating great esprit de corps within the membership. Non-stop catering from breakfast to supper and extended bar opening, plus changing accommodation, all from a marquee complex on The Green, not to mention fleets of rescue craft and Committee Boats to be manned. A typical championship required the involvement of about 100 members, some for the whole week and some for day or evening shifts. For the majority of these George Hiscocks (father of current Olympic medallist, Simon) acted as Principal Race Officer.
Not content with just running dinghy events, in 1984 the Club also hosted the British Open Championship for the First Class 8. The French manufacturer, Beneteau, put up a new boat as first prize and many local helms fancied themselves with the chance of winning. However, they misjudged the French, who duly sent over their works team and won it back! At that time we had a number of First Class 8s sailing at Arun, and best placed local boat was “Touch of Class” owned by Mike Scott and Bernie Still.
The present day safety boats were not the first. The boat pictured above was one of our previous boats, having been fitted out in the 1970s, mainly by George Hiscocks, and was named “Lisboa” in memory of the Club’s original clubhouse.
The Club continued to prosper and, by the end of the 1970s, the membership was seeking better moorings with extended sailing times than the original pontoon moorings could offer, plus enlargements to the bar and gents changing rooms. Two separate development committees were established; one to bring forward plans to create an excavated basin with walk-ashore marina-style moorings and the other to design the improvements to the clubhouse.
Under Anthony Hewson’s Commodoreship, these ambitious schemes were brought to fruition, with the improved clubhouse being re-opened at a ceremony on 18th July 1981 attended by Rear Admiral C B Williams CB OBE. These improvements, at a cost of some £130,000, had mainly been funded by loans from the Club’s bank and, whilst all was well initially, by the mid-1980s the Club was finding it increasingly difficult to keep the moorings full and, as a consequence, fell behind with its repayments. This led to the formation of a crisis committee comprising Anthony Hewson, Chris Snelling, Mike Scott and David Robinson with the remit to re-structure the Club’s finances and restore them to a sound basis. After much effort and hard negotiation, a settlement was agreed with the bank whereby the Club’s indebtedness was replaced by funds raised, principally, through a members’ debenture scheme, with a pay-back over ten years from 1987. Coincidentally, the Council agreed to revise the Club’s ground lease and to extend it to a term of 125 years.
In November 1988, the Club elected Wendy Eve as its first lady Commodore.
With its finances back in order, the Club continued to flourish and was able to re-pay the debenture holders after only eight years. The moorings were again full and there was an increasing waiting list; the time had arrived to think of further expansion.
Once again the Club approached the Council to extend its lease, this time northwards so that it could extend the marina. Plans were prepared and approved and a further area of land secured up to, and including, the Island where, in the early days of the Club’s history, local shipwright, Ken Harris, had moored and painstakingly restored his Brixton Trawler, Vigilance, to its former glory. However, no sooner had the lease been finalised than the economy took a dip and, mindful of its past difficulties, the Club put its expansion plans on hold.
Now, some ten years later, further plans are afoot, again to extend the moorings but, this time, to create some deep water berths so that, for the first time in the Club’s history, it can accommodate some fin keeled craft. At the present time, these proposals are still on-going.
Past Commodores
1956-60 |
Dr Keith L Keith |
1961-62 |
Mr Tommy A Heasman |
1963-65 |
Mr Jimmy W B Winter |
1966-67 |
Mr Charles Carnes |
1968-69 |
Mr Sydney G W Ross |
1970-71 |
Mr Jimmy A Loudon |
1972-73 |
Mr C Tommy W Parkin |
1974-75 |
Hon Christopher A R Emmet |
1976-77 |
Mr David Robinson |
1978-79 |
Mr W John Matthew |
1980-81 |
Mr Anthony P M Hewson |
1982-83 |
Dr Alan F Turner |
1984 |
Mr Michael J Scott |
1985-86 |
Mr Edmund C A Hobden |
1987-88 |
Mr Martin J Adams |
1989-90 |
Mrs Wendy M B Eve |
1991-92 |
Mr George E Atkinson |
1993-94 |
Mr Christopher J Johnson |
1995-96 |
Mrs Hilary Waitt |
1997 |
Mr Brian F Doland |
1998-99 |
Mr John Betteridge |
2000-01 |
Mr Terry Hortin |
2002-03 |
Mr Richard E Dobson |
2004-07 |
Mr Dave Tebay |
2007-09 |
Mr Ken Whitmore |
2009-Date |
Mr Nick Clare |