WYA South Wales Acorn Llangorse OnBoard Regatta
by Hamish Stuart, RYA Wales 19 Sep 2013 12:09 BST
Almost 100 young sailors clubs took part in the WYA South Wales Acorn Llangorse OnBoard Regatta sailing competition over a successful weekend near Brecon.
Cardiff sailors did particularly well, though there was success from the home club Llangorse and there were eight clubs from around South Wales represented at the event, with Mumbles, Llandegfedd, Bowmoor, Tata and Penarth also represented.
OnBoard is a scheme designed to introduce youngsters to sailing, with this event planned for those with limited experience to pit their new found skills against each other in a safe environment with ongoing coaching.
There were 85 young sailors between the ages of 7-15 who took advantage of the opportunity, many of them in their first year of sailing.
10-year-old Annabelle Walters of Cardiff Bay won the Optimist Bats class of boat, while nine-year-old clubmate Tilly Reynolds came first in the training class.
The event for the Topper class of boat was won by 15-year-old Aiden Bell from Cardiff yacht club, while there was home success through Llangorse 12-year-old Alice Spearman in the general handicap class.
"It was a successful event over the weekend with lots of happy kids and plenty of prizes," explained Welsh Sailing's South Wales development officer Sam Healy.
"It was great to see sailors attend their first event and really embrace the weekend. Windsurfers were also part of our OB festival, this is a big step forward for windsurfing in the region. There has been growing participation in South Wales and it was great to see sailors and windsurfers together."
Llangorse were equally pleased to have successfully hosted such a major event. "Hosting isn't easy but with our huge band of volunteers we did it," said Llangorse commodore Claire Ellis.
"A huge thank-you to everyone involved – club volunteers, Acorn and the WYA. Between us all we provided a super weekend of sport for 85 junior sailors and their families. We'll be working with the WYA to make bigger and better plans for next year too."
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 www.rya.org.uk or the OnBoard website www.ruob.co.uk