OnBoard Bug Day at Burwain Sailing Club

OnBoard Laser Bug Day at Burwain © Alan Henderson / www.fotoboat.com

Bugs take flight on windiest day at Burwain

60 children from clubs all over the region came to enjoy a festival of sailing at Burwain Sailing Club, Colne, on Sunday 11th July. The children came from six clubs in the North Manchester area, where the RYA OnBoard initiative is successfully introducing many youngsters to the sport of sailing. Brisk, dry weather made ideal conditions for this OnBoard Laser Bug Day.

In fact, this was the windiest OnBoard event yet in the Region but the young sailors were quickly at home in the little Bug dinghies, and were soon flying round the lake in the morning practice session. There were games on land as well for the fun fleet, while the more experienced sailors prepared to join the racing fleet in the afternoon.

With winds of up to 20mph, there was no shortage of excitement in the afternoon as racing started. Three races produced three different winners. Alex Dunston,15, took the first race, but James Grummett, 11, improved with every race, and a win in the last race helped him to win overall by just two points from Lauren Smith,14, from Salford Junior Sailing Club, who sailed very consistently. Alex took third place overall.

Meanwhile the fun sailors enjoyed some team relay races, and Team Hollybees ended up on top, with Team Actimal in second.

The sailors were sailing a fleet of 30 Laser Bug dinghies, kindly loaned for the day by sponsor Laser Performance.

The OnBoard Bug Day was a great day for competition between the OnBoard clubs in the Manchester North area, and teams came from Sailing Clubs at Burwain, Glossop, Hollingworth Lake and Salford, plus from two activity centres, Hollingworth Lake Activity Centre and Astbury Sailsports. The attendance, of 60 kids, was nearly 50% up on last year’s event, showing the growing popularity of OnBoard in the area.

One of the kids, Charlotte Gatty, from Burwain, said, “Today was awesome; I was so excited this morning!”

Excited that morning for another reason was organiser Adam McGovern, the RYA OnBoard Development Officer. “I was a bit nervous when I woke up to see how windy it was. But the kids amazed me, they sailed so well in such difficult conditions. What was even better was that they all loved the windy conditions!”

The prize giving went with a swing helped by generous doses of prizes from two sponsors, Laser Performance and Harken. There were plenty of individual prizes as well as the overall ones above.

Burwain sailors Olivier Bates and Charlotte Gatty received prizes for the most improved sailors. In the brisk breezes, capsizes were common, and Nathan Smith and Jack Monaghan, both of Glossop Sailing Club, were awarded the Endurance prize for carrying on after the most capsizes. Astbury’s Owen Maccuish received a prize for his Almost Perfect Start.

Thanks go to Burwain Sailing Club for hosting a fantastic event, to our sponsors, and to the volunteers who helped.

Run by the RYA, OnBoard is a grass roots programme which introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18, through schools, youth groups and training centres.

Over a ten year period OnBoard aims to introduce a minimum of 500,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting over 10% of them into regular participants. So far it’s nicely on track.

For more information about how to get involved in sailing visit the RYA’s website or the OnBoard website.

Results:

Racing fleet
1. James Grummett, Burwain
2. Lauren Smith, Salford Juniors
3. Alex Dunston, Burwain

Fun Fleet Relay races
1. Team Hollybees
2. Team Actimal