Broxbourne Sailing Club celebrates 100 years

by Peter Selway 29 Aug 13:51 BST 13-14 July 2024

Over the weekend of the 13th and 14th of July Broxbourne Sailing Club members, guests and past members enjoyed a medley of very enjoyable social and sailing activities, celebrating 100 years since the historic club was founded.

Originally sailing on the river Lea, early craft included Thames ½ Raters and quickly expanded to include over the years International 14s, National Twelves, Cadets and later Enterprises and GP14s. In the early 60s we moved to recently vacated and flooded gravel pits at Nazeing and the club has been flourishing ever since. Now, we are also one of the principal clubs sailing Flying Fifteens and with the benefit of a capable crane, we also have an enthusiastic fleet of Illusions.

The festivities started early Saturday morning with three races for the youth fleet, with strong attendance also from the Toppers from our friendly rivals at Fishers Green SC, just a few miles further down the Lea valley. 14 Toppers took to the waters in a gentle but steady breeze, in time for the first race at 9.30. Unfortunately the wind gods decided to really test the skills and guile of these young sailors as the wind strength dropped resulting in large swings and holes over the entire course. However the race officers, Ben and Lizzie did a brilliant job in running 3 races, in the allotted 2 hours. Fishers Green youth showed their sailing strength, taking the top 3 slots and the Centenary Shield was presented to Anthony by Broxbourne’s retiring commodore Robin Fletcher. All sailors were presented with a medal, and it was agreed that the two clubs would hold more joint events in the future. A very big thanks to the sailors, parents and volunteers for making the event such a success.

12.00 saw the start of the seniors Centenary series of races, with three on Saturday and two Sunday. The wind was not entirely kind to the race officers, as well as the usual short term shifts and gusts, there were a few major shifts in direction which necessitated changes to the start line and course between every race, sometimes at the last minute! This kept the teams on their toes, but in the end, with a few minor exceptions, everything progressed smoothly.

Overall 37 competitors took part. In each race the Flying Fifteens started first followed by the menagerie fleet in about the same numbers. About half way through the first race the wind dropped to almost zephyr strength which worried everybody, but fortunately it returned, and in the end all 5 races were completed in light but sailable conditions.

The racing was dominated by four different classes; home member Pip Hudson, crewed by his daughter Alice in his Flying Fifteen was literally flying most of the time and scored three firsts and two seconds, one of which was discarded, and second and third and fourth were the Aero of Blake Newman, the Solo of Richard Coultes, and the laser of Simon Williams, all from Fishers Green and all relishing the shifty conditions. Godfrey Clarke of Fishers Green, who had previously been a long term member of Broxbourne, was sailing his Solo fast in the conditions and had one first, but fell foul of the rules and lost two protests in other races!

Saturday evening was when the club house really livened up. Out of our sailing gear and into our cowboy boots and Stetsons ready for the later Line Dancing event, first up was supper of a delicious Hog Roast. We were eating outside on the patio so it was fortunate that when the rain came we had all finished eating so there was a mass move back into the dry.

As to the Line Dancing, it’s fair to say that some were better coordinated than others, but everyone enjoyed the experience, and Country music is very relaxing to listen to even for the non-dancers.

After this we had the ceremony of cutting the Centenary cake by our Vice Commodore Sarah Samiotis. This was a beautiful piece of art, decorated by Jackie Eaton with hand painted scenes of the lake with various boats illustrated. Almost too good to eat (but we did). We finished the evening with a spectacular firework display, set off from the pontoon.

We arrived back at the club on Sunday morning to the smell of cooking bacon and eggs. Some people had stayed the night, including some in camper vans, so this was an aromatic early morning welcome. The breeze was filling in and the Sunday race crew got to work on another two races. The sun was beginning to shine through and the temperature returning to a more July-like level; we had a thoroughly enjoyable second day racing.

After we had put away our boats, more festivities got going. With a genteel afternoon tea format we had invited past members to help us celebrate. Before tucking in to the cake and sandwiches there was the prize giving, with a trophy for the winner and wine for the runners up. Speeches were brief but most importantly Robin Fletcher thanked everybody involved in the organisation and for the work on presenting the club in such a pristine condition. There were flowers for the people who had been involved in everything from driving the rescue boats to making massive lengths of bunting for decorations. The biggest thanks of course were to Sarah who had masterminded and run the whole event and not only that, with husband Tony had provided bacon rolls and sausage rolls for breakfast and lunches, delicious cakes and sandwiches for tea and everything in between.

After tea, members and visitors had a nostalgic look at memorabilia, photographs, trophies etc. I took great pleasure in showing two elderly past members our most prestigious trophy, the solid silver Cup presented to the club by Sir Thomas Lipton in 1926, and helping them find their names on it as winners five decades ago.

Overall a very enjoyable weekend and a fitting tribute to the club after 100 years, and we are looking forward to next 100.

Our next major event is our annual Regatta on the 7th and 8th of September. Visitors are very welcome and details can be found on our web site, broxbournesailingclub.co.uk