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Yachting

To Go Straight To The Month by Month Events Calendar, click here 

The Royal Thames has a rich and varied programme of yachting events both cruising and racing.

Some of our Racing events are restricted only to members, but most are open and our Race Management team, led by Chief Sailing Officer Malcolm McKeag and Honorary Chief Race Officer Gillian Smith and working mainly but not exclusively in The Solent, has a well-deserved reputation for well-run races and well-managed courses. In addition to acting in concert with other Cowes clubs to provide the weekly regattas for the Cowes local keelboat classes and the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat series, Royal Thames is one of the three clubs that form the first Triumvirate of Skandia Cowes Week. Another jewel in the Club's Solent crown is our David Diehl trophy series for Farr 45s, this year comprised of two weekends of back-to-back windward/leeward racing and an action-packed and scintilating match racing weekend for the Club's imposing Imperial Trophy, first presented by Kaiser Willhelm IV in 1904. (Click here for some great video footage of the Farrs in close-quarters action.)

As well as running racing events, Club members are active participants in all disciplines of the sport. A special forte of the club is team racing, particularly team racing in keelboats and even more particularly two-boat team racing in keelboats. Club members travel widely both to Europe and North America to compete against the best of overseas clubs and hosting return matches in the UK. As well as its own inter-club team racing programme the club organises and runs the National Championship of two-boat team racing each year in London at the same time as the London International Boat Show and the biennial Royal Thames Cumberland Cup international team racing contest.

The Club's cruising programme is no less full, with activities ranging from simple local meets for just a few boats to overseas rallies in far-flung corners of the globe. A particular feature of the Club's overseas rallies, exploiting the club's unique international membership connections, is privileged access to events and locations not normally open to other clubs or to the public. In 2007 the club cruised in locations as varied as the French canals and the myriad islets along the coast of Maine; in 2008 the Caribbean, the north coast of France and the Aeolian Isles off Sicily (to say nothing of the West Coast of Scotland) will see Royal Thames members gather.

For more details of the Club's varied yachting programme, visit the Racing and Cruising pages, or click on the highlighted links in the programme below.

Events Calendar