The
Old Consulate, 21 Bath Square, Old Portsmouth, PO1
2JL
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here to view a map
Commodore: Robin
Townsend
Vice Commodore:
Rear Commodore, Sailing: David
White
Rear Commodore, House: Allan Smith
Membership Secretary: Karen
Rogers
Club Secretary: Sarah Mantell
Sailing Secretary: Peter
Eddis
Webmaster: Gareth
Tovey
Sailing
Portsmouth Sailing Club is the
home of the successful Parhelion Yacht Series held every spring and
autumn which attracts novice and experienced crews alike and has
been running since 2002. In addition to the Parhelion, there are
well-attended weekend passage cruises to Solent harbours, venues in
the South West of England and cross-channel to Northern France. For
dinghies, there is the Frostbite series which runs from the
beginning of October until Christmas, now running 50 years strong,
making it possibly the oldest dinghy winter series in the area.
Portsmouth Sailing Club is also involved at a fundamental level in
the Portsmouth Harbour dinghy team racing which began in February
2006. Portsmouth SC continues its long affiliation with the
historic and competitive Victory Class one-design keelboats, who
have been known to compete in the Frostbite.
Facilities
Portsmouth Sailing Club is based
in historic Old Portsmouth in premises that look over the harbour
entrance. The Club has the use of two boatyards for dinghies,
tenders and RIBS. The Club enjoys quick access to Portsmouth
Harbour and the Solent at all states of the tide from the East
Street public slip and owns moorings in Portsmouth Harbour.
The Club
has been housed at its current premises in Bath Square since 1926
in one of the oldest surviving buildings in Portsmouth. The
Clubhouse, a Grade 2 listed building, was constructed in the 1830s
and many of the timber beams visible inside are from ships broken
up at that time. Before the Club acquired it for the sum of £200,
the building had previously served as a consulate to thirteen
different nations and, somewhat less illustriously, as a French
onion store. The charismatic Clubhouse is naturally the centre of
our vibrant social programme.
History
Portsmouth Sailing Club was
founded in 1920. Among the founding members was local artist W. L.
Wyllie, well known for his maritime paintings, some of which are on
display in the HMS Victory Museum in HM Dockyard. The Club’s
first cruise was across the Solent to Ryde on the Isle of Wight on
21st June of that year. In the mid-1990s, Portsmouth Sailing Club
hosted the Portsmouth fixtures on the Vauxhall Ultra 30 Grand Prix
and the Prudential 18ft Skiff calendar and in 2003 provided support
for the Mini Pavois Mini 6.5m Class race from La Rochelle to
Dordogne via Portsmouth. Most recently, Portsmouth Sailing Club
assisted in the start of the latest Global Challenge yacht race,
providing support craft and laying the starting area marks.
Most famous however was the popular Pompey Perisher annual open
dinghy event run between 1970 and 2002. Started inadvertently in
1970 by club member Don Metcalf as a one-off winter race for local
clubs, the Perisher snowballed to national fixture attracting over
210 dinghies at it's peak, bringing entrants from both local clubs
and clubs as far away from the south coast as Berwick in
Scotland.
Up until it’s departure from the harbour in 1987, HMS
Foudroyant, the oldest British wooden warship afloat, served as the
start boat for races in the Frostbite dinghy series. The ship is
now berthed on the east coast at Hartlepool and has been restored
along with her original name, HMS Trincomalee.