DISCOVER Living Heritage With Excelsior
One of the UK’s most historic vessels, Excelsior LT472 is a traditional Lowestoft fishing smack, built more than a century ago and now offering sailing days and adventures for all.
DISCOVER OUR WORK
The Excelsior Trust is a charitable organisation that provides life changing sailing experiences for young and disadvantaged people, schools and corporate groups as well as unique sailing opportunities for individuals, all while preserving and maintaining some of the UK’s most historic ships. Our mission is to not only preserve LT472 Excelsior but also to restore other historic vessels of national importance.
“Overall, this was an experience that I will never forget, no matter what.”
"Fantastic Experience"
2024 What we are up to and where
Whenever we are in Lowestoft you can normally find Excelsior at Lowestoft’s Heritage Quay and if crew are on hand we will gladly show you around. You can book a Heritage Sailing Day and take a hand at sailing this historic wooden ship. See our Booking page for details of Experience Days and Voyages.
If you have a group or organisation who would like to sail for a day, email us at sailing@excelsiortrust.co.uk to find out more.
Bursaries and support are available for qualifying groups.
What’s New
Excelsior had a long period of maintenance this winter as we got her ready for important certifications and made sure she was in top condition ready for the exciting year ahead. Her masts were checked over, her rigging was taken down and she has completed her 5 year Survey.
After her long-serving stove 'Deirdre' grew ever more unreliable, we were finally able to invest in a replacement which will be installed before we sail this summer.
We couldn’t have done any of this without the continued support of our generous donors and team of excellent volunteers throughout the past year.
Coming up
Our plans for 2024 include taking part in the Tall Ships Race in the Baltic from July, but prior to that we have an exciting programme of adventures and sail training trips to develop skills for the novice and the seasoned sailors.
Our voyages will be available to schools and youth organisations, Duke of Edinburgh’s Award participants and there will also be opportunities for individuals to sail on stretches too! Please contact us for more information.
The Excelsior Trust gratefully acknowledges the sposorship and support of the following organisations.
Registered Charity Number 285899. Company 01670772 Limited by Guarantee