Whitstable Yacht Club Push the Boat Out Day: 90 new sailors out on the water!

Whitstable Yacht Club's Push the Boat Out Day © Wendy Fitzpatrick

WYC has always responded to national 'Try a boat' and 'Push the Boat Out' days and over the years has been rewarded with an encouraging amount of interest and some very loyal new members.

This year's event on Saturday 5th May was probably the best yet: nearly 90 visitors took up our offer of a taster sail and they all came ashore wearing big smiles; 9 new memberships were taken out on the day; and many more took away information about our club and courses. We were delighted to include the Lord Mayor accompanied by the Lady Mayoress of Canterbury among that number.

We could not have asked for better weather. A warm, sunny day with a gentle to medium breeze is the perfect recipe for winning over cautious novices and that is exactly what we had. Our visitors spanned a wide age range from 8 to we're-not-going-to-ask-you-sir. Full marks to our older cadets for giving the youngsters a taste of excitement in the club's Fevas and very many thanks to Wanderer, Miracle, Dart 18 and Tasar owners for providing a variety of platforms for the adults.

An impressive number of WYC members devoted their day to oiling the organisational wheels. The onus falls not only on boat owners: reception desks must be manned, queries answered, the mini-boat show ashore organised, buoyancy loaned, visitors escorted to the boats, boats held in the water while changeovers are made, safety-boat cover provided and much, much more. Thank you to everyone who gave willingly of their time and effort to make it happen and run so smoothly.

Same time next year?

Whitstable Yacht Club's Push the Boat Out Day - photo © Tom Banbury