HISTORY
T
he Sussex Yacht Club was established in 1892 by a group of yachting enthusiasts in order to further the sport of yachting and cruising and is now one of the oldest sailing clubs in the UK.
At this time meetings were held in a room at the Schooner Inn at Southwick which was the club’s first HQ. It was dryly noted that the only reason the club seemed to hold three annual meetings each year was because it was based in a pub.
The Club was originally named “The Mosquito Yacht Club” after the one-design yachts favoured by the gentlemen owners (the class itself was named after the blood sucking insects that once swarmed the Southwick canal).
After WW1 on 17 May 1919 the club reformed as the Sussex Yacht Club, but this fast-growing band keen sailors were threatened by a rent increase from the pub Landlord; in response the ‘Mosquitos’ moved into a converted 40ft Brighton
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beach boat called the ‘White Swan’ from Alfred Sweet, then the Shoreham Harbourmaster. This new floating club house even boasted a full-sized piano on board which was subsequently removed and replaced by a full-sized billiard table. At this time there were around 50 members and the club happily ticked along racing in the summer and playing billiards in the winter. However, the White Swan was no spring chicken and the amount of bailing
