The Royal Thames Yacht Club has a proud heritage of yacht racing, in Great Britain and around the world, in different racing formats and ranging from Club events to Olympic level.

Our Racing Strategy can be summarised as follows:
·         Wider member participation in all forms of racing activities
·         Maintain and develop our position in team racing at national and international levels
·         Develop intra-Club racing against our reciprocal clubs

Our fleet of eight J80 yachts, is based at Queen Mary Reservoir, Staines, where we have use of the excellent facilities of Queen Mary Sailing Club. The J80s are used for fleet racing, team racing and match racing events from September through to May.

We also have a fleet of six J/70s, these are based at Shepards Wharf Marina in Cowes, and are available for charter from April through to October.

The Club sends teams to race against our reciprocal clubs and at other invitational regattas in the UK and overseas. We have raced in the British Virgin Islands, New Orleans, Newport RI, Seawanhaka (Long Island, USA), Monaco, Holland and other European locations, all in addition to "home" events on Dublin Bay, the Clyde, the Solent, and our base at QMSC.

Racing is open to all members, and as Captain of Racing I am keen to encourage as many as possible to take part. Events are graded in the following levels of skill and complexity:

Gold Level: International events requiring the highest level teams of skilled racers, e.g. BA Cup, Wilson Trophy, Lee Trophy etc.

Silver Level: An international or national event requiring medium/strong teams, e.g. Solent inter-club racing.

Bronze Level: A competitive event requiring a good set of skills, but one aimed at those members (any age) who are keen to improve their performance.

Club Level: An event for any age or ability, e.g. fleet racing in the J80s.
For our more mature members the following age classifications are applied at specific events:

Masters:  Helms over 45, crew over 40, e.g.  Southern Nichols Regatta organised by the Southern Yacht Club, New Orleans.

Grand Masters:  Helms over 55, crew over 50, e.g. Hinman Grand Masters, organised by New York Yacht Club at Newport, RI.

The Race Committee, chaired by the Captain of Racing, is made up of a team of hard working RTYC members with specific areas of responsibility, including organising regattas as event manager; race management; and umpiring, all done with the technical and logistic support of the Club's Sailing Office.

The Club has a full racing programme, and the website is the best source for up to date information and full details. Click here for the Racing Calendar

Racing is open to all Club members - please join in!