 Initially, boats hired from Salters of Oxford were used in racing, before the club in 1896 ordered seven boats from Mr Henry Holford of Gloucester.There were three branches at the beginning, Edgbaston (sailing on Edgbaston Reservoir), Norton (sailing on "Norton Pool"), and Barnt Green (sailing on Upper Bittell Reservoir).This was partly due to lack of effective transport to sail at a central location at the time.