History of the Royal Sand Yacht Club 1924 - 2024
The story of a unique club
Before 1895
The first images of sailing chariots are from the 17th century: the mathematician Simon Stevin from Bruges has built a sailing chariot in 1600 for the Dutch Prince Maurits Van Nassau.
from 1895 to WWI
It is generally assumed that landsailing originated in De Panne. Late 19thcentury, the many children of architect-urbanist Albert Dumont built and developed land sailing yachts in their spare time, while their father shaped the development of the Dumont district in the early tourist town of De Panne.
In 1898, André Dumont arrived on the beach with his first sand yacht. Later, Benjamin and François Dumont ensured its further development.
Very soon there were many enthusiasts, including the later aviator Willy Coppens who became a hero in the First World War by shooting down German observation balloons and who was later ennobled as 'Coppens d'Houthulst' for this merit. According to Willy Coppens, a sand yacht was “l'avion du pauvre - the plane for the poor”. Sand yachts still “fly over the beach”.
The very first sand yacht race in the world took place in De Panne in 1909. This was the start of sand yachting as a sport.
The famous aviation pioneer Louis Blériot, who was the first to fly over the channel in 1909, sailed his 'Aéroplage' on the beaches of Hardelot and Le Touquet that same year. Competitions were held in France from 1912 onwards. As a pioneer of the aviation industry, Louis Blériot can easily be compared to our contemporaries Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos. The Dumont family was in good company… .
A highlight for De Panne and for the Dumont family was Benjamin Dumont's victory at the international competition in Hardelot in 1913. François Dumont came second. They defeated the world's best !
Benjamin was already building and selling sand yachts of his own design.
Before 1914, sand yachting was only accessible to a very select group of people such as Baron Robert Sloet d'Oldruytenborgh or Armand Nagelmackers of the Nagelmackers family, who had founded the (still active) Bank Nagelmackers in Liège in 1747 and who was involved in big projects. Family member Georges Nagelmackers was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits and the inventor of the Orient Express. Another family member was involved in financing the last major Belgian locomotives. The family can serve as a model for the families who were the first tourists on our coast at the end of the nineteenth century.
The oldest - still drivable - sand yacht is Titine. It was built in Liège at the request of Armand Nagelmackers in 1912.
1918 to WWII
After the First World War, sand yachting experienced a decline.
However, François Dumont continued to believe in the future of land sailing and founded the Sand Yacht Club Pannois in 1924 to stimulate its development on the Belgian coast. The sand yacht in the entrance hall of the town hall of De Panne is a restored example of the type that François Dumont developed at that time.
In 1927 the first statutes were drawn up and the club became a non-profit organization with a summer competition program.
The sand yachts were divided into 2 categories according to the size of the wheels.
There was a great rivalry between François Dumont and Willy Coppens in developing increasingly high-performance sand yachts. It became a matter of honor. Willy Coppens lost a leg due to being shot in his fighter plane during the First World War. He was the first sand yacht pilot with a disability. Interesting detail: it was considered inappropriate to overtake him by pushing your yacht.
In 1927, Willy Coppens built the first sand yacht without a sail but with a vertical wing. This idea was revived many years later to set speed records such as the recent record of 225.58 km/h in Australia driven by the vertical wing land yacht Horonuku, 100 years after Louis Blériot's first record (54 km/h).
Mic Dumont rented out sand yachts in Oostduinkerke during that period. There, the Frenchman Henri Demoury discovered sand yachting in 1928. He reintroduced sand yachting to the French coast, first in Merlimont-Plage and from 1950 in Le Touquet, where the Blériot Club was founded. Since 2001 there has been a twinning between Royal Sand Yacht Club and the French Blériot Club.
In 1930, Marcel Comein, resident of De Panne, also started building and renting out sand yachts. There are beautiful photos from that time with Princess Joséphine-Charlotte in a rental sand yacht.
Later a second sand yacht rental company was added by Maurice Verbanck.
Around 1964, when the smaller but fast DN sand yachts became popular, Comein ended the renting. After all, he would have to ask 1000 francs per hour for the rental; Converted to 2024, this is approximately 115 euros per hour.
Maurice Verbanck also stopped commercially renting sand yachts. In 1968, what remained of his fleet was transferred to the sand yacht club for young people De Krab.
1945 to 1969
Shortly after the war there were few sand yacht pilots left. François Dumont resumed the sailing yacht activities and founded the Belgian Federation of Land Yacht Clubs (BFLYC) in 1949. For the first time, extensive competition regulations were designed as well as a competition program for De Panne, Oostduinkerke, Middelkerke and Ostend.
Also in 1949, Willy Coppens developed the “l'Aile” inspired by large ice baots. This concept of a stern steered sand yacht became a standard model around 1960. Marcel Comein built about twenty of them in his workshop in De Panne.
As a result of a crisis in the Sand Yacht Club Pannois, a new sand yacht club was founded in 1951 under the name “L'Oiseau Bleu”. The name refers to the Egyptian symbol that the members of the Dumont family had long carried on their sand yachts. For many years afterwards, the Sand Yacht Club Pannois was its little but older brother.
A clash arose between different cultural and social lifestyles. On the one hand, the elite of the Brussels and French-speaking Flemish bourgeoisie in the L'Oiseau Bleu and on the other hand the circle of Dutch-speaking Flemish people and local traders, with members in (Royal) Sand Yacht Club. There are stories from that time of “de facteur”, a postman who often won sailing competitions with a rental sailing wagon. The prize money was worth it…
In 1954, the title “Royal” was awarded to the “Sand Yacht Club Pannois”.
After the death of François Dumont in 1962, Bob Nyssens (a son of Anaïs Dumont) became the key figure in the further development of sand yachting. Until about 1975, the Oiseau Bleu was the dominant sand yacht club in De Panne.
As part of the EXPO58 world exhibition, an international sand yachting event was organized for the first time on the beach of De Panne in 1958.
After this, the Fédération Internationale de Sand et Land Yachting was founded in 1962 by the Belgian Bob Nyssens with 4 clubs from 4 countries. The logo indicates that the ambitions were global. Bob Nyssens was chairman of FISLY for 25 years and was succeeded as chairman for an even longer period by Eric Engelbrecht from De Panne.
The Dutch introduced the DN, converted ice boats, at the European Championship in De Panne in 1964 and won against the large sand yachts with 15 m² of sail.
Inspired by the DN, the chairman of Royal Sand Yacht Club Georges Veraert, supported by Maurice Debra, is contributing to the development of a small sand yacht, the V4.
Robert Demuysere from De Panne won the 1968 European Championship. He wanted the youth of De Panne to go sand yachting. He asked for help from the local boy scouts and from scoutmaster Eric Engelbrecht, who became the founding chairman of the sand yacht club for young people, De Krab. It was for him the start of a very long career in the organization of sand and land yachting for Eric.
1970 to 1990
The Royal Sand Yacht Club thus became the 'Flemish' club and grew from 1970 under the impetus of the then local club board and the chairmanship of Julien Verdonck. The RSYC found its own accommodation, first in a beach cabin and later in the old villa 'Chez Tonton'. This was a big step forward. In that clubhouse there where unforgettable parties for and by De Panne residents.
The introduction of smaller sand yachts such as the DN, the Veraert, and later the DAD (Demuysere-Ameele-De Maeyer) made the sport even more accessible. The DAD was built in glass fiber reinforced polyester. As a result, the cars required much less maintenance. Sand yachting evolved from a summer sport to a sport for all seasons.
In 1976, the youth sand sailing club De Krab published the handbook for sand yachting FASTER THAN THE WIND. The author was the young member Jan Leye. It is still the only Dutch book about sand yachting.
In 1976 also under the impetus of the Flemish decree on national sports orgaization Eric Engelbrecht and his wife Anne Maene were at the forefront of the founding of the Flemish wing of the Belgian Federation of Sand and Land Yachting. In this context, the sand yachting school was founded, where Benny Dezeure became secretary and sports technical employee in 1985. From then on, thousands of people were enthusiastically helped to discover land sailing. In the meantime, the Flemish LaZeF has been integrated into Wind and Watersport Vlaanderen -Flanders- (WWSV) through various restructurings.
1990 to 2015
1992 was a milestone with the inauguration of the sand yachting center on the actual location in Dynastielaan. At that time it was already the most beautiful sand sailing center in the world and housed the Royal Sand Yacht Club, De Krab and the National land sailing federation.
Eric Engelbrecht became chairman of the Royal Sand Yacht Club in 1995. He continued this continuously until 2012.
As chairman of the international land and sand yachting federation -FISLY- and as chairman of the Royal Sand Yacht Club, he strove for a worldwide expansion of land sailing as a sport. This led to the organization of several championships in De Panne but also outside Europe in the USA and in Argentina with the participation of many European pilots and club members.
The Royal Sand Yacht Club is and remains an important player in the international organization of the sport of sans and land yachting.
2015 to 2024
The current sand yachting center was inaugurated in 2019. It was created thanks to the support of the municipal council and it is without a doubt the most beautiful sailing center in the world. Foreign pilots are always full of admiration when they come to compete. Many local residents now know their way to the club and like to come there to enjoy this oasis close to the sea and the enormous beach.
The sailing school became part of the Royal Sand Yacht Club in 2020. Veerle De Gryse and Seddik Caeyzeele are the beach masters. The heavy Birdies, which have been used for initiations for many years, have been replaced by MC2 sand yachts that sail much more smoothly. Thanks to these steps, it has become a high-performance sailing school. It is the ideal introduction to sand yachting and, for some, to club life.
The European Championship was organized in 2023 by the Royal Sand Yacht Club on the beaches of De Panne and Koksijde with the participation of 119 participants from 8 countries. It became a great success. It is a privilege to receive enthusiastic local and foreign pilots again and again.
We can be proud of the many years of dedication of many club members and compatriots in the creation and development of our club and our sport.
After more than 100 years of effort and dedication, we can proudly celebrate this centenary
Epilogue
We continue to build a positive future with optimism, with mutual respect for each other, respect for nature, and for genuine enjoyment.
The RSYC and the youth club De Krab have everything in place to further develop this bright future: for our sport and for our unique sand yacht clubs, for De Panne, and for society we live in.
See you on the beach!
Jan Leye, co-chairman
PHOTO GALLERY 1600 - 2024
