A right Royal welcome at Ovington Boats

Chris Turner, Managing Director of Ovington Boats, explains the laminating process to Princess Anne © Charles Glover

In her capacity as President of the RYA, Princess Anne was keen to visit Olympic Boat Builders, Ovington on a recent trip to the North East.

Princess Anne took the time to walk around the factory talking to members of the Ovington team, seeing each part of the production process from laminating the hulls right through to the final fit out.

Managing director of Ovington Boats Chris Turner, said: “I think she was pretty impressed by the factory and it was great for her to see a boat made from scratch. In the run up to the 2012 Olympic games I think Princess Anne was interested to see where some of the team GBR boats were actually being built.”

Princess Anne recently saw some of the Ovington 29er fleet out on the water and racing when she visited the RYA Youth Nationals held at WPNSA over the Easter break.

As well as building the Olympic 49er and the RYA Pathway Youth boat the 29er, Ovington also build the Musto Skiff, Flying Fifteen, International 14, Solution and Solo amongst others.

“Despite the economic climate, we have maintained very strong order book and the factory is very busy, in fact we’ve recently taken on 2 apprentices to join the team”, commented Veronica Brown, Finance Director at Ovington, who was delighted to have had the chance to meet Princess Anne.

If you fancy trying out the 29er, Ovington have a demo for both the 29er and 29erXX planned for the Topper National Series Event at Derwent Reservoir SC on 5th June.

More information on the Ovington Boats website.