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Yvelines (Department, France): Yacht clubs and rowing clubs

Cercle de Voile de Dennemont
Cercle de la Voile de Vaux-sur-Seine
Cercle Nautique de Versailles
Yacht Club de l'Ile-de-France
Yacht Club de Porcheville
Yacht Club du Pecq

See also:

Cercle de Voile de Dennemont

Flag (unconfirmed) and burgee of CVD - Images by Ivan Sache, 3 September 2006

The municipality of Follainville-Dennemont (1,912 inhabitants) is located on the right (northern) bank of the river Seine, c. 50 km downstream from Paris and 6 km from the town of Mantes-la-Jolie, which is located across the river. The village of Dennemont, where the philosoph Condorcet (1743-1794) had his castle, was part of the municipality of Saint-Martin-la-Garenne before being merged with Dennemont to form the today's municipality.

Cercle de Voile de Dennemont (CVD) is based on a small island; the stretch of the river allocated to CVD is located between kilometric points (PK) PK 112 and PK 116. The club was founded in 1926 and its club house is the former ballroom of Auberge du Vieux Moulin (Old Mill's Inn).
The CVD website shows a possible club flag, white with an off-centred cross made of blue-white-red stripes. The burgee of the club is shown on the emblem of the club, to be seen on the posters advertizing the races organized by the CVD (Coupe Vent d'Ouest, Coupe de la Seine and Trophée la Parisienne Muscadet - Coupe Coillard). It is a triangular version of the possible flag with the canton horizontally divided blue-red.

Source: CVD website

Ivan Sache, 3 September 2006

Cercle de la Voile de Vaux-sur-Seine

Burgee of CVVX - Image by Ivan Sache, 17 July 2002

Cercle de la Voile de Vaux-sur-Seine is based in Vaux-sur-Seine, a small town located on the river Seine, downstream from Paris.
The burgee of the CVVX is a white flag with two red triangles placed vertically along the hoist. It is similar to the burgee of the St. Thomas Yacht Club, in the US Virgin Islands.
The classical design of the burgee seems to indicate that the yacht club is fairly ancient.

Source: CVVX website

Ivan Sache, 17 July 2002

Yacht Club de l'Ile-de-France

Burgee of YCIF - Image by Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003

At the end of the XIXth century, the development of yachting started in France in the valley of the river Seine. France has more than 5,000 kms of coasts, but at that time these coasts were very far from Paris.
Open-air cafés and dance halls called >A HREF="fr-94-nm.html">guinguettes flourished on the banks of the Seine and the Marne, attracting a wide clientele. People from the upper-middle classes from Paris mixed with factory workers, artists and hoodlums. Swimming, rowing and boating were popular activities. Small shipyards were established on the river banks, in which new kinds of sailboats were built. Rapidly, famous naval architects like Gustave Caillebotte (also known as an Impressionist painter, an art patron and a distinguished yachtman), Chevreux, Tellier and Texier, launched their new ship models on the Seine.

Several sailboat owners lived in Chatou, downstream of Paris, where they founded in 1902 the Club Nautique de Chatou. They built a clubhouse on the Impressionists' Island, a small island where the Impressionist painters and their friends met in the Fournaise Inn (Maison Fournaise, now a museum and still an inn). The architect Texier designed in 1899 a dinghy called Immuable (Immutable), based on the model of the American Lark. The Immuable was renamed Monotype de Chatou (Chatou One-design sailboat), nicknamed la Punaise (the Bug) because of its flat shape. The members of the CNC were funny guys and received the nickname of Chatouillards, based on Chatou and chatouiller, to tickle.
The CNC nearly extincted after the First World War, but its nine remaining members were able to maintain and promote yachting activity. In the late 1920s, it appears that the site of Chatou was too small for the club, and it was decided to move downstream to Meulan, where the yachting races of the 1900 and 1924 Olympic Games had taken place. Thanks to the generosity of club member Armand Esdars, 4 ha of land were purchased and a new clubhouse was inaugurated in 1929. In 1930, the members of the CNC decided to find a new boat since the Monotype of Chatou had became obsolete. They bought a license for the Shark boat to the shipyard of Abo (Finland). The Shark was renamed Aile (Wing).
On 18 June 1939, the CNC was renamed Yacht Club de l'Ile-de-France. Unfortunately, the YCIF was located close to the airfield of Les Muraux, and was bombed on 3 June 1940 by the Germans, who believed it was a seaplane base. In 1944, the Americans made the same mistake.

The clubhouse was reconstructed but the YCIF faced a big crisis in 1964. Following Eric Tabarly's victory in the Transat race, most yachtmen were attracted by sea racing and abandoned inland waters. In the 1980s, Pierre Bogrand, who had introduced the Optimist boat in France, decided to restore the last Aile boats kept by the YCIF and to build new ones.

The flag of the YCIF is white with a red horizontal stripe in the middle and two blue vertical stripes. The flag of the YCIF (then the CNC) was designed by the famous fashion designer Paul Poiret (1879-1944). Poiret was one of the early members of the CNC. He organized "descents" (descentes) of the Seine, during which the ladies and supply sailed on his personal barges Amour (Love), Delices (Delights) and Orgues (Organs). Poiret was the first designer to get rid of the bodice.

Source: YCIF website

Ivan Sache, 5 July 2003

Yacht Club de Porcheville

Flag of YC Porcheville - Image by Ivan Sache, 14 December 2005

The town of Porcheville is located on the river Seine, 35 km west of Paris and 7 km east of Mantes-la-Jolie. It is mostly known for the huge power plant ran by EDF (Electricité de France).
Yacht Club de Porcheville was founded in 1953 by a few fans of the single-manned sailing dinghy Europe. The members of YCF still sail on Europe but also on 420, 470, Laser and Caravelle. They can sail between the island of Rangiport (km 102 of the Seine) and the EDF power plant (km 105), a stretch of smooth water of 3 km x 250 m.

The flag of YCP is horizontally divided blue-white-blue with the blue letters YCF in the white stripe. There is probably a burgee of the same design.

Source: YCP website

Ivan Sache, 14 December 2005

Yacht Club du Pecq

Flag of YC Le Pecq - Image by Ivan Sache, 14 December 2005

The posh town of Le Pecq (17,063 inhabitants - Alpicois) is located 22 km west of Paris. It is crossed northwards-southwards by the river Seine.
Le Pecq is the birth city of Jacques Tati (Jacques Tatischeff, 1907-1982), one of the most fascinating French movie makers (Jour de fête, 1949; Les vacances de M. Hulot, 1953; Mon oncle, 1958; Playtime, 1967; Trafic, 1971).

Yacht Club du Pecq was founded in 1967; its club house is located on the right bank of the Seine and its members can sail between the islands of La Loge and Corbière.
The burgee of YCP is a trapezoidal flag horizontally divided light blue-white-light blue with the emblem of the club in the middle. The emblem of YCP is a light blue disc bearing a stylized combinations of the initials of the club name.

Source: YCP website

Ivan Sache, 14 December 2005