Our History

At the inaugural meeting, Calshot Station Commander, Group Captain H R Nicholl CBE, was elected the first Commodore and the annual subscription was set at £1. A room in Calshot Castle was used as the headquarters. Subsequently, two wooden huts on the foreshore were acquired. The Club and members’ yachts were moored in the creek, and dinghies were ‘parked’ on a flying boat slipway. Members enjoyed many happy sailing adventures until the onset of WW2, when the club was, out of necessity, disbanded.

In 1947 at the Royal Air Force Club in Piccadilly, the few original surviving members met, and Air Marshal Sir Arthur Conningham was elected Commodore. The Air Ministry presented him with the contents of the ‘Wings Club”, which had been established for wartime airmen visiting London. The furniture was moved to the two huts on the foreshore at Calshot, reclaimed by the Club Secretary, now Group Captain AM Carey.

The Club was in business once again, and one of the first tasks was to bring back the Windfall yachts from Germany; these prizes of war, had been built, for use by the members of the Luftwaffe. The whole fleet was sailed back to the UK by the three services, with the RAFYC having responsibility for the RAF allocation to Calshot.

During the next few years, little thought was given to development of the Club, and membership was static until Group Captain E F Haylock (Retd), the editor of Yachting World, became Commodore in 1951. He persuaded the Committee that the Club would always struggle to develop at Calshot, and would need to move to a more accessible location to succeed. Many schemes were mooted but, by chance, he heard that Riverside House had been purchased by Port Hamble to enable it to increase its foreshore holdings.

The 100-year old building stood in 3 acres of ground, stretching down to the river. It was empty, in a bad state of repair and needed much attention. An approach was made to the directors of Port Hamble who were prepared to sell for £20,000. However, Group Captain Haylock was the essence of persuasion and he reached agreement to buy the whole property for £6000!

Further persuasion convinced Air Marshal Sir Leslie Hollingworth that the Royal Air Force should have a clubhouse and facilities to rival other Service Yacht Clubs. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Slessor, agreed and authorised a long-term loan. Extra expenses and legal fees of £1000 arose; however, a generous RAFYC member, H S Whiteside, (who owned ‘Skaggerack’, a 100 ton yacht built for Goering) settled these bills.

On 10th of May 1952, Sir John Slessor opened Riverside House. It proved to be popular! Membership increased, and RAF Calshot donated one of the original huts to assist with providing much needed extra space. In later years Riverside House itself has been extended.

From these early days, the club now warmly welcomes non-service members who continue to support the Club’s development, most recently in 2015, with the development of walk-ashore moorings within the Prince Philip Yacht Haven. An early club handbook can be viewed here.

The club actively seeks records and pictures to help capture and build on the history of the Club. Please contact the office(I am sure you can figure out what goes here)rafyc.co.uk if you have items or information of interest to share.

Images above courtesy of Hampshire Airfields.

Club Rules & Protocols

We would like all members to feel comfortable knowing what they can expect. So, to help you, here you will find more detail about the Club Rules, etiquette and protocols observed by members of the Royal Air Force Yacht Club.

A copy of the Articles of Association is always available for reference in the club. An online copy is held here as a service to members.

Royal Warrant, Club Burgee and Battle Flags

Abridged from the Club Rules: As a privileged yacht club, the RAFYC has been authorised to fly a defaced Blue Ensign from its own premises and for those members who comply with the terms of our Royal Warrant. Only Full Members may opt to fly a Blue Ensign who are boat owners and who are aboard their non-commercial vessel and only in accordance with the warrant that must be carried on the boat. It must only be flown at certain times of the day fro 0800 BST and lowered at Sunset in accordance with the warrant.

A Club Burgee can be flown by full and temporary members. Club burgees must be flown when the Ensign is flown and are normally flown from the starboard cross tree or the highest part of the mast that is reasonable. Some Club Officer positions attract a unique burgee to signify their role.

A Battle Flag may be flown by members on rallies.

RAFYC Blue Ensign

Club Burgee

Battle Flag

The Admiral’s Flag is a rectangular light blue flag incorporating superimposed red, white and blue discs with, in gold, The Royal Air Force Eagle holding an anchor in its claw. Commodore: Light blue swallow-tailed Pennant with red, white and blue discs superimposed. Vice-Commodore: As Commodore’s Pennant, but with one white ball. Rear Commodores: As Commodore’s Pennant, but with two white balls. Past Commodores: As Commodore’s Pennant, but with a white cross in the first Canton.

OTHER RULES AND PROTOCOLS

Dress Code

Dress code in the Club is normally clean, tidy, shore-going wear with tailored shorts being allowed 1st May to 30th September and in the winter during the day only before 1900 hrs. The rules also state no bare feet or oilskins, coats or sea boots in the bar, dining area or lounge. (these items can be secured in the locking racks outside the changing rooms).

For organised events, the dress code is normally signified by (C) Casual, (J&T) Jacket and Tie for gentlemen, (F) Formal wear.

Guests

Guests are welcome in the club and grounds, in your company and you must first sign them in the guest book.

Car Park

We do ask that your consideration is given to the proper use of the car park. Only members’ cars issued with the current permit may use the facility. Should you be absent for a long period, you may wish to leave your keys securely with the office in the event that your vehicle needs to be moved. Improper use causes a significant detriment to fellow members.

Guests aren’t entitled to use the parking facilities unless prior permission was granted. Please contact the office in advance for any such request to be considered.

From time to time, non-members for example, people who have booked our events facilities, may be granted use of a specific number of spaces, at times that the club is generally not busy.

Prince Philip Yacht Haven

To ensure the mutual convenience and enjoyment of our newly opened, walk-ashore facilities in the Price Philip Yacht Haven, access to and use of are subject to a set of rules, which can be found above.

Officers

Support Team

The RAFYC is run largely by volunteer members supported by a dedicated team.

The office support team are:

Trophies

Our Club embraces the spirit of friendly competition, recognising our members’ sailing skills with trophies for both cruising and racing. Non-boat owners are not left out as some trophies can be won by any member!

Our trophies are awarded for results in the locally popular Solent events as well as Club regattas and cruising competitions. So we are looking for the best RAFYC result in events such as the Warsash Spring Series, Round the Island, Bursledon Regatta and the Hamble River Winter Series as well as the Battle of Britain Regatta, cruising logs & photos and one or two more unusual competitions.

Some of this requires a certain amount of cooperation from members. The only sure way we know that you have participated in an event, particularly Round the Island, is that you have let us know of your entry. There’s only so much that can be done by comparison of the Club members’ data with published results & that’s only as good as the data we hold – so if you change your boat please, please let the office know! Both race entries and boat changes can also be emailed to sailing(I am sure you can figure out what goes here)rafyc.co.uk which is monitored by the sailing committee.

By the way – if you think you never go racing, what do you do when faced with a passage where you would like to arrive well before closing time (without using the engine)?

The skills used here are much the same as those practiced by racing sailors – without all that shouting, obviously…

We regret that trophies may not be removed from the club.