a new attempt was made to create an umbrella body for classic yachting: the Vintage Classic Yacht Club. Its organisers have chosen the simplest form, as a club for owners of classic yachts only and enthusiasts who can become donors. Central figure in this new endeavour is Jonathan Greenwood, a respected and experienced yacht restorer and captain of the gaff-rigged, Herreshoff-designed and built, New York 40 Chinook. He has been sailing on the classic circuit for over 30 years now and has a very clear idea of what it takes to truly represent classic yacht owners in the always fragile relationship with event organisers as interests are sometimes conflicting. But perhaps more importantly is the desire to clearly define what a true classic yacht is and how these historic vessels, whose owners often have widely differing budgets and egos, can coexist in a pleasant way. So, the VCYC is not a yacht club that welcomes only wealthy members with large yachts, but an association open to any owner, whether the yacht is a 6-metre-long open boat from 1890 or a 80-metre-long motor yacht from 1930. Yachts fitting these two descriptions have already joined. BACK TO THE BEGINNING In the 90s there was the European Classic Yacht Union (ECYU). Initially instigated by the Norwegians it was a mainly northern European thing with among others the British Old Gaffer’s Association, the Dutch Vereniging Klassieke Scherpe Jachten (Association of Classic Sharp Yachts), the German Freundeskreis Klassische Yachten, the Norwegian Klassisk Treseiler Klubb and some of the many Swedish clubs and associations such as the Gaff Yacht Society (GYS), the Sail Yacht Society (SYS), the 10 Metre Association and the Svenska Skärgårdskryssare Förbundet (Skärgårdskryssare = skerry cruiser = Square Metre Association). It got off to a flying start uniting all these clubs with annual meetings and plans for a linked series of regattas. From 1990 to 1992 they were sponsored by the publishing company Thomas Reed, with events in Holland, England, France, Germany, Sweden and Norway. Ron Valent (incidentally also the author of this article) organised it all and it was seen as a sort of template for how this could be. Various associations could be convinced at the time to join their many smaller events together and to organise large classic regattas in the following years. Sadly, Reed discontinued this series after only three years but the way had been paved to bring what were once small-scale local festivals with possibly a half-hearted race on the Saturday to fully fledged regattas over three or four days with serious racing in various classes. IN 2021, read more 19
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