Sun shines on sailors at Salford 

The sun shone all day at the RYA OnBoard Manchester Fun Festival, held at Salford Quays on 28 October.

Young sailors, aged 8 to 16 flocked to the event, with 37 sailors from five clubs getting involved. All of the kids learned to sail with the RYA OnBoard initiative.  

Some had only just started sailing two months ago, others had up to three years experience, but all were eager to show their skills. Divided into eight teams, the sailors had to complete various tricky tasks on the water, from blindfolded sailing to relay races. There were races throughout the day on the water, including paddling, windsurfing and treasure hunts plus onland races.  

 The winning team were the colourfully named Pink Pants, who were a combined team from Hollingworth Huricanes and Hollingworth Lake Sailing Club. They finished just ahead of home team Blondes and Brunettes from Salford Quays Watersports Centre, with Sweet and Sour Monkeys, from Glossop Sailing Club in third place.  

The Hollingworth team were ecstatic after their win, as this was their first win of the year. As the last event of the year, this had been their last chance to break their duck. All the teams enjoyed the dizzying variety of types of races on the water and ashore, and Joanne Collins of Astbury Sailsports declared, “This event is all about fun.”  

That was a sentiment echoed by RYA OnBoard Development Officer  Nathan Scarll. “It was a brilliant day, with a great fun atmosphere enjoyed by all, even while being competitive. The weather was perfect, you would have thought it was summer!”  

Run by the RYA, OnBoard is a grass roots programme which introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18, through schools, youth groups and training centres.  

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 www.rya.org.uk or the OnBoard website www.ruob.co.uk .