PSP Southampton Boat Show – RYA have plenty in store for youngsters

by Susie Nation-Grainger on 9 Sep 2010 PSP Southampton Boat Show (10-19 September), has plenty in store to entertain youngsters. From face painting and colouring, to an exciting treasure hunt, the RYA have their bases covered.

Explore the show
Kids can explore the show as they collect stamps on the exclusive RYA treasure hunt with fantastic prizes up for grabs including a Garmin GPS, Andark wetsuit and sailing lessons. There will be plenty of surprises along the way and kids need to collect just five stamps to receive a five pound discount on RYA Youth and Junior Membership. Visit the Andark Try A Dive stand (A010) to begin. Happy hunting!

Fun on the stand
Don’t miss the chance to enter the ‘Pimp My Boat’ competition thanks to Skandia Team GBR Support Crew, Grapefruit Graphics and Harken. Simply visit the RYA stand (E037) to design graphics and stickers to ‘pimp’ your boat, the winning entry will have their designs brought to life and created for their boat as well as receiving £200 of boat hardware from Harken.

This year’s show also sees a welcome return of the ever popular Name That Boat game giving youngsters their chance to test their boating lingo. The challenge is to correctly label the different parts of the giant boat. Visit the RYA stand (E037) to test your knowledge!

Have a go
Fancy giving sailing a try? Throughout the show, kids will have the chance to experience the thrill of sailing without even getting wet, on the dinghy sailing simulator (RYA stand E027).

And for those who want to get out on the water RYA Training centre Rockley Watersports are offering a fantastic opportunity for 8-16 year olds to try sailing with their GET AFLOAT sessions. Under the watchful eye of Rockley Watersports’ instructors youngsters will be taken to the Versedock Pontoon to experience their very first taste of sailing. Visit the GET AFLOAT booking desk (stand A001) to sign up for your half hour session before they get booked up.

It doesn’t end there. The RYA will also be running free facepainting and colouring all weekend (12:00pm-16:00pm) on the stand (E037).

Paul Bayliss, RYA Marketing Operations Manager explains 'We are delighted to be able to host lots of activities for the kids at this year’s show. We are particularly excited about the simulator as it is the closest thing to dinghy sailing you can experience without actually being in the water and is lots of fun. We hope to see lots of happy faces on the stand throughout the show.'

For more information, please go to: www.rya.org.uk