CLUB REVIVAL
“What’s in it for me? Answer that satisfactorily and you’re heading in the right direction.” I’m sitting in the committee room of the Royal Torbay Yacht Club with current commodore Adrian Peach, and his still heavily involved predecessor, Bob Penfold. They’ve worked tirelessly to improve the fortunes of the club, metaphorically and literally. And this year those efforts have been formally recognised – in April the club was voted the RYA and Yachts & Yachting Yacht Club of the Year.
It’s a club with a fascinating history. In 1863 a group of gentlemen formed a social club called The Torbay and South Devon Club Company, purchasing premises on Beacon Terrace overlooking the harbour for £2,500. Torquay Yacht Club was formed 12 years later and granted an Admiralty Warrant to fly the defaced Blue Ensign. Later that year a Royal Warrant was granted and it became the Royal Torquay Yacht Club. A decade on, the two clubs merged and the Royal Torbay Yacht Club was born, holding its first regatta a year later.
The club has held an enviable record for yacht racing events ever since - America’s Cup trials in 1934, with six J-Class yachts racing in the bay a year later. The Coronation Regatta in 1937 hosted 292 yachts and 1948 saw the Olympic sailing regatta held in Torbay. More recently, the club hosted the UK stopover of
