Claires Court School Boat Club was founded in 1985 by Peter Jowitt, a teacher from the school. Boating from the old Maidenhead Rowing Club it had reasonable success in its first two years before John Rayer joined the school in 1987. John, an active Maidenhead Rowing Club member, joined the school’s rowing department and put a successful structure in place which allowed crews to make national finals and win medals. The first major success came in 1990 with a J16 2-selected to row for England in the Anglo-French Match.

Since then the Boat Club has gained successes at Henley Royal Regatta winning the Fawley Challenge Cup twice in 1997 and 1998 in a composite crew with Windsor Boys School.

Claires Court moved across the Thames with us in 1998 and in recent years has been guided by Tom Jost, another Maidenhead member who joined us as a Junior. Tom’s coaching team has developed the Boat Club into a successful squad consistently winning medals at national level and taking part in GB Trials.