French fancies

The month of February has had a distinctly French theme for us, mainly due to the ISMA meeting held in Paris at the start of the month. As our archivist had been invited to present in person at the meeting, we took advantage of the opportunity to go in search of some new material to add to the archive while we were there. Paris did not disappoint, and we came away with same very special original material following visits to two very special yacht clubs.

Archivist Jenny presented an update to ISMA members.

Our first visit took us to the library of the Yacht Club de France (YCF) where the ISMA meeting was held. This club sits in the middle of Paris, just off the Place de l’Etoile, and its origins reach back to 1867. Crucially for the Metre classes, members of the YCF were present at the very earliest discussions around the introduction of the International Rule, linking the club to the Six Mere Class since its inception in 1906.

When we visited the club in spring of 2022 we came away with scans of material from the YCF library that illustrate that early link. We have been quietly working away to catalogue these records, which can now be seen on our site here.

This time, however, our archivist was on the trail of something different altogether. In amongst the many books and publications, she had spotted items relating to the celebrated French yachtswoman- and YCF member- Virginie Hériot.

The library at the YCF was our treasure-filled office for two days.

We discovered that the library was home to a wonderfully rich archive of original letters, telegrams, diaries and photographs, all documenting the life and death of this remarkable woman. Over the next few months you can expect to see a selection of these original records appearing on the site, all relating to Hériot and her love of boats including her Six Metres, all named Petite Aile.

Virginie Hériot archives at the YCF.

After the delight of unearthing such wonderful Six Metre treasures in the centre of Paris, we headed out the following day to another equally warm and welcoming club, although very different in character.

The Cercle de la Voile de Paris (CVP) sits directly on the banks of the Seine at Les Mureaux. With an even longer history than YCF, its origins dating back to 1858, the CVP has been instrumental in many significant moments in the story of sailing in France. These include introducing the Star class to Europe, hosting the 1924 Olympic sailing, creating the One Ton Cup (originally the “Coupe Internationale du Cercle de la Voile de Paris”), and, critically for us, being early adopters of the Six Metre Class and holding perhaps the earliest international racing in the class in the world.

The 19th century wooden clubhouse of the CVP stands on the banks of the Seine.

You can imagine that the visit was eagerly anticipated. While the trip was only a few hours long we came away very happy indeed. Our host Pascale had prepared in advance, digging out everything she could find relating to the early history of Six Metres. After a busy couple of hours of digitisation we now have a selection of photographs and documents that we will be able to share with you soon. We also have the hand-written results of, we suspect, the first international Six Metre race held anywhere in the world in June 1907. If anyone knows of any earlier are we would love to know! All of the records will be catalogued and processed over the coming months and will be available for you to view on our website.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone at both YCF and CVP for their support and generosity towards the Six Metre archive. It is only with the generous help of organisations such as these who allow us to access and share their records that we can bring such wonderful treasures to you.

If you know of – or are connected to – any clubs that might have Six Metre archives tucked away in their libraries we would love to hear from you!