Over the years, the club has expanded and now owns and operates five yachts based on the River Hamble near the world famous sailing waters of the Solent and Southampton. It also charters yachts on the Clyde near Glasgow for Scottish and Northern based Partners to sail.
The yachts
The club owns five yachts: Sabeema III, a five year old 36ft Hallberg-Rassy, Ann Speed V and Deborah Anne II, two year old sister ships (both Hallberg-Rassy 34's) and Norama IV and Jeroma V, again sister ships at 29ft and around ten years old. All yachts are kept in great condition, and part of any sailing trip is some boat maintenance to help the club's full time Bosun to keep everything shipshape.
The names of the yachts are all linked to the Partnership. Besides Sabeema III being named after the Founder's wife Sarah Beatrix Mary; Ann Speed V is the fifth yacht named after John Spedan Lewis's nanny; Deborah Anne II is the second yacht named after the third Chairman Peter Lewis's wife. The other two yachts Norama IV and Jeroma V are associated with the second Chairman's wife and Geoffrey Snagge's wife.
Getting sailing
No previous experience of sailing is necessary, as all our Partner/ex-Partner skippers are fully RYA qualified. But we do warn Partners, they might just get hooked on sailing!
The main stay of the sailing club's activity is one or two day sails where groups of Partners, usually from the same branch, sail together with a Partnership skipper either in and around the Solent and Isle of Wight or from the Clyde in Scotland.
A typical weekend involves a safety briefing, a good look around the yacht before heading off for a sail where each crew member can get as involved as they like - be that pulling every rope going or taking it all in and enjoying the real pleasure of sailing, being in the open and feeling the wind in their hair! If the crew is on for a two day sail, then the yacht will moor up or anchor for the night, often with the opportunity to go ashore, maybe even to the bar at Brownsea Castle, before heading back onto the yacht to sleep. In short, the yacht becomes the Partners' for the trip and the choice of what they want to do is entirely theirs?
View the Now Voyagers image gallery.
Training
For anyone wanting to take their sailing further, the club is also a recognised Royal Yachting Association (RYA) sailing school. Partners can work their way through the RYA syllabus to train and ultimately become a skipper. There are over 50 Partners who have come through this training and they are the ones who take the yachts out. There are also a series of shore based training sessions including first aid, diesel and radar.
Sailing Abroad
Whilst one or two day sailing is the norm, the club ventures into foreign waters each year for a summer cruise. During a series of weeks crews take over from each other and in recent years have sailed as far afield as Sweden, Spain and Ireland. They also regularly take a run down to the West Country and the Channel Islands. The club holds a number of events on shore each year plus a dinghy week at Brownsea Island and its own regatta in the Autumn held in the Solent where representatives from other clubs come together and race - usually around 30 yachts.
