Wallasey Yacht Club is based in Hope Street, New Brighton, on the Wirral in Merseyside in the north west of England.
Founded in 1903, the club regularly sails on the River Mersey. The club’s burgee is a red dolphin on a blue background with a white cross.
The club mainly sails Seabird Half Rater class yachts but it also has some dinghy and offshore sailors.
WYC was originally called the Magazines Sailing Club and was named after an area of New Brighton.
From about 1900, an increasing number of boats of all shapes and sizes had started to make their appearance on the River Mersey, as the youths of the area adapted ships’ lifeboats, river gigs and small boats to take to the water.
They wanted to join a club but the two existing clubs in the area were felt to be too exclusive, and so it was decided to start the Magazines Sailing Club in 1903.
The new club had a small fleet consisting of 12 mixed boats: Comet, Constitution, Flora, Hypatia, Ivy, Markab, Mona, Naama, Rita, Dart, Cigarette and Gaunet.
The club prospered and in 1910, moved into its home in Hope Street, New Brighton where it has now been based for over 113 years.
In 1913, five Seabird Half Raters were acquired by club members, and class racing began.
Only the First World War brought the activity to a standstill when six of the 63 members, lost their lives.
In 1921, Wallasey Yacht Club was born when the town of Wallasey became a municipal borough and the Magazines decided to change its name.
And by 1925, there were 14 Half Raters, and the club was made class association representative for the Mersey area.
The Seabird Half Rater continues to flourish at Wallasey and members have used original boat building methods to repair, restore and rebuild several boats over the years.