royal yacht squadron parking

Northwood House & Park - Rotunda

Northwood house & park - park road, cross street, brunswick road, maresfield road, waitrose east cowes, somerton park & ride, lepe country park.

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2 – 19 September

29 – 5 October

Upcoming events.

Women’s Day Out

AC Prelim Regatta – Day 3

August 24 @ 11:30 pm - august 25 @ 3:00 am, ac prelim regatta – day 4, august 25 @ 11:30 pm - august 26 @ 3:00 am.

August 29 @ 6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Havana Club Rum Racing // Winter

August 30 @ 3:55 pm - 4:55 pm.

Tasting Evening with Screwball Whiskey

August 30 @ 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm.

North Sails Winter Series

AC37 Members Lunch

September 3 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm, september 6 @ 3:55 pm - 4:55 pm.

Ladies Mahjong

September 12 @ 9:30 am - 1:00 pm, major partners.

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Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron

Click here for Back Issues of YBQ Magazine 

The Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron is the oldest and most successful yacht club in New Zealand, and the current home of the America’s Cup. 

With over 3,200 Members, the club is thriving and enjoys a yearlong calendar of activities that cater to all our Member’s needs.     

Club Racing/Sailing:  We offer a great range of sailing series with hundreds of races run every year, from the Club Marine Insurance Wednesday Night Series, Friday Night Rum Races, Young 88 Sprints, NZ Match Racing Championships, right through to Cruising Rallies (to name a few) – there is a sailing event for all types of yachts and crews.     

RNZYS Learn to Sail Programme:  The RNZYS Learn to Sail programme is very popular and offers multiple learn to sail courses including Level One, Level Two and Learn to Race courses. Our Learn to sail courses are run in a variety of boats including our fleet of Elliott 7’s or the MRX’s – offering a great keelboat learning experience. There is also a course which takes students to Kawau Island for an entire weekend of sailing. Find out more about our Learn to Sail Programme HERE:  http://www.learntosailnz.com/      

RNZYS Youth Training Programme:  The RNZYS Youth Training Programme is the programme delivering intensive sail training for young sailors in a disciplined environment.  This programme has long been regarded globally as a leader in youth training and is the country’s most comprehensive and advanced.  Students between the ages of 15-23 are able to apply for this programme which Grant Dalton describes as “the best youth training programme in the world”. More details + apply online HERE:  http://www.rnzys.org.nz/youth-programme/     

Functions & Events:  The RNZYS is also a very high sort after functions facility, with multiple rooms that can cater for any type of function. Whether it’s a wedding, cocktail party or a business meeting – we have your function covered. Explore our facilities and book your function or event today HERE:  http://www.rnzys.org.nz/venue-hire/      

Social Events:  The RNZYS is not just a sailing club, we also offer a wide variety of off-water events such as Speakers Series Lunches, Golf Days, Picnics, Ladies events, LIVE sport screenings and much more.     

Dining:  The RNZYS Members Bar is open 7 days and offers fantastic food, drinks and the best harbour views in Auckland. The Quarterdeck Restaurant is open Wednesday – Friday and offers a more up market dining experience.     

JOIN US TODAY: Join the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron today! Membership Application Form HERE:  http://www.rnzys.org.nz/memberships/apply-to-be-a-member/    

101 Curran Street Westhaven Auckland New Zealand

-36.8355298, 174.7454088

PO Box 46182 Herne Bay Auckland 1147 New Zealand

Upcoming events at this club

New zealand youth match racing championships, new zealand match racing championship.

Berthon Winter Collection

Latest issue

August 2024

In the August 2024 issue of Yachting World magazine: News Few finish a tempestuous Round The Island Race European rules are eased for cruising to France and Greece Olympic sailing…

Yachting World

• Digital Edition

Inside the Royal Yacht Squadron – we get a rare view of this most exclusive club

• Belinda Bird
• May 18, 2015

Sarah Norbury jumps at a rare chance to see inside the Royal Yacht Squadron, that unique and intriguing yacht club at the centre of Cowes, in its 200th anniversary year

Photo: Paul Wyeth

The Royal Yacht Squadron’s Castle clubhouse is best known to most sailors as the centre of the action at Cowes Week. Puffs of smoke in the aftermath of the bangs waft across the water towards the fleets of yachts, their crews’ faces pinched with concentration as they plan their beat up the rocky Island shore.

No first-timer to Cowes Week can fail to be awestruck by the Castle. Competitors mill around before their starts, staring at the flags and course-boards, getting a sight down the startline straight into the windows.

Looking is as near as most sailors ever get to this most aristocratic of clubs. Members will repair to the Squadron after racing, taking tea on the lawn, before entering the Castle for cocktails before a party or the fabulous Squadron Ball, but for the rest, the Castle itself, built by Henry VIII to repel the French, is a visual symbol of the club’s exclusivity.

The Platform, from where Cowes Week starts are signalled. Photo: YPS/Boat Exclusive

The most prestigious club in Britain, possibly the world, is wreathed in mystique. The only way to join this club of Kings, Lords, Hons and Sirs is to be invited by a member and be subject to a secret ballot. The fact that the membership list reads like Debretts is an indication of most sailors’ chances of being invited.

It’s said that wealthy tea merchant Sir Thomas Lipton was blackballed for being ‘in trade’, which is why his 1898 bid for the America’s Cup was sponsored by the Royal Ulster YC. He was allowed in eventually, but died just two years later so scarcely had time to enjoy the Castle’s delights.

Some accept a blackballing with grace, others kick up a stink, like the owner of a 150-ton schooner who, the story goes, sent a message to the club that he was anchored within close range and would commence shelling unless he received a personal apology from Percy Shelley, son of the famous poet, who had blackballed him.

Flying the white ensign

The appeal of being a member is obvious. Who wouldn’t want to fly the white ensign from their stern? The Squadron is the only yacht club with a Royal Navy warrant to do so, granted in 1829. And who wouldn’t want to walk boldly in to meet and drink with the great and the good?

I asked the current commodore, the Hon Christopher Sharples why, when a number of royal clubs are struggling to find new members, the Squadron has a healthy waiting list. “It’s a very fine club,” he responded. “People enjoy the standards and the tremendous history. Members treat the Castle as a much-loved country home.”

RYS commodore, the Hon Christopher Sharples

Originally named The Yacht Club, it was founded on 1 June 1815 by a group of 42 gentleman yachting enthusiasts. Five years later, member King George IV conferred the Royal in the club’s title and in 1833 King William IV renamed the club the Royal Yacht Squadron. Members met in the Thatched House Tavern in St James’s, London, and in Cowes twice a year for dinner.

Today there are 535 members and dinner is served in the magnificent Members’ Dining Room, under the painted gaze of illustrious past admirals and commodores. The room is adorned with silver trophies and scenes of the high seas, and waiters bring course after course from the kitchens and wine cellars below. There are bedrooms for overnight stays, a room for members to keep their ‘mess kit’ or black tie, which is required dress on Saturday nights, and even gun lockers for shooting parties.

But sailing is the club’s raision d’être and neither a title nor a fortune are a guarantee of entry. The club professes that “any gentleman or lady actively interested in yachting” is eligible for nomination.

The Library, a peaceful sanctuary as well as an important archive. Photo: YPS/Boat Exclusive

The Squadron was where yacht racing was born. In the early 1800s the aristocracy came to Cowes to socialise and cruise in their boats. The first races were duels between the yachts of the day, then rules for fleet racing were drawn up. The first club regatta, later to become Cowes Week, was in 1826. For more than a century the reigning monarch would be there to present the King’s or Queen’s trophy.

Some of history’s greatest yachtsmen are on the Squadron’s membership roll: Sir Thomas Sopwith, John Illingworth, Sir Francis Chichester, Sir Alec Rose, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston. Ties with the Navy are strong and some of British maritime history’s most famous names have been Squadron members, not least Nelson’s vice-admiral Sir Thomas Masterman Hardy who commanded HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, Admiral Lord Cochrane who was the inspriation for C.S. Forester’s Hornblower novels and Admiral Sir Jeremy Black, captain of the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible during the Falklands War.

The public’s more usual view

Perhaps the club is still best known around the world for hosting the race around the Isle of Wight in 1851 won by the schooner America , which took home what became known as the America’s Cup. The Squadron donated the Cup itself in 1851 and mounted a number of challenges to win it back.

More than 160 years later the America’s Cup has still never been won by a British challenger, but now the commodore believes the Royal Yacht Squadron has “the best chance we have ever had” with its sponsorship of Ben Ainslie Racing as official British challenger for the 2017 Cup.

• 1. Flying the white ensign
• 2. Bicentenary celebrations
• 3. Inside the Castle

Park Hyatt Sydney

1 pacific highway, 99 walker st, 111 pacific hwy.

• Sydney Opera House

99 Mount St

146 arthur st, greenwood plaza, 115 pacific highway, 54 miller st, 110 walker st, sydney harbour hotel, 50 miller st, 60 miller st, overseas passenger terminal, the denison, 76 berry st, 201 miller st, sir stamford at circular quay, 213 miller st, bond one car park, 155 george st, intercontinental, 20 berry st, gateway car park, woolworths neutral bay, barangaroo point, barangaroo reserve, 68 barry st, hudson house, shangri-la hotel, grosvenor place car park, north sydney council, st thomas' anglican church, 121-127 harrington st, grosvenor lane, aurora place, 1 farrer place, no. 1 o'connell st car park, the langham, 8 spring st, woolwich wharf, manly vale park & ride, ashfield park&ride, dulwich hill station, tempe station, gordon station, park & ride gordon commuter, gordon park&ride, kingsway car park - dee why park&ride, west ryde station, bardwell park station, eastwood station, belmore station, street parking.

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A great deal of information regarding on-street parking in Sydney is available here .

Loading Zones

Many parking spots within the CBD act as loading zones throughout working hours. Some cars used by people in these loading zones are just regular consumer vehicles so it's very easy to see other cars parked somewhere and misread signs, resulting in a loading zone infringement ticket.

Tow Away Zones

Vehicles illegally parked within this  area of the CBD are much more likely to be towed away (compared to receiving a parking infringement fine).

Recent Changes

To keep the city centre moving during changes to the bus network from Sunday 4 October 2015 and light rail construction, Roads and Maritime Services and Transport for NSW have introduced several changes to parking restrictions and tow-away zones. More information regarding this can be found here .

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The Royal Yacht Squadron - A History

Founded in 1815, the Royal Yacht Squadron is one of the most prestigious and exclusive yacht clubs in the world, and enjoys a rich history after more than 200 years. In 2016 a new history of the Royal Yacht Squadron was published by Unicorn Press, Making Waves Two Hundred Years of The Royal Yacht Squadron, described by Classic Boat magazine as ‘ a magnificent book ’ with ‘ stunning design ’. It can be bought from Unicorn Publishing Group.

Alternatively an in house produced "Royal Yacht Squadron - A Short History" is available here . 

The Yacht Club, as the Squadron was first known, was founded at the Thatched House Tavern in St James’s, London, on the 1st of June 1815. The qualification entitling a gentleman to become a member was the ownership of a vessel not under 10 tons. Today this is interpreted as a gentleman “ actively interested in yachting ”. A plain white burgee graced the masthead of members’ yachts; they also wore a plain white ensign with the union in the canton. In 1821 this was changed to a red burgee and ensign.

The Earl of Yarborough, later first Commodore of the Yacht Club, welcomed the Prince Regent as a member in 1817. In 1820, when the Prince Regent became George IV, Royal was added to the club’s name. The Club’s association with the Royal Navy began early and Nelson’s Captain at Trafalgar, Admiral Sir Thomas Hardy, was among early Honorary Naval members.

In 1826, the Club took to organising yacht racing as a principal feature of the annual regatta at Cowes. In 1828, the rule requiring a yacht on the port tack to give way to another on starboard was introduced.

During the 1840’s, in response to the formation of other yacht clubs, races open to non-RYS yachts were also introduced.

The spirit of invention induced by competition led to yachts “of such celerity in sailing and beauty of construction” that they were of utility to the Royal Navy. In 1829 the Admiralty issued a warrant to wear what is now the Navy’s white ensign. The burgee, in compliment, is differenced with a St George’s cross and crown. Lord Yarborough’s Falcon led a rally to Cherbourg in 1831. In 1833 the Club became the Royal Yacht Squadron by command of His Majesty King William IV.

Lord Wilton’s time as Commodore was full of incident and achievement. World-wide cruising continued to flourish. Ben Boyd, in his schooner Wanderer, visited the Solomon Islands and was devoured by cannibals. In the same year, 1851, Commodore Stevens, visiting the Great Exhibition, challenged for the Squadron’s £100 Cup for a race around the Island. America’s victory was witnessed by Queen Victoria and the Prince of Wales, later Commodore and Edward VII.

The Marquess of Anglesea was so surprised at America’s speed that he thought she must have had a propeller. Deerhound RYS witnessed the sea fight between Kearsarge and Alabama. Gazelle RYS rescued the Empress Eugenie at the end of the Franco Prussian War and Squadron yachts took succour to the troops in the Crimea. Lord Brassey’s Sunbeam logged 37,000 nautical miles girdling the earth.

The Golden Age of Cowes was heralded by the election of the Prince of Wales as Commodore. There had been a chapter of disagreement between the newly fledged YRA, the Squadron and other old established clubs over racing rules. The YRA seemed to favour the racing machine, while the Squadron felt that cruising yachts should still have a look in.

The Prince would not tolerate further dissension and peace of a sort was in the air. The Squadron was not only forwarding new ideas to the YRA, but successfully beating all comers under the new rule with Sleuthhound, to be followed by the legendary and remodelled Bloodhound, whose mast is now the Squadron’s flag staff.

The German Emperor brought his Meteor, the 1887 ex America’s Cup challenger Thistle, to Cowes in 1892. This encouraged the Prince of Wales to build Britannia, one of the most successful racing yachts in the calendar. Lord Crawford’s beautiful ship rigged yacht Valhalla cruised far afield and was a noted visitor in Cowes Week; she was also a competitor in the 1905 Transatlantic Race for the German Emperor’s Cup. Her owner, a member with a keen interest in astronomy, had sailed to Mauritius to observe the transit of Venus.

During dinner in the Castle one night, Lord Crawford pointed to a star, observing that one day it may run into the earth. “ If it does ”, Sir Hercules Langrishe replied, “ I hope we will be on the starboard tack ”. World War I broke out inconsiderately during Cowes Week in 1914; both Squadron yachts and yachtsmen were to play their part in that conflict.

After the war, the ladies arrived. They had been entertained before in the “Deer Park”, as the lawn was named in their honour, but it was not until the Squadron secured the ballroom below Castle Rock (now the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club) from Rosa Lewis of Cavendish Hotel fame, that they had a roof of their own. The Six Metres became popular after the First War, encouraged by the British American Cup.

The popularity of the smaller racing boat owes much to two members, Sir Ralph Gore and Sir Kenneth Preston. However, the focus was still on the big class and the public flocked to Cowes to see the J’s – Britannia, Shamrock V and later Endeavour I, thunder past the Green. Tom Sopwith, with the first of his Endeavours, came as near as the Squadron has ever done so far in winning back the “Auld Mug” as the America’s Cup is affectionately known.

Sir Philip Hunloke was the first President of the newly formed Ocean Racing Club and, with Sir Ralph Gore, encouraged the Fastnet Race, first won by Jolie Brise in 1925. The Second World War saw the RYS Castle as part of HMS Vectis and head-quarters of ‘J’ Force. After the War, at the suggestion of Peter Scott, King George VI presented the Britannia Cup, one of the most celebrated races of Cowes Week.

1948-Present Day

The decade following the end of the War was called the “age of austerity and reverse sheer”. Neither were good looking. However, Bluebottle, the Dragon owned by the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, gave small boat racing a kick start. Speed was becoming acceptable too, and Peter du Cane with Vospers was a pioneer. Tommy Sopwith won the first off-shore power boat race to Torquay in 1961.

The moving spirit behind this and the Boat Show was Max Aitken. In 1957, Hugh Goodson, who helped to found the Sail Training Association, headed the 1958 Squadron challenge for the America’s Cup. Captain Henry Denham and Lord Camrose explored the Mediterranean and the former wrote his remarkable guides. In 1966/67 Sir Francis Chichester sailed on his own round the world, which led to the Chichester Trophy, presented by The Duke of Westminster, and the Whitbread Round the World Race. Sir Owen Aisher produced Yeoman after Yeoman and Ted Heath won the Sydney – Hobart with Morning Cloud in 1969. The Admiral’s Cup enlivened racing at Cowes.

The first Chairman of the Cowes Combined Clubs in 1964 was Lord Runciman. Cowes was changing. Two Commodores, Sir John Nicholson and John Roome, consolidated the Squadron’s position and Sir Maurice Laing gave Cowes the chance, through a Trust, to take over the marina.

The Castle itself was fitted for ladies in the 1960s. The brass hot water cans disappeared in favour of the bedroom basin and the radiator made its appearance. The Pavilion, designed by Sir Thomas Croft, was opened in 2000. This elegant creation provides on shore facilities for yachtsmen and their families while allowing the Castle to retain its ‘Country house’ ambiance.

The Pavilion also enabled the Squadron to cross burgees with the New York Yacht Club in celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the Schooner America’s famous victory of 1851. The latest alteration is the RYS Jubilee Haven which, together with the Cowes Harbour Commission pontoon off the Parade, does much to enliven the scene on the water for the visitor to Cowes.

Royal Yacht Squadron

The Castle, Cowes, Isle of Wight, P031 7QT

Tel: +44 (0) 1983 292 191

Photography

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AMERICA'S CUP

On March 17th 2021, the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, on behalf of the Defender Emirates Team New Zealand, accepted the Notice of Challenge for the 37th America’s Cup (AC37) from Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd and INEOS BRITANNIA (formerly INEOS TEAM UK) and were announced as the Challenger of Record for the 37th America’s Cup.  This will be the first British Challenger of Record to compete in the America’s Cup  since Tony Boyden’s Sovereign challenge in 1964.

Latest News

Pier Rd Parking

Over the New Years Eve period parking was restricted at the southern end of Pier Rd which resulted in some members receiving parking tickets.  These restrictions were requested by Vic Police and implemented by CoPP which acknowledges the poor communication.

If you have been booked please send the ticket(s) to me and I will endeavour to have them cancelled.

Matt Solly       

Stay In Touch!

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Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron Pier Road, St Kilda Victoria, Australia, 3182

Postal: PO Box 2001, St Kilda West Victoria, Australia, 3182

37° 51.769’ S   144° 58.320’ E VHF Standby Ch 16, Squadron Ch 72.

Ph:  61 3 9534 0227 Email:   [email protected]

royalmelbourneyachtsquadron

The official Instagram account of Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron 📍 St Kilda Harbour, 20-minutes from the CBD

Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron respectfully acknowledges the Yaluk-ut Weelam Clan of the Boon Wurrung. We pay our respect to their Elders, past and present. We acknowledge and uphold their continuing relationship to this land and water on which we sail. RMYS values diversity and welcomes people of any culture, ethnic background, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation and ability to enjoy our club events and apply to become a member. © Copyright 2022. Royal Melbourne Yacht Squadron. All rights reserved.

A DAY IN HISTORY: AUGUST 22 1851 & 2024

The start of the third, and final, Preliminary Regatta of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup begins on the August 22 – an historic date for the formation of the America’s Cup - as it was on that day, back in 1851, 173 years ago, when the oldest competition in international sport truly began.

When ‘Old’ Dick Brown guided the schooner ‘America’ deftly across the finishing line at the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes in dying breeze and light, against the tide, and with the cutter ‘Aurora’ closing up fast, little could he imagine what the resultant racing some 173 years later would look like.

The prize back in 1851, like today, was an elaborate Victorian silver ewer, incapable of holdings liquids that had been purchased in 1848 by the Marquess of Anglesey, on spec from the Royal warranted jewellers, R&S Garrard of Panton Street, just off Piccadilly in London.

Having been gifted by the Marquess to the Squadron, it was originally named the ‘RYS £100 Cup,’ and a trial of speed around the Isle of Wight was suggested when the ‘America,’ an east coast Pilot Boat design of George Steers, came to England to take on the best of the British fleet in a happy coincidence with Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition taking place, that year, in Hyde Park in 1851.

At the time, the Royal Yacht Squadron was keen to test its fleet against the best and had rather hoped that the aged Russian Tsar, Nicholas I, would send over representatives of the newly-formed Imperial Yacht Club of St. Petersburg to trial.

That failed to materialise as the Russians, one of the great flax exporters and manufacturers of the time, entered the Thames for the Great Exhibition and never came further south, so it was the syndicate-owned ‘America’ of the New York Yacht Club with its first Commodore, John Cox Stevens, who arrived amidst a flurry of publicity in both the mainstream and satirical news outlets of the day.

An air of invincibility was almost immediately created around the speed of the ‘America’ after an opening encounter a few miles down the coast when the newly-built cutter ‘Laverock’ courteously escorted the Americans up the Solent on their first morning in British waters from Ryde to her mooring off Cowes. A good deal of bluff was in place too, as the swashbuckling, stylish American syndicate owners were keen to wager outrageous sums of money on speed trials which were declined or simply ignored by the cautious and stilted owners of the British fleet.

Eventually on August 22, a race around the Isle of Wight was arranged and the legend of ‘America’s Cup’ began. Now, 173 years later to the day, we are at the start of the Louis Vuitton 37 th America’s Cup that still at its very core has the guiding ‘Deed of Gift’ that accompanied the original donation of the trophy to the New York Yacht Club by George L. Schuyler in 1857. Updated in parts, the Deed of Gift remains true to its central tenet of: “a friendly competition between foreign countries.”

Technology today has brought us to carbon fibre vessels capable of flying above the water on foils and hitting speeds – unimaginable back in 1851 – in excess of 50 knots. The crews today are elite, cross-discipline athletes, many with Olympic and endurance sport backgrounds whilst the helms and trimmers are Olympic medallists and World Champions. 

Back in 1851, a government shipyard in Cherbourg was used to fit-out the ‘America’ into racing trim after her voyage from across the Atlantic before she crossed the English Channel to Cowes. Today, the boats are designed on super-computers, using the latest in Artificial Intelligence and simulation technology to create the fastest vessels on the planet.

Rumour and myth, just like in 1851, swirls around the Port Vell on a daily basis. What nobody knows for certain is just how fast all the competitors really are – and we may not know the true answer to that question until the Louis Vuitton Cup starts on the August 29 when everything gets ultra serious and every point, every race, matters.

In 1851  the schooner ‘America’ seemed invincible. Today the competition is simply too close to call with every team expected to be extremely similar in performance with only small differences across a wide range of conditions.

The skill of sailing, however, remains very much the same. ‘Old’ Dick Brown and the crew of ‘America’ (including a certain 15-year-old Henry Steers) had in their employ a skilled British navigator, Robert Underwood, who guided the schooner to victory around the tricky waters of the Isle of Wight. In Barcelona in 2024, the sailor’s skills will be tested to the extreme with the venue able to throw up a huge variety of wind and sea-states on any given day. Mother Nature will, just like in 1851, have a big part to play in the outcome and destiny of the Louis Vuitton 37 th America’s Cup.

August 22 is a legendary day for America’s Cup fans and aficionados. From 1851 to 2024, a lot has changed but an awful lot stays very much the same. It is the pinnacle of international yacht racing and 2024 promises to be the truest test of speed, seamanship and skill before the winner is crowned and the America's Cup awarded.

(Magnus Wheatley - Author of 'There is no Second' - the definitive account of the first race in 1851 for what would become 'America's Cup.' Available to buy here: There is no Second )