Established in 1988
The friendliest club around for people who love being on the water
Our aim is to promote and facilitate the sport of boating, both sail and power, to provide for the study of seamanship, and to provide social and other facilities whenever possible.
Thursday evenings
Every week, all year. Notices, then a talk from a member or a guest speaker, then tea and a good deal of talking. Visitors are welcome at any of them.
Summer rallies
Mostly the Solent and the Isle of Wight, sometimes further along the coast, and occasionally across to France and the Channel Islands.
Members everywhere
Some in Sutton, some scattered round the country, a few living abroad on their boats — who come back and join the rallies when they’re home.
A hand with the boat
Antifouling before launch, winterising in October, an extra pair of hands on a lift-out. A number of members are happy to come and help with routine jobs.
How it started
Formed 1988
Sutton Mariners was formed in 1988 by twelve people with an interest in boats of every kind — dinghies, motor cruisers, yachts. Each of them put in five pounds to get the club off the ground.
It is now in its fourth decade and still doing the same three things: meeting every Thursday to learn something, running a summer programme of rallies, and finding berths on other people’s boats for members who haven’t got one of their own.
It has never been a club you need a boat to belong to. A good many members joined having last sailed a dinghy as a teenager, or having never sailed at all.
To promote and facilitate the sport of boating, both sail and power, to provide for the study of seamanship, and to provide social and other facilities whenever possible.
The aim of the club
Who’s in it
There are members who have crossed oceans and members who have never been out of sight of land, and on a Thursday evening they sit in the same room — and mostly it’s the second group asking the questions.
Boats in the club run from dayboats and dinghies to motor cruisers and sea-going yachts. Owners take non-owners on the rallies, which is how a fair number of people first got afloat, and how several of them ended up buying something.
Membership is open to anyone over eighteen, with or without experience. The joining page has the fees and the form.
The committee
Elected each year at the Annual General Meeting. Any of them will happily answer a question on a Thursday evening.
Commodore
Daniel McDonnell
Vice Commodore
Dave Moore
Rear Commodore
Ruth Grainger
Hon. Secretary
Chris Dukes
Hon. Treasurer
David Quine
Committee Member
Julia Tubbs
Committee Member
Joyce Herve
Committee Member
Gordon V
