Royal Corinthian Yacht Club

The primary object of this Club shall be the encouragement of Amateur Yacht sailing.
From the General Rules 1873

Since its foundation at Erith on the Thames in 1872, the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club has produced many fine amateur helmsmen and women, including National and International Champions of all ages, upholding its earliest objective; to encourage Amateur Yacht Sailing.

Members of the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club have been the innovators of many ideas, now accepted as standard. Its challenge to the London Sailing Club in 1893 was the forerunner of Burnham Week and it adopted its first One Design Class way back in 1895. The Thirties underlined its prominence as its members oversaw a major competition for designs for Deep Sea Racing Craft, provided the crew for the J-Class Endeavour in Sir T.O.M. Sopwith’s America’s Cup Challenge in 1934, and selected the British Team for the Olympic Games in 1936.

The post war years saw further innovations, including the Hornet Easter Egg, the Burnham Icicle and the Endeavour Championship, an invitation only event to discover the Dinghy “Champion of Champions”.

Corinthianism – A definition…

He shall also be a Corinthian…
from the Organisers’ official instructions for yachting competitors for the 1932 Olympic Games.

The members of the new club in 1872 were pleased to be known as ‘Corinthians’, emphasising their intention to helm their own boats, although paid hands were still allowed. The term was greatly used in the sporting world of those days and perhaps those who had received a classical education connected it with the Isthmian Games held at Corinth in honour of Poseidon and found it singularly appropriate for yachtsmen.

The One Design Classes of 1913 were reminded in the Year Book that in the Royal Corinthian 1(sic) Design Boats (NOT the current RCODs) the crew must not exceed three and no paid hands are allowed and in the Royal Corinthian Sea Birds the crew must not exceed two and no paid hands are allowed.

When the Club was asked to prepare the British Olympic team for the 1936 Games, rules were laid down for the participants. The definitions used for the 1932 Olympics were adopted; the general instructions defined an amateur and then some particular qualifications were added for yachting competitors. They were required to be Corinthians and that was defined:

Corinthianism in yachting is that attribute which represents participation in sport as distinct from gain and which also involves the acquirement of nautical experience through the love of the sport rather than through necessity or the hope of gain

The definition went on to exclude professional seamen and yacht paid hands. Social conventions of the day also excluded them from the Clubhouse. They waited for their owners before the Saturday race in the room at the top of the pontoon, currently used as a ‘wet’ room. The last paid hand was Gordon Tunbridge who crewed for W.G. Davies in his East Coast One Design Rhythm until the end of the 1960s.