Founded in 1919, the sailing club has a year-round program of sailing for all ages and abilities, with an emphasis on having fun on the water.
The club has 1,700 members, a dinghy park with 400 spaces, changing rooms, a clubhouse and 100 vehicle car park. Activities include competitive dinghy racing, yachting, sailing and powerboat training and social sailing accompanied by patrol boats.
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Off the water the club has bars and catering facilities, with a cashless bar system, and a full all year round program of social events including suppers, talks, quizzes, bingo nights, bridge club, coffee mornings, discos and parties.
At the start of the 19th century Emsworth was having a bathing boom, with regular use of its sea-bathing machines. In 1810 Robert Harfield offered hot baths and established a bathing house at the end of Bath Road. But by 1918, following WW1, Bath House had become very neglected.
Born in 1880 into a wealthy family, between 1908 and 1914 Major Whitaker had been involved in yachts and yachting. Soon after WW1, Major Whittaker spotted Bath House up for sale and bought it. Along with a group of friends they agreed to form a new local sailing club.
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Using his large fortune from a clothing business in Yorkshire, and wine and export business in Sicily, Major Whittaker also bought Stansted House for himself and his wife Margaret Emma Maitland in 1912.
The sailing club management committee’s first meeting was in June 1919, resolving to write out to invite membership applications for the sailing club.
Club life quickly flourished and, by 1923, the club had 74 members. Couples were appointed to act as stewards and boatmen, and meals and bedrooms were available at the club. Ladies were made welcome into the club from the outset and won several of the competitive yacht racing trophies.
Early club boats were wooden but, by the late 1940s, moulded plywood boats such as Fireflys and 12 foot Nationals were proving to be lighter and faster.
The club fleet still includes the lovingly cared for wooden boat Folkdance, built in Emsworth by Parhams in the 1950s. Whilst today most sailing club cruisers are made of GRP (glass reinforced plastic developed in the 1960s), design progress still continues with carbon fibre and polymeric materials now used in boats such as the RS Aero and Devoti D-zero.
Outdoor swimming has been an important part of club life for over a century. The pool was originally an old oyster bed to the south, created in 1858 by Henry Cribb, which retained sea water when the tide ebbed. In 1965 it was replaced with a purpose-built pool that was incorporated into the terrace when it was extended. Now the pool has heating and is always open in high season.
- Read more about Emsworth Sailing Club – click here
- Watch the video of how the Clubhouse evolved – click here