about the nicholson circle

about the nicholson circle

This website is about the world famous Nicholson yachts and is mainly aimed at Nicholson owners in the Low Countries: The Netherlands and Belgium. Below, you can read the purposes of our Circle. The site contains a lot of images, links to related web content, a ‘for sale’ section and much more. Don’t forget to read the blog. It is in Dutch, but we have Google Translate installed so you will get the jest of what is written. Should you wish to comment: feel free to do so, in English, as most Dutch and Belgians have enough knowledge if English to understand. For any questions or suggestions, send a message to the webmaster. The more feedback the better!

purpose

The Nicholson Circle serves two purposes: a technical one and a social one. The fleet of Nicholsons, however beautiful and well-found the may be, is ageing. Like with people, that means defects and issues. To stay ahead of problems there is a growing demand for spare parts and knowledge of hidden (and visible) constructions used by C&N is in demand. Many owners already had to do complicated jobs on their boats and their experience can be shared with other owners. In the ‘knowledge bank’ you can see who has already done a specific repair or improvement, or who can give you advice when it comes to solving a specific technical problem. A Circle like ours can provide a healthy exchange of knowledge.

On top of the obvious technical side of the Corcle, there obviously is also the social side of things. Nothing is more fun than to ogle all these beautiful boats, and there is no better pastime than starting endless conversations about our common interest: Nicholson yachts.

gezusterlijk liggen de Nicholson zusjes langszij in Vreeland
Nicholsons zeilend op het Markermeer
Nicholsons tijdens de 'natte bijeenkomst' in Steenbergen

meetings

Organising meetings serves both the technical and the social purpose. That’s why we have twee meetings every year: the ‘dry’ meeting, without the boats, somewhere central in the Netherlands , in February or March, and a ‘wet’ meeting, with the boats, in principle alternating between the IJsselmeer area and th Rhine/Maas delta in the Netherlands’ Southwest, or even in Belgium, in the first September weekend.

origin of our Nicholson Circle

The Nicholson Circle of the Low Countries was brought to life in 2002. After a chance meeting in the Veere lock, initiators Jan Spaans (Nic35 Green Falcon) and Jan-Willem Vismans (who owned Nic35 Pulsar at the time), and a number of others, went about the Low Countries’ marinas looking for other Nicholsons. The first result was a list of some 30 yachts in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Green Falcon en Pulsar, beide een Nicholson 35, in de sluis van Veere
Nicholson's 35 Green Falcon en Pulsar in de sluis van Veere

membership

Hurray for the internet. Membership is inexpensive, as communication is mainly via the Net. We ask a membership fee of only €15,- a year. That pays for our web hosting and domain registration. And that leaves enough to share a round of drinks. Obviously, everyone pays for his/her own harbour fees or meals during our annual meetings.

If you wish to become a member, or if you have any questions, click here and send us a message. The webmaster will contact you soon. You can also become an associate member if you have a Nicholson yacht but you are based too far away to actively participate in our activities. You will be on a separate part of our members’ list. Associated membership is free for all Nicholson owners. You must provide the webmaster with the type of your Nicholson, the name of the boat, if possible the build number and the hull colour for easy recognition.

sister associations

Worldwide, there are some other active Nicholson Owners Associations. There is the UK-based Nicholson 31 Association, with their web site here, and the South Africa based Nicholson 38 contact group, with their website here.

If you own a Nicholson and you would like to stay informed of our Circle’s activities, you can request a password to the website by registering as a new user. Once you have done that, you will automatically receive a message whenever a new page or a new article is published. If you run into any problem, just send a message to the webmaster and he will sort it for you.