New Quay Yacht Club

New Quay Yacht Club 1956-2005

NQYC was established in the 1950s when a group of friends bought a new class of dinghy, the GP14, and decided to form a club. The GP14 class was raced regularly in New Quay for many years although it is now rare to see these dinghies in New Quay. The club now incorporates a highly competitive racing calendar for both cruisers, dinghies and has recently hosted several national competitions including the Laser Nationals and the Cherub Nationals. There is also a busy social calendar of dinners and activities.

Short History of New Quay

The village of New Quay, as we see it today, grew up almost wholly in the 19th century. However, its growth was set in motion by market forces in the last quarter of the 17 th century. That was a time of general increase in wealth after the restoration of Charles II, and ripples of this development were felt even in the remote parish of Llanllwchchaearn in which New Quay is situated. There were a number of long-established farms in the parish, some certainly here in the 16 th century and earlier, and security of tenure enabled the farmers to think of investing in ships and to build a ‘new key’ in the 1690s. Today it is known as Penpolion.

Typical cargoes were salt, lime and coal and there was a good deal of fishing with most farmers having part-shares in the fishing boats too. However, the first vessels owned here were bought elsewhere and it was not until the last quarter of the eighteenth century that New Quay had its own shipyards on the beaches at New Quay (where the Watersports Centre is now) and on Traethgwyn and Cei Bach.

Between 1779 and 1890 more than 200 ships were built at New Quay and not all for the coasting trade, but many going ‘deep-water’, that is all over the world, frequently to South America and to the Mediterranean.

New Quay was a boom town in the 19 th century and people were drawn here to settle by the good prospects it offered.

The pier, which is such a feature of New Quay’s waterfront, was erected between 1835-1837 and the town filled up with shipbuilders, blacksmiths, sail- and rope-makers and many shopkeepers. There were 116 sailors living here in 1851, according to the census. Only in the present generation, with the reduction in Britain’s merchant fleet, has the sea ceased to attract New Quay’s young men.

Eventually however, the coming of steam power and the demand for ever larger and steel ships eroded the demand for New Quay’s wooden vessels. The little port could no longer compete.

We notice towards the end of the 19 th century a new role emerging for the village, as a popular tourist destination. In 1885 a visitor wrote: ‘I have discovered Ultima Thule’... ‘For miles before we turned out of the Cardigan road we had seen our destination, a little town, white in the bright sunshine, built along the steep sides of a shimmering bay... The little town was the quaintest most picturesque one could wish to see’. And year by year visitors thronged here.

Throughout its history New Quay has always seized the opportunities to develop and prosper. Having in the past been a microcosm of the great Victorian ports like Manchester and Liverpool and made a recognised contribution to the maritime history of Britain, its sailors having served with distinction in two World wars and on other fields of battle and still an active fishing port, it is now one of the most popular resorts in Cardigan Bay. As the Narrator says in Under Milk Wood, a play conceived by Dylan Thomas in New Quay, ‘Time Passes, time passes’ but time has laid its hand lightly here.

Sue Passmore