Harken Lancashire Special Schools Sailing Regatta at Bolton Sailing Club
by Warren Price 9 Jul 2014 10:53 BST
2 July 2014
Harken Lancashire Special Schools Sailing Regatta © Dennis Shevelan
On Wednesday 2nd July 2014 Special Schools from across Lancashire gathered at Bolton
Sailing Club to compete in the Harken Lancashire Special Schools Sailing Regatta.
This event has been run for the last six years with teams coming from various areas of
Lancashire. All the competitors attend Lancashire Special schools and have learning
difficulties. The boat used at the event is the Hansa 303W dinghy, an extremely stable
boat which is designed for people with disabilities. Most of the young competitors had not
sailed before and were introduced to the boats and how to sail them by the volunteers at
Bolton Sailing Club.
The weather was bright and dry but the winds difficult and constantly moving. The races
before lunch were shared between teams from Pendle and Ridgewood. This pattern
continued after a delightful lunch with three teams dominating the racing; Pendle
Community High School and two teams from Ridgewood High School. These teams
shared the honours in all the five races with Ridgewood school winning the event for the
second year in succession.