Weir Quay Sailing Club was formed on the 15th May 1966 when eighteen prospective members attended the inaugural meeting which was convened at Weir Quay and the Club’s constitution was modelled accordingly to the R.Y.A recommendations, but with local variations. From this inauspicious beginning, the Club organised itself and gained in strength. In 1967, twelve moorings were purchased for letting to members with cruising boats, so encouraging this side of the Club, and a social committee came into being. Dinghy racing began and the Club was recognised as such by the Royal Yachting Association. The Mirror dinghy was chosen as the Class racing boat although nowadays racing is mainly to handicap.
Club members organised themselves into working-parties and renovated Cleave hard, which served the lime kiln adjacent to Cleave Farm at Weir Quay, so that dinghies could be launched and recovered from small wheeled trailers. The Hard had been in existence for many years but was infrequently used by the public up to 1967 because of the poor state of the surface. A notice board was placed at the top by the local Authority.
In 1975 the Club work parties were engaged on constructing a natural stone facing to the river wall along the outer dinghy park. This work was arduous and hampered by the tidal waters of the Tamar also a barn-cum-cowshed and yard had been leased for a 30-year period for boat parking and equipment storage, with a view to turning it in to a Clubroom with dinghy park. This transformation began in 1976 with the help of a grant from the sports Council and a loan from the National Playing Fields Association which enabled toilets and changing facilities to be installed.
After the mammoth wall-building task, the next project was to install electric power to the Crew Room. and prepare plans for improvements to the facilities available to Club members. Toilets and showers were installed for both sexes together with improvements to the Clubhouse, costing over £12,000 and funded by members of the Club. In November 2007 the Clubhouse was completely rewired, again funded by club members.
In 1996 a “new” mooring barge was purchased, being a catamaran hull with a steel gantry, to facilitate the lifting and checking of Club moorings. This was launched in 1997, proving a popular addition to the volunteer mooring parties. For the racing events, we have the option of running an aluminium, dory safety boat or a plastic Jeanneau Newmatic 360 (funded by a bequest from a founder member), all cheerfully manned by trained volunteer crew.
Weir Quay Sailing Club has always endeavoured to encourage youngsters to learn to sail, around this period, annual team racing was organised between young crews from the Club and those of local schools. Although this arrangement has ceased, dinghy training for cadets and adults is held every Friday evening between the months of April and September. Although not a recognised RYA Training Centre, the club has qualified RYA dinghy instructors that will provide tuition to club members at these sailing sessions. The Club has amassed a fleet of eight sailing dinghies that are available for club members to use at a modest cost subject to signing an insurance disclaimer. The dinghies range from sedate family cruising boats, through plastic training and general purpose dinghies to a high performance 505.
