St Edmundsbury Sailing & Canoeing Association Open Weekend

by Mike Steele 20 May 2013 22:01 BST 18-19 May 2013

The St Edmundsbury Sailing & Canoeing Association Open Weekend was held at Lackford Lake, last weekend. The event formed part of the RYA's (Royal Yachting Association) 'Push The Boat Out' initiative to encourage everyone to get out on the water and celebrate a national weekend of sailing. The occasion was also featured as a BBC Sports' 'Things to Do' Activity Taster event as sailing taster sessions were held over weekend.

With this publicity, the Club was not at all sure what sort of response to expect. Saturday turned out to be rather overcast and chilly but with a good sailing breeze. After a fairly slow start, over 50 visitors came down to the Lake and the majority were taken out for a sail in either a conventional dinghy or one of WASH Sailability's Access sailing boats, which have been specially developed for disabled sailing. Possibly because of the cold temperatures, those that did visit were seriously interested in sailing and generally seemed keen to join the Club. Two families joined up on the spot!

Contrary to the forecast, the weather on Sunday was very much better and, apart from a light patch of wind during the middle of the day, provided perfect sailing conditions. Visitors started arriving before the scheduled opening time and, by mid afternoon, there were 19 boats out on the water. A great sight. The ice cream van also did good trade!

In total, the Club received over 170 visitors over the weekend; provided sailing taster sessions to 80 people and had four families pay to join. Time will tell how many of the other visitors will convert to members but there seemed to be a very positive response and we are hopeful that several more families will be coming down to the Club on a regular basis.

Members who had given up their time and provided boats for the occasion were equally enthusiastic about the event, so it is likely that an Open Weekend will be held again next year.

Next Saturday sees the regional Sea Cadets' regatta being held at SESCA with the Bury St Edmunds division contesting three of the dinghy sailing classes. Club racing continues on Sunday and Bank Holiday for the Spring Cup.