History of South Windermere Sailing Club

(Photo: Above, "Early Inspiration?" Fell Foot 1952)

The South Windermere Sailing Club celebrated its 60th Anniversary in 2021. We will be looking back in words, pictures and cartoons, at the people and events that have made our club so special.

In the club's 50th Year, research was begun into the earlier history, this has continued and is still ongoing, using the club documents and making contact with earlier members for their stories. In the 60th year posters were produced and displayed throughout the year highlighting special events and people. These are now available for members and visitors to read in our new clubhouse at YMCA.

Comments are welcome please contact us if you have a story to tell about SWSC past history.

South Windermere Sailing Club was founded in 1961 by a group of keen sailors. Many founder members had caravans on the site at Fell Foot Park so spent their weekends and holidays sailing together and enjoying friendly competition. The children played 'Swallows and Amazons', the Manager of Fell Foot Park was a boat-builder, using the old buildings for his forge and workshops, and the idea of a sailing club based at the South end of Windermere was born.

Enjoyment of 'messing about in boats' and keen competition have been the foundation of over 60 years of club sailing. Many of the races in our weekly programme and our ethos of friendly competition were first established in these early years, together with working parties for our club that relies on volunteer members to keep the club running.

We are proud of our heritage and some of the Juniors we have nurtured have then gone on to win National and International competitions in their early adulthood.

Browse through our articles and keep an eye on this history section for further articles:

• The early days of the Club
  
• Founder member of SWSC Norman Dyer
• Bernard Rhodes - the character behind our club
• The establishment of the clubhouse at Fell Foot in 1964
• A lighter picture of SWSC's history
• Trevor Gore National OK Champion 1982-87
• John Derbyshire OBE, OK National Dinghy Champion, Olympic Coach, member of SWSC from 1969

Last updated 12:05 on 16 February 2024