OnBoard Bug Racing at Delph Sailing Club

Prize winners after the Bug racing at Delph © OnBoard

Two young sailors from Delph Sailing club won their respective fleet titles as 25 youngsters from across Greater Manchester competed in a day of Bug racing at Delph Sailing Club near Bolton on Saturday.

One of them, Phillipe Sawczuk was taking part in his first ever sailing event and he won the Silver Fleet - just a year after taking up sailing through the RYA's OnBoard programme which was behind the event.

The other successful sailor from Delph was Kevin Worsley who took the Bronze Fleet title, again after just a year's experience.

OnBoard is the RYA's grassroots sailing scheme which introduces youngsters to sailing and windsurfing through clubs, training centres, schools and youth groups.

The conditions were perfect for the event with a steady force 2-3 all day and believe it or not that rarity in our 2012 summer: sunshine!

The competitors were placed into five different leagues with up to six kids in a league. Then they competed in different activities throughout the day. Then finally from the results of all the leagues the competitors were placed into a Gold, Silver and Bronze fleet to race off for the championship. The top six results within the leagues counted towards finding out which club were the champions.

During the league stages of the competition the children did a series of different races in a variety of boats. In Toppers they sailed a triangular course, in Bugs they did an upwind downwind course, in Optimists they did a beam reach course and in Toppers and Optimists they did a team race.

There was a final race with the Gold fleet racing in the 12 Toppers, the Silver fleet in six Bugs and the Bronze fleet racing in the seven Optimists. This was a triangular course for all competitors.

The event was run as part of the RYA OnBoard programme and also under the banner of the Sail for Gold Initiative to inspire new sailors in the run-up to the 2012 Games. Bugs are a small one or two person dinghy that can be put on top of a car but still give keen competition for a range of skill levels from beginner to advanced.

Eight of the boats used on the day were provided by LaserPerformance.The event was a major success because all the local clubs got involved and provided the rest of the boats.

"A massive 'thank you' has to go out to Bolton Sailing Club, Salford Quays, Hollingworth Lake and the hosts Delph Sailing Club for making this day possible for the competitors. It's a massive tribute to how strong OnBoard is in the North West," said Nathan Scarll.

Prizes of goody bags were provided by Harken.

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.