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"
2025 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 available for qualifying groups.
What’s New
We'd be Lost Without You
Campaign for new chart plotter - Win a day sail or overnight trip!
Excelsior Trust needs to raise money to replace our navigation chart plotter. This is an essential piece of equipment that not only gets us from A to B safely it is a requirement to enable us to operate.
We are running a prize draw fundraiser to support the campaign. Click here to take part, deadline 30th March.
Historic win for youth work
Proud to represent her home town of Lowestoft, The Excelsior Trust Makes History with Sultan Qaboos Trophy Win
In a groundbreaking moment for UK maritime heritage, the Excelsior Trust has been awarded the prestigious Sultan Qaboos Trophy for Outstanding Services to Sail Training for Young People—the first time a UK sail training charity has earned this accolade. The award was presented at the Sail Training International (STI) awards ceremony held in Northern Spain this November and was proudly accepted by the Trust’s skipper, Charlotte Hathaway.
The Sultan Qaboos Trophy, established by the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman, is the highest international recognition in sail training. It honours organisations that excel in using sail training to transform the lives of young people, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. For the Excelsior Trust, the award not only acknowledges decades of dedicated service but also underscores the impact of its programmes on thousands of young people.
Coming up
Our plans for 2025 include taking part in the Tall Ships Race in the Channel and North Sea 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 sponsorship and support of the following organisations.
Registered Charity Number 285899. Company 01670772 Limited by Guarantee
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