New boats boost for aspiring Olympians at Chelmarsh SC 

Sport England funded RS Fevas provide new options for club's youngster

Chelmarsh Sailing Club has received a boost in discovering its next Olympic star of the future after the club received a £8,200 grant from Sport England to buy two new state-of-the-art RS Feva dinghies to help develop promising young sailors.

Over the past two years, Chelmarsh SC has seen a huge growth in its junior training programme, with the youngsters learning the basics and honing their skills in the club’s fleets of Optimist and Laser Pico dinghies.

But the new RS Fevas - one of the junior dinghy classes that sailing’s national governing body, the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), supports in developing Olympic potential – give those youngsters the chance to learn more advanced racing skills in high performance boats, with the potential for progression into the RYA’s regional and national junior squads.

Chelmarsh SC has a proud record of producing Olympic sailors, with Andy Beadsworth twice representing Britain at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000, while Penny Clark (nee Mountford) competed at the last Games in Beijing in 2008.

Terry Gumbley, Chelmarsh SC Bosun, said: “During the last two years we have seen a huge growth in our junior training and fun days and were in desperate need of some modern, medium sized asymmetric boats for our rapidly expanding junior fleet. We decided on the RS Feva since it is the ideal size for two juniors, an adult and a junior or just a single adult. There is also an already well established class circuit for the juniors to move on to following their training so they can progress their racing further. The boats also give us the opportunity to develop the skills of adults in using asymmetric spinnakers and race tactics.”

Chelmarsh SC is proud to be signed up as a ‘Sail for Gold’ club, as part of the RYA’s nationwide initiative to bring the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games as close to home as possible for everyone. Under the motto of ‘Inspire. Celebrate. Support’, ‘Sail for Gold’ is about encouraging people, wherever they live, to get out on the water, either for the first time or more often, to celebrate Britain’s unmatched Olympic sailing heritage and show their support for Britain’s sailing team for London 2012.

Terry added: “Andy Beadsworth and Penny Clark are already great inspirations for our young sailors and we are fortunate to have first-hand experience of how incredible a personal association with the Olympics can be for a club and its members. London 2012 is all about the idea of legacy and if the legacy we can leave from the Games is that we have encouraged more local people to become regular sailors then we will be really proud.”

RYA Midlands Regional Development Officer, Gareth Brookes, helped Chelmarsh SC with its grant application. He said: “For people to stay in any sport they have to enjoy taking part, and the great thing about sailing is there is always something new to learn. People are more likely to enjoy themselves, and want to return, if clubs have first-class equipment. The new Fevas will make a big difference to the range and quality of sailing experience Chelmarsh SC can offer to both junior and adult sailors.”