Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
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The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club is a
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
watersports club for
sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...
,
rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...
and
paddling Paddling with regard to watercraft is the act of manually propelling a boat using a paddle. The paddle, which consists of one or two blades joined to a shaft, is also used to steer the vessel. The paddle is not connected to the boat (unlike in r ...
.


History

In 1849 the ''Victoria Regatta Club'' was formed and later absorbed into the ''Hong Kong Boating Clu''b which, in 1889, was in turn merged into the ''Hong Kong Corinthian Sailing Club''. At the General Meeting of the Hong Kong Corinthian Sailing Club held in October 1893 a resolution was passed that application should be made to the Admiralty for permission to call the Club "The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club" and to fly the blue ensign with a distinctive mark on the flag. A warrant was granted by the Lords of the Admiralty on 15 May 1894. Early members were British only with military personnel on the board. Until the 1950s membership was exclusively reserved for Europeans. Women were not allowed to be full members until 1977 when Patricia Loseby became the first female member. Today, membership is open to all. Unlike other organisations in Hong Kong that had been granted a
royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...
, the club retained the "Royal" prefix in its title after the
handover In cellular telecommunications, handover, or handoff, is the process of transferring an ongoing call or data session from one channel connected to the core network to another channel. In satellite communications it is the process of transfe ...
to China in 1997, although a majority of its members supported a motion to remove it, this fell short of the 75 percent majority required by two votes.A Battle Royal Rocks Imperial Yacht Club
''
Christian Science Monitor Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
'', 10 June 1996
Subsequently, the commodore at the time suggested that the club should adopt a "one country, two systems" principle as to the name, this being the principle by which Deng Xiao Ping, described the basis underlying the reunification of Hong Kong with the Peoples Republic of China. At a Special General Meeting of members the proposal was enthusiastically adopted. The club's English name remained "The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club", and the club's Chinese title is simply "Hong Kong Yacht Club", without the use of the term 皇家 ''Wong Ka'', meaning "Royal".


Facilities

The main buildings of the club are located by
Victoria Harbour Victoria Harbour is a natural landform harbour in Hong Kong separating Hong Kong Island in the south from the Kowloon Peninsula to the north. The harbour's deep, sheltered waters and strategic location on South China Sea were instrumental in ...
on the former
Kellett Island Kellett Island is a former island of Victoria Harbour, off East Point in Hong Kong. It is now connected to Hong Kong Island at Causeway Bay following land reclamation in 1969. It is located in Wan Chai District. Facilities The main bu ...
, now part of
Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is an area and a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern and the Wan Chai districts. It is a major shopping, leisure and cultural centre in Hong Kong, with a number of major shopping centres. Th ...
following land reclamation, and forming the western boundary of the
Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter is a typhoon shelter located in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, between the Hong Kong Island entrance of Cross-Harbour Tunnel on Kellett Island and Island Eastern Corridor. It was the first typhoon shelter in Hong Kong. It is ...
. The club moved there in 1938, and the clubhouse was built in International Modern style in 1939 on the foundations of the old Naval Powder Magazine.History of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club
/ref> It was designed by architects G.G. Wood and J.E. Potter of
Leigh & Orange Leigh & Orange Ltd ( Chinese: 利安, formerly known as 李柯倫治), founded in Hong Kong in 1874, is an international architectural and interior design practice. The group has a total of 550 staff and operates through its headquarter ...
.Consultancy Agreement No. NEX/2213. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Study for Shatin to Central Link – Hung Hom to Admiralty Section
Appendix 4.1 Cultural Heritage Baseline Report
pp.4–10, 78. MTR Corporation Limited
The new premises were formally opened on 26 October 1940 by the Acting Governor, Lieutenant General Sir E. F. Norton. The building has been listed as a Grade III historic building since 22 January 2010. In addition to Kellett Island, the club has two other clubhouses: * on Middle Island * The Shelter Cove, in
Hebe Haven Hebe Haven, also known as Pak Sha Wan (), is a harbour on the south shore of Sai Kung Peninsula in Hong Kong. The harbour has one opening to Port Shelter in its south. The Pak Sha Wan Peninsula, spanning south from Tsiu Hang () hugs the Hebe H ...
, Sai Kung District


Former headquarters in North Point

For 30 years prior to moving to Kellett Island, the main buildings of the club were located at No. 12
Oil Street Oil Street () is a street in Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island near Fortress Hill station. Buildings along the street include the Newton Hotel (closed on 25 August 2015), AIA Tower, the former headquarters and clubhouse of the Royal Hong Ko ...
, in
North Point North Point is a mixed-use urban area in the Eastern District of Hong Kong. Located in the northeastern part of Hong Kong Island, the area is named after a cape between Causeway Bay and Tsat Tsz Mui that projects toward Kowloon Bay. Locat ...
, then a waterfront location, before
reclamation Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back". It may refer to: * Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds * Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid ...
. The former headquarters and clubhouse in Oil Street, built in the Arts and Crafts style, was officially opened on 21 March 1908 by the then Governor, Sir
Frederick Lugard Frederick John Dealtry Lugard, 1st Baron Lugard (22 January 1858 – 11 April 1945), known as Sir Frederick Lugard between 1901 and 1928, was a British soldier, mercenary, explorer of Africa and colonial administrator. He was Governor of Hong ...
. The building was subsequently used as a garage, government staff quarters until 1998, as a storehouse of the
Antiquities and Monuments Office The Antiquities and Monuments Office (AMO) was established in 1976 under the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance to protect and preserve Hong Kong's historic monuments. Housed in the Former Kowloon British School, the AMO is responsible for ide ...
until late 2007. The buildings now house the Oi! arts center that aims to promote
visual arts The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile art ...
in Hong Kong by providing a platform for
art exhibition An art exhibition is traditionally the space in which art objects (in the most general sense) meet an audience. The exhibit is universally understood to be for some temporary period unless, as is rarely true, it is stated to be a "permanent exhi ...
s, forums and other art-related activities. The Former Clubhouse of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club has been listed as a Grade II historic building since 1995.List of the Historic Buildings in Building Assessment (as of 21 September 2012)


See also

* Hebe Haven Yacht Club * List of International Council of Yacht Clubs members


References


External links


Official Site
* Liu, Yee-shan, Louisa
"Redevelopment of the Hong Kong Yacht Club at Kellett Island"
1998,
University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the f ...
* Heritage Impact Assessment on the Former Clubhouse of Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club at 12 Oil Street: ''Vol. 1''
Part 1Part 2

Part 3

''Vol. 2''
{{coord, 22.284411, 114.182121, display=title Royal yacht clubs 1894 establishments in Hong Kong Sports organisations of Hong Kong Causeway Bay Eastern District, Hong Kong Organisations based in Hong Kong with royal patronage Gentlemen's clubs in Hong Kong