Poole Harbour proves good challenge for youngsters at OnBoard regatta

by RYA Media on 6 Oct 2009 Forty eight youngsters aged between nine and 14 took to the water on Saturday (26th September) to improve their sailing skills and compete in a series of races at the OnBoard Regatta 2009.

The event, hosted by Harbour Challenge at Brownsea Island, was a great opportunity for the youngsters, including beginners, to enjoy a day of racing in Pico class dinghies provided by Harbour Challenge and Rockley Watersports.

The children, sailing in pairs, were split into two fleets according to ability. All had been invited to attend from the Onboard teams of their local clubs including Harbour Challenge, Rockley Watersports, Poole Yacht Club and Swanage Sailing Club.

They went on to compete in some five or six races in fabulous late summer weather, although racing was a bit tricky in the light winds.


Fleet winners were Mollie McVey and Jennifer Condie in the red fleet and Sam Dooley and Max Whaley in the orange fleet.

Both pairs came from Swanage Sailing Club. Mollie, aged 10, and from Swanage commented “ Winning was my favourite part of the day. This is the first medal I have ever won in anything. I loved it!” This was Jennifer’s and Mollie’s first taste of racing - they’ve only been sailing for a year.

The red fleet was for the beginners, and the orange fleet was for those sailors who had been sailing for more than just this season. All the children had got into sailing through the Onboard (OB) scheme and are currently regularly participating at their local OB clubs. All the helpers and volunteers are or have been involved with OB at their clubs too.

Despite their inexperience sailors in the red fleet did particularly well, especially Josh and Matthew Brunyee from Rockley OB club, who battled hard all day and finished in 2nd place overall. They received the consistency prize for the day, not for winning but always being in the top four in every race.

In the orange fleet after a slow start Jacob Williamson from Harbour Challenge, managed to gain a 1st place in one of the afternoon races to get himself into the top three places. However, despite eventually finishing fourth due to the scoring system of discards, he has remarkable talent and could be a future sailing star. He has already won the Parkstone Yacht Club OB regatta in August.

Pip Woods, the OnBoard Development Officer who organised the event said “It’s been an absolutely fantastic day. It’s been such a great experience for me to see so many children enjoying the regatta. Two years ago most of these children hadn’t even sailed and this has all happened as a result of the Onboard scheme. It was great to see four clubs being represented here today. I am proud to be involved and today just proves that Onboard is making a difference!!'

The event was supported by Harken, RS, and Laser Performance. Run by sailing’s National Governing Body, the RYA, OnBoard is a highly successful industry supported grass roots programme which seeks to make sailing easier to get into for young people.

Over a ten year period the programme aims to introduce a minimum of 500,000 children to sailing 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.