Northampton Sailing Club, based at Pitsford Reservoir has been awarded Active Club of the Year 2026 by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA). The club was also a finalist in the Young Person's Award 2026.
Northampton is a friendly and welcoming club encouraging sailors as well as windsurfers, wingfoilers and paddleboarders of all ages and levels of experience.
While membership is declining in many clubs, Northampton Sailing Club has doubled its membership in the last couple of years and is actively encouraging more sailors out on the water. It set up adult race sailing coaching to encourage more members to join in club racing, and around 30 people signed up for it. This morphed into a group whose abilities range from complete beginners through to experienced sailors who have raced before but would like to, as one member coined the phrase, "Be Less Last"!
It ran throughout the Summer and Autumn 2026 on a Tuesday evening and was very well attended. It's continuing in 2026. Some of Northampton's experienced sailors provide the coaching and has provided a stepping stone for people who want to complete their RYA Level 1 sailing course or join in the Sunday racing.
Sarah Carswell, Commodore at Northampton said: "It's great to see the sailors who have been doing this for many years and travel the country (and further afield) attending events for their class, giving back to the club by volunteering."
Over the Winter, the training moved to Saturdays and was offered to the Pirates (8-16 year- olds) the Northampton Race Group youth team and adults, to bring them all together.
Windsurf coaching
In addition, six members of the windsurf group trained to Intermediate Instructor level and have been running sessions for members interested in starting windsurfing or coming back to it after a break. They've had members aged from 10 through to 78 attend the sessions, and a strong and growing group of windsurfers can be seen out on the water every Sunday.
Young Person's Award
With regard to the Young Person's Award, Northampton continues to foster its thriving Pirates club with 65 8-16 year-olds learning to sail or windsurf. The club has been awarded RYA Pathway Club status and has setup a Northampton Race Group (NRG) team who are offered extra race coaching to attend events to include the Northamptonshire Youth Series (NYS) and Topper Traveller opens. The club has also bought two new Toppers and two new Fevas to support the NRG team in their events.
Following the award nominations, one of the RYA Regional Managers commented: "Northampton Sailing Club is an amazing example of taking a club on the brink of collapse to one of the biggest in the region in terms of membership and participation levels. Changes have been made that have been based on some tough decisions but have still been well received by the club and local sailing community, which has led to growth across the spectrum of membership at the club."
"The Pirates are a leading example within the region of how to develop and grow a thriving youth membership offer that brings together the club, rather than separating youngsters from the wider membership. The willingness of people to volunteer to support the group demonstrates how well thought of the group is within the club."
For further details go to www.northamptonsailingclub.org or email commodore@northamptonsailingclub.org
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