|
THE
EVOLUTION OF THE BROADS RADIO YACHT CLUB.
Founder member, Rick
Buxton tells the story;
“There
had been a Model Yacht Club at the yacht pond in Eaton
Park, Norwich, racing free sailing model yachts, since
the early part of the twentieth century. In the early
1970’s club member Ray Batch took a holiday in the south
of England where, for the first time, he saw radio
controlled model yachts. Ray was suffering from
arthritis which made chasing free sailing yachts
increasingly difficult, so the concept of a radio
controlled yacht which could be sailed from one station
on the bank had great appeal. So, on his return home, he
put the idea of radio controlled yachts to his club
mates and one of them - David Skipper – ordered one
straight away and by 1975 there was a small fleet of
these boats sailing regularly at Eaton Park.
It was soon decided that Eaton
Park pond was less than ideal for radio controlled
yachts, mainly because it was too narrow, having been
designed and built for free sailing yachts, so Ray and
David set about looking for a new water. They eventually
settled on the water frontage to the Eel’s Foot pub at
the north end of Ormesby Little Broad. By now I also had
my first radio controlled yacht – Marblehead class - and
Ray, David and myself were joined at the new club venue
by Audrey Batch, Jock Porter, Stan Pepper, Mike Hammond
and Norman Wortley. We then had to decide upon a name
for our new club and ‘Broads Model Yacht Club’ was
considered. This was rejected in favour of ‘Broads Radio
Yacht Club’ because it more accurately reflected and
represented what the club was about, it being one of the
first of a small number of clubs in the country
exclusively for radio controlled boats. The club grew
quickly, establishing links with other similar clubs in
the east of England and hosting open events which drew
entries from far and wide. Members also supported open
events at other clubs and entered National
Championships.
I was later absent from the club
for a few years and during this time the BRYC relocated
to our current headquarters; the water frontage of the
Filby Bridge Restaurant at the southern end of Ormesby
Little Broad. The members continued to develop the Club
and its facilities and in the early 1980’s the water
frontage was dredged out and a paved control area
constructed. More recently this development has
continued with the construction of some walk-in steps
for the safe launching and retrieval of boats.
The BRYC is now prominent in the
Eastern District of the Model Yacht Association (MYA)
and has hosted and continues to host District, Ranking
and National events. It also has a large number of
trophies contested each year, many of which commemorate
the names of founder and other members”.
Mark Holt takes up the story:
“The BRYC originally sailed the
Radio Marblehead (RM) class to which was later added the
10 Rater class (R10R). In 1989 the then fledgling
International One Metre (IOM) class was introduced, and
has now come to be numerically the most popular. In 1993
the Radio Six Metre (R6M) class was added for a more
‘yacht like’ displacement boat. The R10R class of boat
is no longer sailed at the BRYC but good sized fleets of
the RM, IOM and R6M classes continue to be enjoyed. This
year some members have decided to branch out into the
Radio ‘A’ class and the small, low cost Micro Magic ‘one
design’ boat and it is hoped that this will encourage
more people to take up the sport.
Since it was established in 1976
the BRYC has introduced many people to the challenge and
delights of radio sailing and racing. Some have become
expert skippers and gone on to sail at the highest
level, others have been happy just to enjoy the
challenge and camaraderie of racing at our club.
The BRYC thanks its founders for
their enthusiasm, hard work and foresight in starting a
club in this area to provide organised class racing for
radio controlled yachts and we hope that the next 30
years will be as happy and successful as the last 30
years have been.”
|
