Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club

The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is a Hong Kong watersports club for sailing and rowing including paddling.

Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC)
Legal statusactive
PurposeWe encourage and empower sailors, rowers, paddlers, supporters and spectators to be their best, maximise their experiences and enjoy life sustainability on and around the water
Location
Official language
English, Chinese
Commodore
Lucy Sutro (from 1 July 2022 for two years)
AffiliationsHebe Haven Yacht Club; Aberdeen Boat Club
WebsiteRoyal Hong Kong Yacht Club
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
Traditional Chinese香港遊艇會
Simplified Chinese香港游艇会

History

In 1849 the Victoria Regatta Club was formed and later absorbed into the Hong Kong Boating Club which, in 1889, was in turn merged into the Hong Kong Corinthian Sailing Club.[1] At the General Meeting of the Hong Kong Corinthian Sailing Club held in October 1893 a resolution was passed that application should be made to the Admiralty for permission to call the Club "The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club" and to fly the blue ensign with a distinctive mark on the flag. A warrant was granted by the Lords of the Admiralty on 15 May 1894.[2]

Early members were British only with military personnel on the board. Until the 1950s membership was exclusively reserved for Europeans.[3] Women were not allowed to be full members until 1977 when Patricia Loseby became the first female member. Today, membership is open to all.

Unlike other organisations in Hong Kong that had been granted a royal charter, the club retained the "Royal" prefix in its title after the handover to China in 1997, although a majority of its members supported a motion to remove it, this fell short of the 75 percent majority required by two votes.[4] Subsequently, the commodore at the time suggested that the club should adopt a "one country, two systems" principle as to the name, this being the principle by which Deng Xiao Ping, described the basis underlying the reunification of Hong Kong with the Peoples Republic of China. At a Special General Meeting of members the proposal was enthusiastically adopted. The club's English name remained "The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club", and the club's Chinese title is simply "Hong Kong Yacht Club", without the use of the term 皇家 Wong Ka, meaning "Royal".[5]

Facilities

The club operates from three sites:[6]

Kellett Island (Main Clubhouse)
Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, Kellett Island.

The main buildings of the club are located by Victoria Harbour on the former Kellett Island, now part of Causeway Bay following land reclamation, and forming the western boundary of the Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter. The club moved there in 1938, and the clubhouse was built in International Modern style in 1939[7] on the foundations of the old Naval Powder Magazine.[8] It was designed by architects G.G. Wood and J.E. Potter of Leigh & Orange.[9] The new premises were formally opened on 26 October 1940 by the Acting Governor, Lieutenant General E. F. Norton.[10] The building has been listed as a Grade III historic building since 22 January 2010.[11]

Middle Island
Middle Island facilities.

Shelter Cove
Che Keng Tuk and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club Shelter Cove viewed from a hill on Pak Sha Wan Peninsula.

Former headquarters in North Point
Main article: Oi! (Hong Kong)
Former headquarters and clubhouse of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, at the corner of Oil Street and Electric Road, Causeway Bay.

For 30 years prior to moving to Kellett Island, the main buildings of the club were located at No. 12 Oil Street, in North Point, then a waterfront location, before reclamation.[12] The former headquarters and clubhouse in Oil Street, built in the Arts and Crafts style, was officially opened on 21 March 1908 by the then Governor, Sir Frederick Lugard. The building was subsequently used as a garage, government staff quarters until 1998, as a storehouse of the Antiquities and Monuments Office until late 2007.[13] The buildings now house the Oi! arts center that aims to promote visual arts in Hong Kong by providing a platform for art exhibitions, forums and other art-related activities.[14] The Former Clubhouse of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has been listed as a Grade II historic building since 1995.[15]

See also

References
  1. International Council of Yacht Clubs
  2. RHKYC History
  3. Grantham, Alexander (2012). Via ports : from Hong Kong to Hong Kong (New ed.). Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. p. 128. ISBN 9789888083855.
  4. A Battle Royal Rocks Imperial Yacht Club, Christian Science Monitor, 10 June 1996
  5. Signs of a Colonial Era, Andrew Yanne, Gillis Heller, Hong Kong University Press, 2009, page 1
  6. One Club, Three Clubhouses
  7. Antiquities and Monuments Office: Brief Information on Proposed Grade 3 Items. Item #737 Archived 17 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. History of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
  9. Consultancy Agreement No. NEX/2213. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study for Shatin to Central Link – Hung Hom to Admiralty Section. Appendix 4.1 Cultural Heritage Baseline Report, pp.4–10, 78. MTR Corporation Limited
  10. England, Vaudine (1998). The Quest of Noel Croucher: Hong Kong's Quiet Philanthropist. Hong Kong University Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-962-209-473-4.
  11. Antiquities and Monuments Office: List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment Archived 15 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine (as at 23 November 2011)
  12. Civil Service Newsletter, issue no. 61
  13. Brief Information on Proposed Grade II Items. Item #321 Archived 23 February 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  14. "About Us". Oi!. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
  15. List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment (as of 21 September 2012) Archived 15 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
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