Hoylake Sailing Club is one of the oldest sailing clubs on the Wirral (northwest England). It was founded in 1887 "for the encouragement of sailing and other athletic amusements among amateurs." Other athletic amusements these days include bowls and snooker, and there is a busy calendar of social events.
The Clubhouse on Hoylake Promenade (which looks out over the Irish Sea) has a licensed bar and is open to members seven days a week. The Club encourages sailing in all its forms, from racing and cruising to simply going for a jolly at high water, and in all types of boat. But the pride of the Club is its fleet of Hoylake Opera Class boats, which were designed over a century ago specifically for sailing off Hoylake.
The fleet presently consists of fourteen boats, each of which is named after a different opera (La Tosca, Die Valkyrie, Fidelio etc). The Operas are unique to Hoylake and the only boat that exists outside the Club is in the Liverpool Maritime Museum. Opera racing is organized by the Club every weekend when the tides are suitable throughout the sailing season. Hoylake Sailing Club welcomes all comers - you don't need to own a boat and you don't need to have had any sailing experience to become a member.