Royal Welsh Yacht Club

About the Royal Welsh Yacht Club

The Royal Welsh Yacht Club is a club that organises sailing and rowing activities, hosts a regular cruising programme and race events, runs weekly rowing sessions with club boats and inter-club races, and provides a social programme and clubhouse facilities for members and visitors (see club description).

History and heritage

Founded in 1847, the club received a warrant to fly a defaced blue ensign in May 1847 and established its clubhouse in the 13th-century Porth-yr-Aur (adopted as the club premises in 1854) (see club history).

The club records and on-site interpretation material document the club's 19th- and 20th-century regatta activity and later renovation work supported in part by heritage funding (see club history).

Location and on-water setting

The club is based in Caernarfon and its on-water activities are concentrated on the Menai Strait and adjacent Irish Sea (see sailing and on-water activities).

The club’s rowing boats are housed at Plas Menai and Victoria Dock, with seasonal winter arrangements at Felinheli, and regular outings take place on the Menai Strait (see rowing and sailing base).

Clubhouse and building use

The club occupies Porth-yr-Aur, a former 13th-century town gate taken into club use in the mid-19th century, and the premises include members’ rooms and two bars (see clubhouse description).

The premises have been subject to renovation, with interpretive material describing the building’s long history (see on-site interpretation).

Sailing and cruising

Sailing activity is focused on cruising from Caernarfon into the Irish Sea, including organised “Cruising in Company” weekend cruises and a summer cruise (see sailing).

The club publishes an annual sailing calendar and runs communal communications for dates and trip details, including a Cruising WhatsApp group (see sailing calendar and communications).

Racing and regattas

The club participates in local Menai Strait regattas and runs organised race events (see racing events).

The rowing section organises and competes in league races and stages the Castle-to-Castle race (Beaumaris to Caernarfon), along with other club racing (see rowing programme).

Members also compete in regional and long-distance sea-rowing events (see sea-rowing).

Rowing training and RYA courses

In 2024 the Royal Welsh Yacht Club became an RYA Recognised Training Centre offering RYA shore-based navigation courses including Essential Navigation and Seamanship, Day Skipper Theory, and Yachtmaster (Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore) theory (see training courses).

Essential Navigation and Seamanship is described as a basic introduction to navigation and safety for newcomers, and also useful for experienced dinghy/keelboat sailors and inshore racers; the course pack includes a basic set of navigation tools (plotter and dividers) (see Essential Navigation and Seamanship).

Day Skipper Theory covers chartwork, navigation, meteorology and basics of seamanship, supporting progression to Day Skipper Practical and an International Certificate of Competence (ICC) (see Day Skipper Theory).

Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore provides revision of Day Skipper shore-based topics plus advanced offshore and coastal navigation by day and night, pilotage and meteorology (see Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore).

For enrolment or questions, the contact email provided is training@royal-welsh.com (see training courses).

Boats, safety boat and facilities

Club-owned boats include three Celtic Sea Rowing Longboats, two Yoles, a Whilly, and a Caledonian Yawl with trailers and safety gear, plus a RIB for use as a safety boat (see club boats and facilities).

Social spaces and clubhouse hire

The clubhouse contains two bars and members’ facilities used for regular social nights, quizzes and private functions (see members’ facilities).

The club offers hire of the clubhouse for private meetings and events and runs a year-round social programme (see social programme).

Events and social programme

Events include monthly quizzes hosted by various members, with dates listed from January through June and hosts named (see social events).

Other listed events are Burns Night Supper on 24 January at 19:30, “Beers with the Bard” on 24 April, Six Nations Rugby screening on 6 March (Ireland v Wales), and an AGM and Annual Dinner Dance on 21 November (time TBC) (see social events).

Visitor and reciprocal access

The club constitution and byelaws allow members of RYA-recognised clubs and visiting yacht skippers/crew lying in the Port of Caernarfon to be authorised to use the club premises, with authorisation by a Management Committee member for up to 21 days in any calendar year (see constitution and byelaws).

The constitution empowers the Management Committee to agree formal reciprocal arrangements and the byelaws record reciprocal agreements with the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club and the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club (see reciprocal agreements).

Visitor guest and access rules

The club constitution sets rules for visitors and access, including that members must record guests in a Visitors Book, introduce no more than six guests on any one day and remain with their guests while on the premises (see visitor and access rules).

A guest may normally be introduced no more than twice in a calendar month without Committee sanction, and Social Members have specific restrictions (for example limited boat use and no voting rights) (see guest and Social Member restrictions).

The constitution and byelaws also set conditions for the issue of defaced-ensign permits (see defaced-ensign permits).

No separate published formal dress code is provided in the publicly available constitution or byelaws (see constitution and byelaws).

Membership categories and joining

You don’t need to own a boat to join, and newcomers may row or sail free in two taster sessions; they will be invited to join if they wish to continue (see membership information).

Social membership allows access to the clubhouse bars, while other categories entitle members to use the clubhouse, bar, changing rooms, laundry facilities, club-owned boats (three Celtic Sea Rowing longboats, two yoles, a whilly, a Caledonian yawl, trailers and safety gear, and a RIB as safety boat), and to hire the Club for private functions/meetings at members’ rates (see membership categories).

Membership categories listed are Initial (age 18–20), Intermediate (age 26–35), Full (age 36–64), Senior (65+), Overseas (18+), and Linked membership (partners/family added to Full and Senior members at no extra cost; linked members receive a membership card, hold the same rights as the main member but cannot vote) (see membership categories and rights).

Full details of subscription rates are stated as being on the application form or via the membership secretary (see membership application).

Seasonal operation and launching

Rowing sessions and many sailing activities are weather-dependent, but the rowing programme operates year-round with boats based at Plas Menai for most of the year and moved for a winter period to provide year-round launching (see rowing programme).

The published sailing calendar shows seasonal events and scheduled craning in/out dates, and subscriptions renew on 1 January (see sailing calendar).