Royal Southern Yacht Club

The Club was formed in Southampton, where its magnificent Club house dating from 1846 still stands opposite the Royal Pier.

The Club’s archives record the annual regattas, the parlous state of its finances through most of the nineteenth century, and the issues of the time. These include a request in 1914 from the Captain of the then Royal yacht to fly the Club’s burgee, which permission the Committee imperiously conceded, but only when His Majesty was actually on board !

However, long before then the pattern of yachting was changing from a small number of very large yachts to many more, smaller yachts and day boats.
The Club’s records show that it gave the first races for the new Metre boat Classes in 1909 and for the XODs in 1924, both Classes that we continue to support now.

As Southampton grew as a port, so yachting became cut off from its sailing waters until the Club, after over 100 years, took the bold step in 1947 of selling its Southampton base and moving to Hamble. The cottages, originally leased, are now part of the Club’s extensive Club house facilities which have been added to significantly over the last ten years.
The Club has organised an Annual Regatta at Cowes since 1927 and is one of the organising Clubs of Cowes Week. It has been at the forefront of many innovations including the Solent Points series in 1970, the ‘Lionheart’ challenge for the America’s Cup in 1980 and many championships since.

The annals of the Club in Victorian times provide a fascinating view of what was then a very traditional gentlemen’s club that managed to hold against providing any facilities at all for ladies until 1926!
Those days are long gone and now the Royal Southern is open equally to men and women who share our interest in sailing.