Club History
The Club was founded in 1827 as The Port of Plymouth Royal Clarence Regatta Club. It was renamed The Royal Western Yacht Club in 1833. At this time there appears to have been an Irish yacht club called The Western Yacht Club of Ireland which became affiliated. There are references in early documents to the ‘Irish and English Divisions of The Royal Western Yacht Club’ and it is probably here that the present title ‘Royal Western Yacht Club of England’ originated. The first official use of this title seems to have been in 1844 in the Rule Book of that time. The ‘Irish Division’ seems to have ceased to exist from about 1842.
In 1942 the Clubhouse, alongside what is now The Grand Hotel, was destroyed by enemy aircraft and The Club was moved to The Esplanade. In 1961 The Royal Western and the Royal South Western Yacht Clubs amalgamated and refurbished the West Hoe premises previously those of the Royal South Western which were opened by HRH Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in 1965. In 1989 the Club moved to the present premises which were funded through the sale of the West Hoe Leasehold. HRH The Princess Royal opened the new Clubhouse in May 1989. The first Admiralty Warrant authorising the use of the Blue Ensign was issued in 1842 and the current warrant in 1894, copies of these warrants are contained in the Club handbook.
