Club History
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Naivasha Yacht Club was founded in 1932 and was established as a private club with the purpose of building, sailing and racing yachts. The purpose of the Club hasn’t changed that much over time. The first officers of the Club were appointed as:
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Founding NYC members 1932 (click to enlarge)
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Minutes of the inaugural meeting
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The inaugural meeting of the Naivasha Yacht Club was held at the Angler's Rest on 9th July 1932. Most of the Club minutes have survived and are in storage, including those from the inaugural meeting, click the image to the left to see the full document (opens in new window).
The initial annual subscription to the Club was 10 shillings for men members and 5 shillings for lady members! And the joining fee for new members was put at £2. |
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The Club got off to a good start with 95 members in its first year and by 1939 there were about 28 boats at the Club, the majority of which had been built by the members themselves. The first boats built at NYC were based on the Seabird design, a carvel planked one design boat. In the 1950's member's started to build Juncos, which were later modified to the "Lake Class". In the 1960's the Fireball class was introduced and in the 1970's the more modern Laser class had been introduced, both of which are still sailed today.
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Seabirds circa 1939
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This photo of two Royal Corinthian One Design yachts, was taken by Len Young in the 1950s for the Kenya Railways Co. advertising campaign of the same period. The original has pride of place above the fireplace in the clubhouse.
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Fireballs were first introduced to NYC in the 1960's and are still raced today. There are currently about 10 boats at the Club and are regularly raced in class events and handicap races.
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Lasers were first introduced to NYC in the 1970's and are currently the largest class with around 50 boats at the Club. There are several Laser events across East Africa, always well attended by NYC sailors.
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The Clubhouse
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The first clubhouse was a simple reed hut and was first located on Lotus island in 1934 and was opened by Major Hemsted. It was purposely situated at the top of the hill over-looking Crater Lake. The opening day was well attended, including journalists (article below) and there was also racing - nine boats took to the water with Blue Bird sailed by Mr Gillet taking honours on handicap from Mr Dyer's Osprey in second. Over the next few years various additions to the Clubhouse were made and then in 1970 the main Clubhouse was extended to the size that it is today.
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Articles of Interest
The articles below from the left are: the 1934 newspaper article reporting on the opening of the Clubhouse; instructions from 1950 on how to build a Junco yacht and also the scrapbook from the 50th anniversary in 1982, which contains some interesting write-ups. (Click to open document in new window).
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