Preserving yachting history

Clare Francis announces the launch of the National Yachting Archive

At the London Boat Show, yachtswoman and author Clare Francis, who is also President of the Association of Yachting Historians announced the formation of the National Yachting Archive to preserve sailing’s heritage.

This has been promopted by concerns about the loss of historically significant information.

The principle aims of this charity are:

- To promote the preservation of sailing’s heritage
- To establish a knowledge base of yachting heritage and provide public access
- To facilitate the presentation and display of yachting heritage at appropriate museums and other organisations
- To provide grants, bursaries and scholarships for those who would advance knowledge and understanding of yachting heritage

Yachting, in all its forms, has a long history of contributing to the social and economic
structure of Britain as a major sporting and recreational activity from the earliest days. The Archive will represent a broad definition of sailing including dinghy sailing and motor
boating as well as all the support industries.

The Archive originated from an initiative from the Royal Yacht Squadron with the National Maritime Museum which was never realised, but did lead to the formation of the
Association of Yachting Historians. It has been instigated now by a small group of voluntary enthusiasts who recognise the urgency needed to save material at risk. However, the project is currently unfunded, voluntary help will severely limit the scope of activities and there is a real need for professional input and a proactive approach to building the resource.

To support this, the Archive has been established as a membership-based charity
organisation, membership fees being used to further the work of the Archive and jointly
fund grant-aided projects which offer less than 100% support. Anyone who values our
heritage should be encouraged to join - there is a great deal of catching up to do, so
membership needs to build quickly.

The Archive is a virtual archive, in that it will be a web–based resource, identifying and
linking to information wherever it resides - clubs, classes, museums, businesses, media, etc.. By establishing it in this way, and by using on-line inputting, contributing organisations can share in the workload and benefit from a wider appreciation of their collections. Much material is not stored or catalogued to archival standards, so help and advice will be provided where necessary. In the longer term, it is intended to digitise material to facilitate easy access.

In addition, it is appreciated that there are a large number of private collections, many with no natural home once the originator has departed. Many of these contain valuable personal material that will illuminate the stories around the history and a special effort will be made to identify them. If organisations or individuals have material they would like to donate, the Archive will endeavour to find a suitable home.

The first research initiative is to collect oral histories - most sailors tend to go sailing rather than commit their knowledge and experiences to paper. Many people it would have been desirable to have interviewed are sadly no longer with us and there is a growing list of people that should be interviewed fairly soon. Support is urgently required to establish this capability.

The web site www.bnya.org.uk will provide fuller information. Parts of the web site are skeletal for the time being but will evolve quickly as it is populated with details of collections and relevant resources.