The East Coast club's latest crowdfunding campaign has achieved £26,710 of a £30,000 target to keep its community sailing.
As it celebrates its 75th year, the not-for-profit Southwold Sailing Club (SSC) is crowdfunding to “secure its future.”
The club “desperately needs” to replace its dinghy launching slip on the River Blyth to enable safe sailing on the East Coast tidal inlet.
For more than seven decades, the club has been at the heart of the local sailing and wider communities, providing mentored access to the water for all to enjoy, regardless of ability, experience or boat ownership.
The broken slipway and proposed perimeter of the new slipway. Credit: Jonathan Sapsford Photography
However, the club’s boat launching facility, a slipway built in the early 1980s, has slowly broken up over the past 15 years “revealing big cracks and steep drops which have become a major problem”.
A club spokesman said: “Earlier this year we spent £7,000 removing the bottom two bays of concrete.
“Southwold has a tidal range of approximately 2 metres but because of the poor state of the lower end of our slip it can only be used in the mid to high tide range which considerably limits our water activities.”
A new crowdfunding campaign aims to raise £30,000 of a total £80,000 goal to finance essential river-based infrastructure to allow safe dinghy launching.
Club ethos
Southwold Sailing Club pictured in 1950
Southwold Sailing Club was founded in an old net-pickling shed in 1949
The club has 170 members and offers grassroots sailing, taster days, racing, cruises in company upriver and out to sea, along with social events and regattas, and often hosts other East Coast sailing clubs.
SSC was founded in an old net-pickling shed in 1949. In the early 1980s a dedicated group of club volunteers worked together to install the current slipway for dinghy launching, a crucial resource that has made the club what it is today.
However, the slipway is no longer stable. The concrete has become eroded, revealing dangerous cracks and though damaged sections have been removed, dinghy launching can now only happen at high tide.
A new slipway will require costly specialist equipment and expertise to sheet pile the perimeter of the slipway and prepare and fill the area with concrete.
The club is run by members for members, and while its running costs are covered by membership subscriptions, boat parking fees, and social events, this does not leave much for the slipway replacement works, estimated to cost £80,000.
Members recently held a Harbour Festival to celebrate the club’s 75th anniversary and raised £5,000 towards the Save Our Slip project.
Project goals
Southwold Sailing Club members on the beach
The main costs will be the purchase and installation of the sheet piling as it will need to be installed by a barge.
A club spokesman said: “The concrete is actually the least expensive element. We are aiming to raise £30,000 by crowdfunding.
“We need to install steel sheet piling to create a dam around the perimeter of the slipway. The lower area can then be prepared and filled with concrete which will provide a ramp all the way to the waters edge which will allow launching at the lowest tides.”
The crowdfunder has a deadline of 17 November.
Over the last 15 years, the slipway, which was built in the 1980s, has slowly broken up
Commodore Henry Walker said: “A new slip will help to secure this important asset for the next 75 years, and enable those of all ages and to dip their toes into this exhilarating activity.
“Sailing enhances the physical and mental well-being of all those who take part, and SSC is keen to use its training boats and qualified instructors to encourage new members to become part of this amazing community, while gaining skills and confidence.”
To support the campaign visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/saveourslip
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