Welcome to Cruiser Sailing at Rye Harbour Sailing Club. Cruising and Racing.

Members boats range from around 20’ up to 40’, berthed by private arrangement in various yards, generally up river toward the town of Rye. Rye Harbour is a drying harbour so all boats take the mud as the tide recedes with all types of keel represented. Boats generally have a three-hour window to leave and return to their moorings on a tide. The river offers a safe and secure haven, a base for day sailing on the tide or departing for coastal cruising or cross channel visits.

Cruiser racing forms an important part of the yearly programme, it is definitely not compulsory but we would encourage new members to give it a go. In the last few years we have had up to 10 yachts registered for racing, which we score under our own RHSC rating system. Some yachts maintain IRC certificates to compete in regattas at other clubs. We run a full and varied cruiser racing programme from April to October, the majority of races are courses in Rye Bay racing around our own seasonal marks. These are raced on the tide with a duration of around 90 minutes. There are longer races to Eastbourne and cross channel destinations Boulogne and Dieppe.

Our racing cruisers also test themselves further afield, many are regular competitors at local regattas, Ramsgate Week and The Sussex Regatta. We also have a rich history of members cruising all over the world.