About Us

Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Club is in the beautiful seaside town of Eastbourne on the East Sussex coast and is a family club, run by its members. Situated right on the promenade on the seafront, it is in an idyllic location and the sailing conditions are unrivaled.

The club is well known in the dinghy sailing world for its friendliness and for its strong organisation. We welcome new members and work hard to make them feel part of the club as soon as possible. We cater for experienced sailors and beginners alike and our members sail a variety of classes, including Lasers, RS Aeros, RS400s, Spitfires, Foiling Moths, A-class, Dart 16s, and Picos and more.

The club operates a Training Academy which offers a number of RYA courses for both adults and juniors and across the ability range. We welcome visitors to the club and have hosted numerous national championships and open meetings over the years. The clubhouse provides very good facilities, including a galley, bar, lounge area and changing rooms with hot showers.

We sail every Sunday between mid-march and the sunday before Christmas. We sail Wednesday evenings between April & September, and Saturdays during the summer.

Typically, we sail triangle /sausage courses. A Triangle for the conventional fleets and a sausage for the asymmetric boats. We try different courses on bank holidays for fun!

We have 5 safety boats. Our primary boat is a Cheetah Marine Catamaran – Seahorse. We also have 4 ribs, Dolphin, Sceptre, Greyhound and Marlin to keep us safe.

We hold a range of social events throughout the year, from quizzes to parties, craft days, charity events and more – keep your eyes peeled for what is coming up this year!

At ESSC we do something a little bit different on a Wednesday evening – PRATT Racing! Personal Rating Against Time Taken – meaning you don’t have to be a front runner to become a champion!

Pratt racing makes things fair – if you are always at the front, you will keep getting a minute added to your handicap, giving those at the back or new sailors a great chance – as they lose a minute!

PRATT racing is great fun and at time we have 30-40 boats out on a Wednesday! We finish up with a delicious meal from the galley and some drinks at the bar!

General Secretary

1935 – S. Mapleton
1936 – S. Button
1937 – 1938 – F. Smith
1939 – 1945 – C. Nicholls
1946 – 1953 – S. Button
1954 – 1957 – J. Chapman
1958 – H.S Woodford
1959 – 1960 – J. Chapman
1961 – 1964 – W.J Kneller
1965 – 1966 – E.F Coppard
1967 – 1968 – L.C Brunning
1969 – 1975 – D. Shepherd
1976 – 1978 – B. Beere
1979 – 1980 – R. Piper
1981 – 1982 – N. Lea
1983 – 1984 – R.E Williamson
1985 – B. Beere
1986 – 1988 – C. Harvey
1989 – 1990 – G. Trott
1991 – 1992 – D. Matter
1993 – R.W Macdonald

1933 – Dr. M Ross Taylor
1945 – Dr A.H Crook
1954 – Lt. Cdr A.D Bruford
1960 – Robert P. Bayley
1961 – Charles A. Harrap
1963 – Frank H. Taylor
1965 – G.J.E Howard
1967 – Lt. Cdr. G.T Turner
1970 – Edward J.W Karslake
1973 – James Law
1976 – Peter Towner
1978 – C.F Ledger
1980 – G. Brewster
1982 – A. Murray
1984 – M.J.G Wellings
1985 – D.A Jeffries
1987 – C.F Ledger
1989 – C.J. Berry
1990 – Peter R.H Daigneault
1991 – Peter R.H Daigneault
1993 – R.I Hawgood

1993 – 1996 – Royce Hipgrave
1997 – 1999 – Mick Harker
2000 – Nick Brewer
2001 – 2003 – Graham Tomlin
2004 – 2005 – Gary Smith
2006 – 2008 – Mick Whitmore
2009 – 2010 – Mark Fryer
2011 – 2012 – Terri Agnew
2013 – 2014 – Graham Tomlin
2015 – 2016 – Peter Hayward
2017 – 2019 – Nick Eldridge
2020 – 2021 – Ben Daigneault
2022 – 2024 – Andy Jeffries
2025 – Current – Andrew Hunt