Magenta Project day at Royal Anglesey Yacht Club
by RYA Cymru-Wales 4 Aug 2019 14:14 BST
Stevie Scanlan, Kim Jones - Magenta Project © RYA Cymru-Wales
More than 20 female sailors took advantage of the Magenta Project day at Royal Anglesey yacht club, which will have an ongoing impact on women's sailing in North Wales.
The Magenta Project is a charity committed to creating equal access and opportunities for women in sailing, with international sailor Ellie Draper and RYA instructor Jo Powell on hand to help those taking part in Beaumaris on the Menai Strait.
Commodore of the Royal Anglesey Yacht Club, Mrs Stevie Scanlan described the day as "awe-inspiring" as one of the 23 taking part in nine boats, after the club entered a national competition to earn the opportunity to host one of the high-profile days run by the Magenta Project around the UK.
Those taking part, travelling from as far as Aberdovey and the Wirral, enjoyed instruction on helming the classic Fife 1 keel boats, racing starts and race tactics.
The Magenta Project has teamed up with the RYA, the national governing body for sailing in the UK, to help promote more women racing keelboats at club level through tailored coaching sessions at clubs up and down the country, run by RYA qualified Magenta Project coaches, to get more female club members on the water racing, more often.
"We were very excited to be hosting this day at Royal Anglesey and it was very successful," said Scanlan.
"We had a whole day of race training and it was brilliant. Everybody said how useful it was.
"Our club members lent us their boats for the day and we hosted a barbecue after training, it was a real team effort that made me very proud to be part of such a great team."
Antony Robinson, the club's development officer who organised the event, said, "There was a mixed ability from regular sailors to people who had never sailed keelboats before, overall there was a lot of experience of different types of sailing.
"It was amazing for us as a club. A couple of people loved it so much that they have been offered crewing opportunities in our club racing since then, which is absolutely brilliant.
"It was really nice for members of the club and others to have training in the environment where it was not tactical racing.
"We do not practice starts apart from in the more stressful conditions of the club races, as a result we are thinking of organising club race training planning ahead for next season.
"The amount of experience the Magenta Project brought to the club was fantastic, there were some younger sailors who have taken part in squad training but were looking to make the leap up to bigger boats, so it was inspirational for them too."
The Royal Anglesey also offers rowing through the Beaumaris Rowing Club and the day coincided with an important league rowing event, so the club was packed, with perfect conditions for both sailors and rowers alike.
Thanks to The Magenta Project, female sailing in North Wales certainly received a major boost.
For further details about Welsh sailing and watersports, please go to RYA CYMRU Wales page on website or Facebook page or follow on Twitter @RYACymruWales. You can also keep up to date by following RYA Cymru Wales on Instagram.