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Green Wyvern Yachting Club

Promoting cruising and ‘Broadsmanship’ on the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads in traditional River Cruiser class yachts. The club is dedicated to organising cruises on the Norfolk Broads and teaching young people from twelve years of age how to sail on traditional broads yachts. We are an RYA Training Centre and run cruises and training over Easter and the Summer.

Description
Pricing
Description

Each year the club runs cruises both in the summer and at Easter. Each cruise runs for a week Saturday to Saturday with the exception of Week 4 which ends on Friday. It’s a great opportunity to learn to sail a broads cruiser.The RYA Training Centre Logo

Sailing with the GWYC is about much more than just sailing. A Club cruise – where the training takes place – is also a holiday and an adventure. For some of the younger participants, it may well be their first time away from home and is usually their first time aboard a yacht. As members pass through the club, they develop skills and responsibilities, gradually learning to teach others – and feed them – and to take control of the boats for themselves. For more information on RYA training see RYA Training.

Note – you must be at least 12 years old to join the cruise weeks.

The Green Wyvern Yachting Club was founded in 1947 (some say 1946, but the first cruise was Easter 1947) by a pair of brothers who happened to be schoolmasters at separate schools in Leicester. They set out the foundations of a club which has taught generations of young people not only how to sail, but also how to co-exist with other people in a relatively small space through teamwork, tolerance and a good dollop of humour. People who have sailed with ‘The Wyvern’ have made lifelong friendships and come back year after year, seemingly for ever (our oldest active member is in his eighties!).

The club has provided sailing holidays on the Norfolk Broads since its inception, using the basic rules and scale of rank as laid down by Cecil and Bert Howard all those years ago. Initially, young people attend a week by invitation of the sailing secretary. We are an entirely voluntary organisation and wouldn’t be able, or willing, to cope with commercial numbers. However, we are into a recruitment drive at present, so should you feel that you, or your children, would enjoy a week afloat in traditional style then please contact the Secretary at the number given in the first instance. Successful completion of two weeks afloat (not necessarily concurrently) would then lead to election to membership and the freedom to sail without invitation, and access to the great community of Wyverns and the great camaraderie that goes with it.

The boats used are River Cruiser class yachts, typically pre-war wooden boats as seen in Coot Club. They are basic but comfortable, a bit like a scout camp on water.

We are affiliated to the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) and as such we also run training courses to provide RYA qualifications.

It is our belief that the safety of those we sail with is paramount and as such we provide buoyancy aids for all who sail with us. The skippers of the boats will be RYA Qualified Keelboat Instructors or Assistant Instructors and are CRB checked and first aid trained.

For those who enjoy sailing with the club and want to sail again (and again and again, as we did and we hope they will) and become members, we will train them in yachting skills, starting with the basic skills needed to act as crew, through the various modules in the National Sailing Scheme, and up to RYA instructor level, for those who wish to advance that far. See RYA Cruises on our website, for more information on our latest offerings.

Pricing

We are a volunteer, ‘not for profit’ club so we try to keep the fees as low as possible. The cost of sailing is £160 per person per week, which covers boat hire, insurance and running costs. For those wanting to achieve RYA certification, it also covers an RYA Logbook issued to you during your first cruising week as well as the cost of any certificates issued. If you lose your logbook we will provide a new one at the cost of £5.

There is a separate fee of £40 for food which is payable in cash to the Mate on your boat at the start of your week’s cruise. Note you should bring your own money for miscellaneous drinks and snacks.

Cruise fees are payable to the club in advance of your cruise (see booking forms for payment details). Bookings will be allocated on receipt of either the full payment or a deposit (£60 per week) with the balance to be paid by 11th of March for Easter and 1st of June for Summer – after this day the weekly fee is £180.