Club History
PDSC / CHYF History
Port Dinorwic Sailing Club was formed on 23rd June 1947, at a “public meeting of yacht and boat owners” convened in the Memorial Hall, “to consider the advisability to form a sailing club in Port Dinorwic”.
Twenty three people attended the meeting and unanimously decided to go ahead. A subscription of 5/- per member and the formation of the rules and committees went rapidly forward.
The very first club race was held at 2pm on Saturday July 5th and, in the absence of any premises, was started from the shore on Beach Road. The first racing protest occurred soon after. The protest committee presented their findings with the recommendation that the club buy a copy of the YRA (Yacht Racing Association) Rules.
That the club was a village club cannot be stressed enough. 22 of the 23 original members lived in Felinheli, the majority within 300 yards of the club’s present site. The first commodore was Mr. O.T. Williams, the Dinorwic Quarry Manager, who was an offshore sailor of note (“Falcon”, 8-metre and “Kyria”, 6-metre), and the other officers were village residents.
The growth of membership was very rapid, with 165 members at the start of the 1948 season – and still no clubhouse! Land was rented from the Quarry (for a “peppercorn rent” of 2/- a year) and the first clubhouse, an ex-RAF hut from Valley, was erected during 1948 (cost £75). This was replaced by another building in 1970 at a cost of around £9000, assisted by a grant from the Gwynedd Council Education Committee, and this was replaced by the current building in 2003 at a cost of £225,000, aided by a Lottery grant of £155,000.
The first racing boats were a mixture of dinghies (“nondescripts”) from 10ft to 18ft long. In 1949 three identical (?) 16-footers were commissioned from P. Waters in Appledore and these founded the Port Dinorwic One Design or 16-foot Class. These were the club’s main class up to 1956 and the racing of these clinker dinghies has provided much of the club’s folk-lore. One of these, the “Gypsy”, originally owned by Dr. Rowlands, raced by Eric Owen, and restored by Emyr Roberts, was proudly displayed at the 50th Anniversary celebrations.
After 1956 the PD One Design sailors moved into newer classes, and the following 40 years saw classes including Albacores, Fireflies, GP 14s, Enterprises, Lasers, Optimists and a medley of fast trapeze dinghies, including Hornets. More recently these have been joined by RS Teras, RS Fevas, RS 400s, Toppers, Solos, Laser Vagos and the emerging technology of the foiling craft (in the Wazp and windsurfer).
In the keelboats, a class of Silhouettes gave way to Scimitars in the 1970s. More recently, the keelboats have been replaced by cruising boats, these generally have raced in our occasional long-distance races.
Over the years the club has competed in many Open Events, the Wilson Trophy, the 24 Hour race and national team racing series, with, of course, varied levels of success.
Members of the club have travelled throughout the UK, Europe and around the world racing all types of boats and always bring credit to their home club, with many National and World Champions.
Before the 1980s, if you wanted to learn how to sail, the standard course of action was to volunteer as a crew for someone who had a boat. Often this would lead to making or purchasing your own dinghy and training someone else up in turn. In 1987 the club invested in the dory for safety and ran 8-week learn to sail courses with Plas Menai Toppers. We were then supported by the then Welsh Yachting Association (RYA Cymru Wales) to obtain 6 (amateur built) Optimists to run 8-week junior beginner courses.
In 2003, part of the Lottery grant for the new clubhouse was used to get 4 new Topper dinghies and a RIB safety boat, enabling us to expand the training to youth and adult learners.
In 2010 the club became an RYA Recognised Training Centre leading to certified training and access to grants for another RIB and Optibats as well as better systems for more formal training and sailing.
In 2013 Pirates was launched. This was an innovative scheme encouraging whole families to sail, with the emphasis on fun, including non-sailing parents and juniors too young to do formal beginner training. It was aimed specifically to support the demographic of the club at the time, which had a lot of young families with sailing parents. This, in addition to the introduction of more social sailing activities as well as race training has led to an influx of new families joining the club in recent years.
In 2021 the Club was honoured by the RYA and Yachts & Yachting to be recognised as Welsh area winners of “Club of the Year” going on to win the “Heart of the Community” award and the “UK Club of the Year”.
At an extraordinary general meeting on 30th September 2023 it was decided to incorporate Port Dinorwic Sailing Club Clwb Hwylio Y Felinheli to a Company Limited by Guarantee CHYF PDSC Limited.
Whilst many things in the world of sailing have changed since the club’s conception, Port Dinorwic Sailing Club still holds true to the ideals of its founders – that the club should provide sailing for all types of boats, that all people should be eligible for membership, that the club be managed as a sailing club and that the club’s aim is to promote the sport of sailing for all.