Never Give up on AOTW

UK Wounded veterans sailing challenge

A Cornish charity has launched a campaign to find a team of wounded veterans for an ambitious 2,000-mile sailing expedition from Land’s End to John O’ Groats – and back. Turn to Starboard is offering a unique opportunity for 24 veterans who have been affected by military service, with physical injuries or mental trauma, to join the epic challenge for a one-way voyage in either direction. The Long Way Up will see a fleet of three 40-foot yachts set sail from Land’s End on June 10. Crew members will spend around three weeks at sea navigating the west coast of mainland Britain while learning to sail under expert tuition from professional instructors. Turn to Starboard CEO and founder, Shaun Pascoe, said: “The aim of this exciting challenge is for wounded veterans to experience the therapeutic effects of sailing and the sea, meet people facing similar challenges as their own and gain valuable new skills. “Crew members can choose to either set sail from Land’s End or John O’Groats on a 1,000 nautical-mile trip and enjoy stunning views along Britain’s wild coastline. Each participant will get the chance to develop their sailing ability and skippering skills, learn about navigation, meteorology, safety and signals. “There’s no doubt each person will return as a competent sailor and have the option to continue their training with the charity and put themselves forward for an RYA Yachtmaster Offshore assessment. This valuable qualification allows the holder to work professionally in the boating industry as a delivery skipper, on a superyacht or as a sailing instructor and is recognised worldwide as a certificate of competency. “All places are provided free of charge and include three meals a day plus the loan of waterproof kit and safety lifejacket. Anyone who would like to apply will need at least one week’s yacht sailing experience, which may be able to be take place from our base at Falmouth in Cornwall before the expedition.” Organisations across the UK are being invited to sponsor the Long Way Up expedition. Turn to Starboard is looking for businesses or groups who would like their logo featured on all of the yachts, and enjoy complimentary use of a yacht at the launch regatta, or take part in employee or client sailing experiences on a traditional tall ship. Various corporate packages are available. If you are interested in sponsoring the event and showing your support for wounded veterans, contact Jane Higgins, events and fundraising manager, on 01326 314262 or by email at jane@turntostarboard.co.uk. For more information or to apply for a place on the Long Way Up expedition, contact Helen on 01326 314262 or email helen@turntostarboard.co.uk

Norfolk Broads sail boats, sailing up to Hickling Broad.

2020 Irish RS Aero Dinghy Calendar Expands

The Aero class has increased in Ireland to such an extent that there are now 17 boats regularly sailing and the solo class has been invited to participate in a number of RS events around the country hugely increasing racing opportunity, according to agent Kenny Rumball. The RS200/400 fleets have welcomed the Aero to participate in the following events; RS Southerns – Baltimore – 16th and 17th May RS Westerns – Galway – 4th and 5th July RS Northerns – Carrickfergus – 15th and 16th August This adds to the RS Aero Irish Open, taking place on Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd May in Dun Laoghaire, where a charter fleet from RS Sailing is confirmed. The event is being supported by Irish National Marine Services, the RS dealer in Ireland, and hosted by the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School. Considerable UK interest is reported for the event, which will be used as a showcase for the Aero in Ireland. The burgeoning Irish RS Aero Class Association welcomes the UK interest, and indeed commends the considerable support from well known UK based Aero sailors in supporting the event. The group is hoping to attract as many Irish entries as possible, and will help Irish sailors by directing them to the charter options available, and offer a few hints and tips. Indeed, the Irish Class Association will be present at the upcoming “Try the RS Aero” Open Day at the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School on Saturday the 7th of March from 10 am-1 pm. There will be three RS Aeros available for anyone with an interest in the boat to give it a go for free. The 5, 7 and 9 rigs will all be available, along with on the water support from members of the class association. Anyone interested is asked to contact the INSS office on 01 2844195 or sailing@inss.ie to aid with planning. Describing the logistical support behind the push to expand the class this year, Kenneth Rumball says “ Irish National Marine Services is committed to supporting the growth of this class. In stock are two brand new boats, as well as two demo boats. We’re convinced of the potential for a lightweight, fun, comfortable single hander like the Aero, particularly suited to the weather conditions we experience here.” Word from Aero sailors in Ireland echoes the “fun” element of the boat, with Dun Laoghaire sailors testing the Aero out in big breeze a couple of weekends ago in the harbour.

Winter sailing Spitfire Catamaran

£35,000 grant means #ThisGirlCan enjoy sailing more at Hollowell

Women and girls will have a more enjoyable experience when they get afloat at Hollowell Sailing Club after the club was awarded a combined grant of £35,100 to extend its female changing facilities. The awards - £24,000 from the Sport England Community Asset Fund and £11,100 from the Daventry District Council Capital Grant Fund - means the club is doubling the size of its female changing rooms, and work is already well underway for these to be ready before Hollowell's sailing season starts in March. More local people are joining Hollowell SC thanks to the popularity and accessibility of its many different activities, such as its 'Try Sailing’ sessions and Open Day, RYA Training courses, RYA OnBoard sessions for local schoolchildren and youth groups and adult and youth racing programmes. But, until now, cramped changing conditions were a definite downside for females using the club. Clive de La Fuente, Hollowell SC Commodore, admits it will be a real boost for the whole club to get the 2020 season underway on such a positive footing. He said: "With a growing membership and very welcome balance of male and female members, a need to make this development was clear in 2018 when the application process started. We are delighted to open the new season with the female changing facilities doubling in size as this development is vital in providing the best possible experience and encouragement to access the excellent sport of sailing.” One of the club’s junior sailors, Zara Avery, added: “Having somewhere nice and comfortable to change into my sailing kit is really important. For our club members and people trying sailing for the first time this will make everything so much nicer." Hollowell’s first adult Start Sailing course begins on Saturday 25 April and the club Open Day is on Saturday 2 May before its weekly Try Sailing sessions kick off on 4 May and run until the middle of July. The first junior Start Sailing course starts on Saturday 6 June, with further adult and junior learn to sail courses available throughout the summer. There are also weekly ‘Back on the water’ sessions for lapsed sailors from May to July. Hollowell SC was founded in 1966, is run by volunteers, and is non-profit making. The club has more than 380 members and prides itself on its family-oriented approach. The club is open is Saturday and Sundays most of the year, and on Tuesday and Thursday evenings from April to October. For more information about how you or your family can get on the water at Hollowell SC in 2020, visit www.hollowellsc.org.uk

Tall ship sailing a top sail schooner & Uk sailing

Dinghy Showdown - Ayton vs Hiscocks vs Cockerill vs Diamond and more!

Sailing club in Steeple launches new academy for young keelboat sailors

A SAILING club has opened a new academy to help budding seafarers boost their skills. Marconi Sailing Club, based in Steeple, has launched the Keelboat Academy after receiving a cash boost from Sports England. They are now taking applications from those between the ages of 14 and 24 who have a keen interest in the team sport of keelboat sailing. Peter Ward, one of the “driving forces” behind the academy, said: “Currently there’s a clear development pathway for dinghy sailors across the UK, but hardly any for young keelboat sailors. “In recent years there has been a huge surge of interest in keelboat racing, driven primarily through the start of the Sailing Champions League. “Through the training the academy provides, we hope to open up new opportunities for our sailors on those boats.” Members will train together once a month and participate in events during the season. They will also receive coaching on board a fleet of SB20 keelboats from regional sailing coaches and racers. In September, members will participate in an end-of-season regatta, and a team of four will be selected to represent the academy at the youth event of the British Keelboat League in Cowes in the Isle of Wight during June. To apply, contact keelboats@marconi-sc.org.uk.

2020 Annual boat race off Inverkip is on course to be the biggest in over 30 years

A BOAT race off Inverkip is on course to be the biggest in over 30 years with an iconic British clothing brand on board and more than 60 crafts from across the UK and Ireland set to compete. The annual regatta at Kip Marina has attracted sponsorship from fashion firm Henri Lloyd and takes place on Saturday May 9 and Sunday 10. It has also been endorsed by the Year of Coasts and Waters campaign being run by tourism agency VisitScotland. Bosses say the racing event - run in partnership with the Royal Western Yacht Club - is shaping up to be one of the busiest on record. Kevin Blamire, Holt Leisure Group's marketing manager, said: "We have around 60 boats involved this year and they come from across the Clyde, Scotland, Ireland and some from England. "It's the first major regatta of the Scottish sailing season. "The biggest one is the Scottish series the week after us and you get a lot of boats arriving on the Clyde and using the Kip Regatta as a warm-up and to fine tune. "The Royal Western do a fantastic job managing the racing. "The fact that Henri Lloyd are happy to get involved speaks volumes for the standard of the Kip Regatta and Scottish sailing. "We're also delighted that it's part of the Year of Scottish Coasts and Waters 2020. "It's a real spectacle on the river." The event is one of the first to be sponsored by Henri Lloyd since the brand relaunched at the start of this year. The clothing brand, which was founded in 1963, but went into administration in 2018 before being taken over by Swedish investment company, Aligro Group. Gavin McDonagh, managing director of Holt Leisure Group, which runs Kip Marina, said: "We're delighted to see Henri Lloyd back in the marketplace. "We're especially delighted to welcome them as sponsors of the Kip Regatta - the first major event in Scottish sailing each year." Ross Partridge, performance sales manager for Henri Lloyd, says the Inverkip link-up is an ideal fit. He said: "With the brand relaunching in 2020, we have a focus on grassroots sailing and racing, as well as having key retail presence around the UK, and that combines perfectly with Kip Chandlery and Kip Regatta." The clothing company will be supplying prizes to accompany prestigious silverware which is up for grabs. Commodore Ross Lang, of the Royal Western Yacht Club, said: "The Kip Regatta is one of the big events of the year for yacht racing in Scotland - one of the big three - and signals the start of the season. "It's a big activity and it wouldn't happen without Kip Marina and the Royal Western working together."

Sailing extreme !!! Foiling+Volvo ocean race+Imoca

Launched in Bathside: Centaur sailing barge turns 125

AN historic sailing vessel will be celebrating a milestone anniversary this weekend. The Thames Sailing Barge Trust will be celebrating the 125th birthday of the iconic Centaur on Saturday. She is one of the two sailing barges owned by the trust which continues to maintain her in sailing condition to take people sailing for weekends or longer charters. Sailing barges were the main form of bulk cargo transport on the east coast for more than 200 years. This year, she will be the mainstay of its operations while Pudge, its second barge, which celebrates her 100th birthday in 2022, receives major repairs which are being part funded by the Heritage Lottery. A member of the Historic Fleet, Centaur was launched by John and Herbert Cann at their Bathside yard in Gashouse Creek, Harwich, for Charles Stone of Mistley in 1895. The area was in the grip of one of the coldest winters on record and the Harwich and Dovercourt Newsman reported that, owing to the severe weather, the usual trial trip was disposed with noting that conditions were of ‘Arctic severity’. Centaur was built of wood as a coasting barge – able to trade all around the British coast and to the near continent. This meant she was larger than the river barges and had a more seaworthy hull. Initially she traded to Calais from London, Portsmouth and Southampton. She also entered barge races – winning the 1898 Harwich race, in which five barges participated, and the 1899 Medway match. In 1898-99, her trade took Centaur to Dunkirk, Calais, Antwerp, Ostend, Alderney, Bruges and the Netherlands, from a variety of home ports including Dover, Rochester, London, Lowestoft, Goole, Shoreham, Southampton and Newport. In October 1933, Centaur joined the Colchester fleet of Francis and Gilders Ltd and entered the grain trade between the London Docks and Ipswich, Yarmouth and Felixstowe. In May 1940, she went to Dover to join the ships preparing for the Dunkirk evacuation, but was damaged by a tug whilst berthed at Dover and began taking in water. She was unable to sail for Dunkirk and had to return to Maldon for repairs. Centaur resumed trade around the Thames and East Anglia for the rest of the war, and afterwards continued in the grain trade. Francis and Gilders were left as the last ‘seeking’ fleet, finding cargoes wherever they could: these cargoes were secured either by the masters of the barges or by the company’s agents in the city. Once a year, the barges went on the blocks for maintenance, either at the company’s own yard in Colchester or at Cook’s Yard in Maldon. Amongst Centaur’s last cargoes in 1954 – 55 were timber to Colchester and Maldon, sugar beet from Ipswich to Silvertown, ballast from Fingringhoe to London, cement from Halling to London, and 40-gallon oil drums from Grain to London. The last four remaining Colchester barges still under sail – Centaur, George Smeed, Kitty and Mirosa – were sold to Brown and Son of Chelmsford, for use as unrigged timber lighters. In October 1955, Centaur’s registration was closed since as a lighter she was no longer required to be registered. She joined a fleet of former sailing barges bringing timber from ships moored off Osea Island to the Heybridge Basin, where it was transshipped to canal lighters for transport to Chelmsford. In 1965, Centaur was sold to Richard Duke who converted and re-rigged her for leisure charter work from Pin Mill and Maldon. In 1974 the barge was sold to the Thames Barge Sailing Club now the Thames sailing Barge Trust, which offered crewing experience, cruises and charters to both members and non-members. Initially, she was based at Faversham, and later at Maldon. That winter, the Club began a long and extensive phased restoration of the barge, which involved replacing most of the frames and planking and was not completed until 1995. Trust chairman Peter Taylor said: “The Thames Sailing Barge Trust is a charity run entirely by volunteers and supported by members, volunteers and funding partners. “The trust is particularly grateful to funding from Heritage Lottery Fund which has supported a number of significant restoration projects enabling this wonderful vessel to continue to grace Maldon and its surrounding rivers. “During the year, Centaur will offer a varied program of trips including a visit to the Harwich Sea Festival on August 7-8 where she will be alongside the Halfpenny Pier and open to visitors. “For those in Maldon, there will be Open days on May 9-10 where the trusts volunteers will be happy to show the public around and explain some of the unique features of a Thames Barge to those interested.” To book a trip, visit bargetrust.org or call David Gibson on 07840 862685.

Fishers Green Sailing Club at the 2020 RYA Dinghy Show

Visit the Fishers Green Sailing Club (Stand E14) at the RYA Dinghy Show over the weekend of 29 February – 01 March at Alexandra Palace, London and sign up to the Fishers Green Sailing Club (FGSC) Try Sailing Open day, taking place on 02 May. “If you have ever wanted to try dinghy sailing but were unsure what is involved then this is a great chance to see if sailing is for you at no financial cost” commented Kevin O’Brien, Commodore at FGSC. “Fishers Green Sailing club or ‘The Green’ as we lovingly refer to it is a great place to sail. The Green is situated in the picturesque Lee Valley Regional Park with competitive club racing, casual sailing and a well-respected Model Boat section. “There are social events throughout the year and plenty of opportunities to sail or to help out. Why not come along to our Open Day on Saturday 02 May and give it a try? Young or old, racing or pottering, long-time member or newcomer, everyone finds a warm welcome at Fishers Green Sailing Club!” Kevin added. The Try Sailing Sessions are usually priced at only £5 per adult (children U16 free) for a 30 minute sailing experience. Experienced sailors will be on hand to take you out on our lake in a sailing dinghy or powerboat and our friendly club members will be on shore to chat about the sport and how you can get involved. Teas, coffees refreshments and a light lunch will be available to purchase. Registration is essential to help the club plan numbers and ensure everyone gets the best experience possible, so drop by the stand at the show and sign up for what promises to be a fun time for all the family. After your Try Dinghy Sailing session, if sailing is for you, it need not be as expensive as you might think. You can hire our club boats on a daily rate for as little as £10 a day. You can also volunteer to be crew for other sailors which is a great way to get you started sailing. About Fishers Green Sailing club Fishers Green Sailing Club has been established for over 50 years and is situated in the Lee Valley Regional Park, approximately two miles north of Waltham Abbey and within easy reach of J25 and J26 of the M25. Sailing takes place on the 80-acre Holyfield Lake, which, with its countryside setting and clear open water, provides members with a beautiful place to sail. Whilst the sport of dinghy sailing is the predominant activity, sailboarding is also catered for and encouraged, and many members are also active in offshore cruising and racing, there is even an opportunity to join the club’s charter boat for the Round The Island Race, around the Isle of Wight. A volunteer RYA-trained and certificated Rescue Team provides rescue facilities during racing and training using displacement boats and RIBs. The clubhouse is open and manned on Saturdays, Sundays, Bank Holidays and on Wednesdays throughout the summer. Open to all classes of monohull dinghies and sailboards, Fishers Green Sailing Club provides class and handicap racing throughout the year. The main classes currently active are Solo, Laser, Comet, Merlin- Rocket, Phantom, Wineglass and Wayfarer. Competitive racing is available at Club level and FGSC members have had notable successes in National and International competitions. “It is our aim to promote safe sailing for all the family and we not only offer dinghy sailing training days for members but also fully support all forms of recreational sailing. Our membership includes a number of RYA-qualified Sailing Instructors who are always willing to offer advice if requested, and who can also arrange individual tuition. “We take pride in being a family club. Indeed, we now have members from the third generation of the original families who joined in the 1960s. It’s all part of the fun of The Green!”, Kevin concluded. Ample car parking is available adjacent to the dinghy park. Good wide slipways and a large, sheltered dinghy park provide the ideal conditions for keeping boats close to the water, ready to sail with easy launching and recovery. The modern clubhouse, self-built by members, overlooks the water and provides changing rooms, showers, kitchen facilities and a licensed bar. It is a pleasant place to relax, and a sheltered viewpoint to watch the action on the lake. There are swings to entertain the younger members of the family under parental supervision. The galley provides sandwiches, snacks, light meals and tea, coffee and soft drinks. Make sure you visit the Fishers Green Sailing Club team at the show (stand E14) who will be on hand to answer any of your questions.