Contributions by Graham and Janet Thomas, Richard Noble,
Ron Austen, Bill Hewett, Ronnie Vaughan and Kym Leatt.

Boats

Forelands

Racing

Safety Boats

Dinghy Park

Prominent Members

Broadstairs Sailing Club was first conceived in September 1935 when Harry Arthur Dipple met and discussed the question of a town sailing club with Archibald Robert Boult.
Further meetings were held on 5th January 1936, and 30th May 1936, and the Officers of the club were appointed. Some racing took place in the summer of 1936 but it was not until 1937 that racing really got underway and a programme organised. By then Mr Dipple had arranged the purchase of five one-class boats which were built by Cooper’s of Conyer. They were 14’ open boats of Bermudan rig and had a very good performance; we also had about eight handicap boats, ranging from a 27’ Naval Whaler, ‘Wanderer’, ketch rigged and owned by Jim Cole, Terry Wooster and George bailey, to a number of open 10’ and 12’ dinghies, mostly gunter and gaff rigged. ‘Freelance’ was owned by Geoff Miskin, and later by Jim Cole. ‘Alert’ was owned by Jack Croom.

The original annual membership of the club was one Guinea, or by arrangement not less than 1/- (5 pence), and life membership was five Guineas. Harbour dues in 1935 were 7/6 per annum (37 ½ pence). We have been fortunate that our membership has been mainly local residents and an important leisure pursuit in the town.

When the club was first formed we didn’t have a clubhouse and used to meet in the Droit office adjoining the café opposite the Tartar Frigate. After the war the Committee met in the backroom of the Crown Inn, which was run at the time by the father of Club member Norman Smith. The first Clubhouse was a large wooden hut in the garden of the Esplanade Hotel (now the site of Copperfield Court). We acquired this and started a bar in 1948.

In 1951 a loft above a garage in Alexandra Road became available and with a lot of hard work put in by Club members it became quite an attractive Clubhouse and bar. A particular memory of interest was the rather old sofa, and it soon became accepted that if a male and female member were often found to be occupying it, then a collection for a wedding present would eventually be made!
Throughout the years, the club has had a good number of matrimonial successes.

Our present clubhouse, in Harbour Street was acquired in 1957, first rented from Broadstairs Council and eventually purchased for £16,000. A great deal of work has been put in [and continues to be put in… see Refit] by members to achieve the pleasant and functional state that we enjoy today. In 1927 the property was known as the Chinese Lantern Café and a murder was committed there, a newspaper clipping telling reporting it is framed in the bar. As a result the building is said to be haunted.

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“My own boat was ‘Mitzi’ which was 14’ long, gunter rigged and three quarter decked. I bought her for £10 from Len Warner, Jim Cole and Charlie Goodwin. I also had two partners, one of which was Janet Humphrey whose father, after the war, became Rear, then Vice Commodore. At that time the majority of boats had no buoyancy and, of course, no self-bailers; crews virtually never wore life jackets if they could swim, and we did not have safety boats. Beating to windward in a breeze the open boats continually scooped up the sea, and in these conditions the crews chief function was to bail the water out. ‘Mitzi’ sailed very well, and we raced it with some success until it met its end late in 1938, when it broke away from its moorings in Broadstairs Harbour and was virtually wrecked.

“After the war, I bought the 12’ open dinghy ‘Albatross’, but it did not sail all that well, and in 1948 I got a Cooper, built at Conyer, called ‘Sashay’. By then the Cooper had become known as the Kent Class and were also sailed at Margate, Herne Bay and Whitstable. I bought ‘Sashay’ at Herne Bay, and Jock Douglas helped me sail it back to Broadstairs. There were frequent interclub races between Whitstable, Herne Bay, Minnis Bay, Margate and Broadstairs, and many members from these clubs attended all their annual Dinner and Dances.

“By 1952 the 14’ National Merlin Rocket class had been formed and I bought ‘Rona’, and as they were rather faster than the Kent class they were raced separately, although the Kent class owners had done their best to improve performance to compete with the Merlin Rockets. The very heavy iron centre plates were replaced with wooden ones and rubber strips fitted along the keel either side of the centre plate slot to reduce turbulence when the plate is up. Also, the solid wooden masts were replaced with hollow ones to take the halyards and reduce windage. Rigging screws were also fitted to the shrouds and forestay in place of the old hemp lanyards, as they were safer as the season progressed and could be set up more accurately. Plywood foredecks or canvas dodgers were also fitted to reduce the time the crew spent bailing in strong winds or choppy seas. At one time there were up to 18 Merlin Rockets, and the turn out for racing was usually twelve or more.

“In 1954 I changed ‘Rona’ for another Merlin rocket ‘Windswept’ which was a lovely boat to sail with wide rolled in side decks, self bailers, plenty of buoyancy and good Terylene sails. These were as opposed to the Egyptian cotton of the old days which, when new, had to be carefully stretched to their marks in light winds on a number of fine summer days. To avoid mildew, cottons sails also had to be rinsed in freshwater after sailing and, occasionally, ironed.”

Also in 1954, the Snipe class became established at Broadstairs Sailing Club. John Bowden and Audrey Tucker each bought one in 1951 and the large heavy boats were well suited to sea conditions at Broadstairs and the class flourished. Snipes gave excellent racing, reaching their peak of twenty-two boats in 1959 and remaining a strong class for many years.

Mirrors established a class in 1968 and were very popular with the junior members. For many years from 1970 there were more than twenty-five, with their peak of 33 in 1977.

“By 1969 the Merlin Rocket class had declined and was finally transferred to the Handicap class. I sold ‘Windswept’ and bought the Fireball ‘Minouchi’. The fireball fleet was a strong one for many years and by 1977 had risen to 22 boats, and provided excellent racing with plenty for the crew to do as they had to trapeze and set the spinnaker on reaches and runs. ‘Minouchi’ was my last boat and I parted with her in 1983, since then I have become used to being simply a spectator, I suppose I can’t complain as, apart from the war years, I had been racing at Broadstairs for 47 years.”

1988 saw Contenders introduced to the club. From the initial three, these high-performance, single-handed, trapeze boats rose in number to reach a peak of 13 in 1992.

Lasers have been with the club for a good many years; we started with a few in 1975, had a class established in 1982. This small lively boat copes remarkably well with conditions at Broadstairs given a reasonably skilled helmsman. The Laser class remains to this day, the relatively recent availability of smaller rigs, the Radial in particular, opened this class up to many of our younger or lighter sailors and provided a next step for the juniors coming out of Toppers.

In the late 90’s Andy ‘Tig’ Temple and Tim Seward clubbed together and brought an International 14 to the clubs racing. After a season they swapped the asymmetric development class boat for an asymmetric one-design class, the Laser 5000. The introduction of this exciting class saw some other of the Contender sailors clubbing together to sail these very high performance, double handed, trapeze boats.

Recently with many of our younger sailors having new families ready to get out in boats, a healthy Miracle class now sails regularly. This medium performance, easy to sail, boat has become a platform for bringing younger members onto the water before they get old enough to move into their own Topper, and gives excellent racing for all those that take part.

The present day state of the racing fleet at Broadstairs predominantly sees classes of Lasers, Miracles and Toppers. The club still has a healthy set of three handicap fleets, ‘Slow’, ‘Fast’ and ‘Asymmetric’, with boats ranging from the sedate pace of Dave Ellis’ Comet, to the comfort of Mick and Linda Lawrence’s Topper Sport 14 to the incredibly quick RS 800 of Dave Adams and Peter Noble. This last year [2002] has seen the introduction of three Laser 2000’s to the club racing giving rise to the addition of special courses for the boats with asymmetric spinnakers, and perhaps a new class on the way.

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In the search for a suitable one class boat for Broadstairs Sailing Club, Bill Hewett, who was secretary for some years, and later became Vice Commodore from 1957 to 1960, decided on an American design originally called a Curlew, the boat was renamed a ‘Foreland’ by the club. Bill visited some 20 boat builders along the Essex and north Kent coast and eventually gave the order to Seacraft at Leigh-on-Sea as they had suitable timber and were prepared to build at the right price, including mast, rigging and sails.
To maintain some link to their origins Bill proposed that they should all be named after birds, especially seabirds. All but two owners did this and they were Harry Ward who named his ‘Little Audrey’ thought to be a compliment to his wife, and Commander Chamberlain who called his Foreland ‘Sioux’ after a tribal class destroyer on which he had served.
By 1948 the Foreland Class had become well established with nine boats built through the enthusiasm of Bill Hewett. He had great drive and had searched around for nine people who he thought could afford to part with £100, as that was the cost of a new Foreland.

Upon completion by Seacraft, Bill and his crew sailed and rowed the first boat back to Broadstairs. Due to the lack of wind it took two days including an overnight stop at Harty Ferry on the Isle of Sheppey, and they rowed for more than 10 hours – not easy in a Foreland! His crew was Doug Coleman who, following Mr Dipple’s death in 1954, became Commodore until 1961. His other crew was his brother Peter as far as Harty Ferry and Fred Smith from there onwards. The total distance was 43 miles.

The Forelands were ideal for our conditions, as they had to be kept on moorings and took the ground well, often in heavy surf during Southerly gales. By 1961 twenty-four Forelands had been built, many of them locally at Broadstairs. They were of tremendous value to the club in getting members sailing. In those days there were always plenty of young people anxious to sail, and the Forelands provided a good training ground as they had a crew of three, the third of which didn’t need to know much about sailing. For some years there were so many people wanting to become Junior members of the club that numbers had to be limited.

With the ravages of time and the conditions in which they were kept afloat on the moorings the Foreland fleet slowly diminished and finally ceased to exist in 1993.

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Racing

Laying the buoys for our racing courses was a problem, as the present large plastic inflatable buoys were not then available. A solution was found by Dougie Tomlinson who got hold of some ex RAF aircraft wing fuel drop tanks. With the assistance of a few members he cut them in half, inserted one end of a mooring chain and a fair amount of concrete, to make them float upright, and joined the two halves together with fibreglass cloth and resin gel, and two or three coats of this made a strong watertight joint.

These buoys had to be laid at the start of the season and left in position until the autumn, because of their size they were moored with large concrete concave sinkers, also made by Dougie to ensure they stayed in position. North, East, South and Distance marks were laid and because of the weight involved master fisherman and member Jack Croom, was called upon with his motor boat ‘Perceverence’, and a few members would put them out. Because they were left out permanently their positions had to be established on Admiralty charts. Racing courses were triangular round the three buoys or up and down the coast between North and South and the direction to give a windward start. We also had a series of long course races, going round the Longnose Buoy off Foreness Point or the Quern off Ramsgate Harbour.”

Another problem was the operation of the Squarehead during racing, this used to be done in a small roped off area at the end of the jetty. Member E.F. Warner, who was known throughout the club as ‘Puffin’ after the name of his Foreland, found a solution. Before and after the war, a canvas roof and sides covered the wooden structure on the jetty for Uncle Mack and his Minstrels to perform in the summer. Eventually, in 1962, the council added a wooden roof and at this point ‘Puffin’ Warner built a raised starters base under the roof complete with a veranda along the front that gave a good view over the racing courses. This became known as “Puffins Perch”. The race officer and his helpers put in long periods on duty, often two – four hours at a time, sometimes in cold, windy or wet weather. “Puffins Perch” was a very welcome addition giving them shelter and more room to operate.
In 1981, the wooden structure was again rebuilt and a new ”Puffins Perch” was created with it With the clubs inflatable racing marks, today’s race officer can choose the course to be sailed to suit the prevailing conditions and the type of boats racing. This is of course a very responsible position and the job of positioning the marks by patrol boat VHF radio, starting the various classes and timing each boats finishing time, is not something to be taken on lightly. In recent times, ex-Commodore George Richardson was race officer for a good many years, the role now currently belonging to Ted Temple. Comment cannot be made of race starting without mention of the invaluable assistance given to race officers by George Overton as Time Keeper. Now an octogenarian, George can still be found manning the stopwatches atop “Puffin’s Perch” on race days.

One of our pre war members who raced in the Cooper/Kent Class with very considerable success was Peter Styles who also had an Essex One Design which he raced with the Royal Temple Yacht Club at Ramsgate, and had many wins. The Essex One Designs were also raced at the Margate Yacht Club and for Burnham Week, the first week of September. The boats were about 18’, three quarter decked, and for their size were good sea boats. Many sailed their boats to Burnham and dinghy sailors from Broadstairs were often invited to help make up their three-man crew.

“The route across would usually be inside the Margate Sands to the Whitstable Street buoy, then across towards Southend, and if arrival could be timed to cross Maplin Sands about one hour before high water springs we would go through the Havengore lifting bridge into the Roach, and then join the Crouch about 3 miles to the East of Burnham. Apart from the very shallow water over the Maplin Sands, it is a Naval firing range and prior permission had to be obtained to cross to Havengore. If this route wasn’t available then a 20 mile longer route had to be taken down the West and East Swin channels, round the Whitaker beacon and into the Whitaker Channel, and on into the crouch, about 45 miles from Margate.
A shorter route is to go north from the Longnose Buoy and into the North Edinburgh Channel and take the rather tortuous route following the buoys round the long sandbanks, which run NE to SW and dry out, to the Whitaker Beacon. At low tide there are many seals lying along these sandbanks. This route is about 40 miles and after the war there were many steamers using these channels and although the ‘Rule of the Road’ is that steam gives way to sail, they were greatly hampered by draught, and if one was seen to be on a steady bearing it was best to take early avoiding action.

On one occasion we were dismasted in the first race due to a shroud giving way. This was before the days of stainless steel standing rigging and the galvanised wire had to be carefully maintained to avoid such problems. It would have been quite a problem if this had happened whilst crossing the estuary when we were in fact caught in quite a windy thunderstorm.”

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Sailing dress in those days was canvas shoes, shorts and anorak, as it was possible, if necessary, to swim in these until rescued by another dinghy or perhaps a passing motor boat. Another member, Jock Douglas, had a number of boats at different times, all of about 19’ and with sail, but also with an outboard engine and he would follow the fleet around if conditions were doubtful, and he effected many a rescue.

By 1956 it was decided that the club should no longer rely solely on such members as Jock Douglas to use his boat for the safety of our racing member, and our first safety boat, ‘Cynara’, was acquired. It was a small white painted boat with a Seagull outboard engine and was also used as a tender to the Foreland fleet.

In 1958 Club member and boat builder, John Madgwick, built our first purpose built safety boat ‘Mayday’, which was a 15’ hard chine bass boat, and was powered by a 4 HP Seagull engine. It was painted bright yellow and because of its limited manoeuvring ability it was known as the ‘Yellow Peril’! It was kept on moorings alongside the jetty inside the line of Foreland moorings. Its engine and gear, such as anchor, tow ropes, paddles etc., were kept in ‘P’ store and had to be man handled up and down the jetty’s vertical ladders before and after every race. This boat gave good service until 1963.

After a long and heated AGM, held in the Pavilion because of the anticipated large attendance, it was decided to look for a more powerful boat capable of towing a Foreland in difficulties against the tide. It was decided to buy an ex Trinity House 18’ boarding boat, and one was purchased when it was laid up in Dover Harbour.

It was towed by road in a rather ‘hairy’ manner on Dickie Lockyear’s ex RAF bomb transporter, and deposited in the store behind the Amusement Arcade at the top of Harbour Street. One working party overhauled and painted the hull and superstructure and a second team of mechanically interested members stripped and reconditioned the power unit which was an inboard 10 HP Morris Vedette, the marine version of the early Morris 1000 car engine, which was fitted with a water cooled heat exchange unit, and a forward, neutral and reverse drive gearbox. This boat served us well and about 1966 the cabin was removed to give a larger working platform, and the navigation lights were taken off, and after being lovingly restored by Ted Temple they now grace the Wardroom Bar.

In 1972 it was decide to replace ‘Trinity House’ by another ex-Trinity House boarding boat and the choice was ‘Guidette’. It was obtained from Whitstable harbour where it had been used as a pilot boat and was powered by an 8 HP air cooled Lister diesel engine, but was only used for one season before being replaced by the new generation of fibre glass boats.

1973 saw the purchase of ‘Rescue One’ , it was an Island fibreglass 17’ dory with a cathedral hull, and built by Brian Cory of Deal. It was powered by a 25 HP Yamaha outboard engine and capable of 15 knots. With its relatively lightweight, it did not need to be kept on moorings and could be launched and recovered on its launching trolley by a reasonable party of racing members.

In 1980 another fibreglass Island 13’ Dory was bought, again built by Brian Cory of Deal, but its hull was of very light construction and by the end of one season its hull had cracked. Although repaired, it was considered unsuitable and was replaced in 1981 with an identical design, but with a heavy duty hull and powered by a 28 HP Yamaha outboard engine. In 1991 after 10 years service it was disposed of, and was replaced by a 13’ Narwhal rigid inflatable [boat, RIB] and this became our present ‘Patrol Two’ and was originally powered by a 30 HP Mariner outboard, though it now has a new 25 HP Yamaha 4 stroke outboard. The Yamaha outboard on ‘Safety One’ was also replaced by a 30 HP Mariner.

In 1989 the Club acquired ‘Safety Three’ which was a 5.1 metre RIB built by Tornado Boats and it was officially named ‘The Harry Dipple’ after our founder, by the Mayor of Broadstairs. For security reasons this boat was stored together with the trailer during the winter of 1994/5 in the Minnis Bay Sailing Club locked boat compound and, ironically, was stolen. It was valued in excess of £3500; it was a considerable loss to the Club. For a while we made do with the old ‘Safety One’before purchasing a new, bright orange, Nab 17’ fibreglass Dory with a new 35 HP outboard to replace it and become ‘Patrol One’ .
We just recently bought a new Tornado 5.1 RIB just like the previous ‘Harry Dipple’and fitted it with a new 50 HP 4 stroke Yamaha outboard. It‘s the new ‘Patrol Three’ and gives us our best performing boat to date.
[Ed. Note: The changes in name from ‘Rescue’ to ‘Safety’ to the current ‘Patrol’ reflects changes in definition from our ever more litigious society]

The following is a list of the names, mainly obtained from club handbooks, of members who have played a leading part in the servicing and manning of the Safety Boats and trust any omissions will be excused. They are in no particular order:

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In the early days we were considerably hampered by not having a dinghy park and all the boats had to be left on moorings, and boat trailers and launching trolleys were virtually non-existent. Most were open boats without fore or side decks, and in strong southerly winds would sometimes be swamped, and members would make frequent visits to the harbour to make sure that all was well. We were later allowed to park the small boats along the jetty facing the boat house, later still we constructed a compound on the beach below the boat-house, and inshore of the present launching ramp out of sandbags and the like, but this required constant attention.

Before the sea wall to the north of the jetty was built, the breaking seas used to wash across the neck of the jetty inshore of the boat house and wash the sand away. It was not until 1972, after the undercliff promenade had been built, that we eventually got our present dinghy park. Even this has not been without problems, as on three occasions during the winter months, we have lost the fencing due to heavy seas.
[A new design and construction for the fencing has meant that it no longer gets washed away, however a spring tide and strong Nor’ Easters will still bring members to the boat park to check all is well.]

The ramp, incidentally, was initially constructed by members of the Sailing Club and the Fishing Club, with the Martin Brothers taking a leading part. Its design and constructional principle was the work of John Martin. The angle of incline and length had to be such that it was gradual enough for a crew of two to be able to launch and recover a lightweight racing dinghy. As the depth of sand in this area could increase by around three feet in a very short period of time, and this in turn was removed from time to time by heavy machinery, the supports had to be strong and deep and the slope had to be usable in great differences in the height of the sand. All this has was achieved and the ramp is still the primary route to the beach today. The sand builds up in that area because from about two hours before until two hours after High Water the current in the bay runs in a clockwise direction and in strong NE winds the surf at the Preachers Knoll [Southerly] end of the bay picks up a lot of sand in suspension and as the current slows at the harbour [Northerly] end of the bay the sand drops.

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The club has also had a number of quite prominent members, and amongst the first was John Madgwick, who was a natural helmsman and won many races at Broadstairs and other clubs. This culminated in winning the UK Snipe Championship at the Medway Yacht Club in 1957, crewed by the author. He could have gone on to the Europeans which were in Barcelona that year, but decided it would be too costly. John Madgwick died, tragically at quite an early age, some time later in a motorcycle accident.

Rather better known was Ted Heath, now Sir Edward, who had become a member earlier in 1966. He started to sail with and used to crew for Gordon Knight who owned a Foreland, and helped teach Mr Heath the art of helming. In 1967 Mr Heath bought and sailed the Snipe ‘Blue Heather’ which he sold at the end of the summer and bought a fireball, ‘Blue Heather II’ one fo the first to have a fibreglass hull and built by the Chippendales. He sailed this boat through the summer of 1968 and as we all do with a demanding boat, he had the occasional swim following a capsize.
At the end of that summer he parted with the fireball and decided on a Sparkman and Stephens 34, ‘Morning Cloud’ and in 1969 started sailing in offshore races around the coast. In the winter of 1969/70 he took it to Australia and subsequently won the Sydney-Hobart race. In early 1971 he had ‘Morning Cloud II’ built, and at around 41’ it qualified and was eventually chosen to be one of four boats in the British Admirals Cup Team. By then Ted Heath had become Prime Minister and as elected captain, the British Team went on to win the Admirals Cup Series.

A highly successful member was David Derby. David was very skilled at tuning a boat, a good tactician and a first class helmsman. Along with his crew Chris Sherman (not a club member) David won the Mirror Class UK Nationals at Pevensey in August 1979.
With BSC member Chris Bishop as crew, David won the Mirror Europeans in July 1979 at Blackpool, and in the winter of 1979/80 they competed in the Mirror Worlds in Perth, Australia. In the highly competitive world fleet, they took first place and so became World Champions.
David Derby then turned his skills to the Fireball class. Together with Kym Leatt as crew, he won the UK Nationals at Torbay in 1981, and as a result went on to take part in the 1982 Fireball Worlds held at Frankston, Australia. The light winds in the mornings suited the British boats and David and Kym soon won a race in a fleet of seventy. The stronger afternoon winds suited teams from other countries including the hosts Australia. Their final result was a very commendable third overall.

Kym Leatt also took part in the 1984 Fireball Europeans held at Broadstairs, this time as a helmsman with Robert Smith as crew. Their final result was fourth overall in a strong fleet.

Our most successful member of late is Robert Sherrington. After sailing at Broadstairs in his Topper and then Laser very successfully he went on to compete with the Kent Schools Sailing Association (KSSA) and was very competitive on a national level. At Cambridge University he continued his winning ways as a member of the sailing team and after being a coach to the national youth squad, he has since competed on the world stage as a part of "Team England" Team Racing.

Broadstairs is still turning out excellent young sailors, Tim Ellis and Edward Cowell are both competing at a high level and we watch their achievements with interest.

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