Annual Multiclass Regatta a Resounding Success
Mon 26th January 2009
Rya Sailability Regatta 2008.
On the 8th, 9th and 10th of August RYA Sailability held its second annual multiclass regatta at Rutland Sailing Club. The event had proved to be such a resounding success last year that over the last twelve months a huge amount of organisation, particularly from the event organiser Richard Johnson, had gone into making the regatta possible again in 2008.
This is the only regatta of its kind in disabled sailing, bringing together all the different types of accessible boats and joining the 175 Sailability groups from around the UK for three days of sailing and socialising.
The regatta kicked off on Friday 8th August with registration of over eighty competitors and sixty boats. After a briefing the boats hit the water despite rain and force four winds. The classes present were the 2.4, the Access 2.3, 303 and Liberty, The Martin 16, squibs, the transition squads Challenger and the Paralympics class SKUD 18. There were two races back to back and after nearly three hours of highly competitive sailing the participants came off the water in time for the official opening. Debbie Blachford opened the weekend with words of encouragement and delight that this event is now in its second year and had attracted even more sailors and volunteers this year. Debbie also thanked the continued support of the three main sponsors of the event The National Sports Foundation, The Fawcett Trust and RYA Sailability. Pat Dodd, Chairperson of RYA Sailability also gave a few words on how proud she was that RYA Sailability was a supporter and funder of such events, ' these events are a perfect showcase of what can be achieved by the fundraising of RYA Sailability Trust, we will continue to work hard so that Debbie and her team have the availability of funds in the future to continue the great work in RYA Sailability and to continue to increase the number of people involved in disabled sailing in the UK'. The opening finished with a BBQ for all participants, giving everyone the chance to socialise and swap valuable information about how their individual Sailabilty group is run and any new initiatives that have been taken on. The atmosphere at the event was superb, the costiveness surrounding RYA Sailability and what has been achieved was clear to see.
Saturday, the second day of racing, was auction packed with four races, two in the morning followed by a further two after lunch. The sailors were determined despite the consistent rain and at times overpowering wind. The racing was very close and with only a few competitors being forced to retire, the fleets were out in force. As the last few boats came in at 5pm everyone was on tenterhooks to see who would be the overall winners of the two day fleet racing. The results were put together and spot prizes were given out during the gala dinner for the winners of each fleet. The dinner was laid for 150 people that were present at the event. These included the sailors, helpers, race co coordinators and carers. The meal was wonderful and the atmosphere full of fun with sailing stories being swapped and the laughter becoming louder as the night wore on.
Sunday saw the day start with a few sore heads but much excitement surrounding the 120 minute pursuit race. The wind was a strong force five and if there has ever been any question about the level of competitiveness in disabled sailing the sailors that went out on Sunday would silence that question indefinitely. The boats were being tested to there limit and the sailors with them but it seemed to be the spirit of the day that unless your boat was broken or turned over the sailors kept going. It was a truly inspiring sight. At 1.30pm after nearly two and a half hours on the water everyone came ashore and discarded their very wet sailing kit for the last time in the regatta.
The prize giving started at 3pm.Many special guests had arrived to hand out the prizes to the various fleets. Richard Langford , Chairman of RYA, congratulated everyone on their contribution to the weekend and had a few words for the sailors'" I am a member of Rutland sailing club and looking at the weather today it would have taken a lot for me to have gone out, so to see the scale of the numbers on the water today was inspiring'. Richard presented the prizes to the winners of the challenger class, John Draper and to the Access 2.3 winner Clare Andrew, Access303 winner Paul Holzerr and Access liberty winner Bill Mitchell. Pauline Harrison of IFDS presentedthe prizes to theMartin 16 class, the winner being Chris Atkin and her husband Ian Harrison former president of IFDS presented the prize to the winner of the SKUD 18 Class, Nick Birrell.Ian also wished the members of the SKUD 18 class representing Great Britain in Beijing , including Nick, the very best of luck. The manager of Parasport was also in attendance to present the prizes to the winners of the squib fleet and the 2.4 fleet. The winner of the squib fleet was Alison Gunn, a newcomer to racing and to the regatta. Alison was delighted that she had won given that she had never raced before. Alison is visually impaired and is one of RYA Sailability's regional organisers, she has also shown that anyone can take part, do well and help to spread the word about what is being achieved in RYA Sailability. The winner of the 2.4 fleet was Megan Pascoes, who will also be representing Great Britain in the paralympics. The last prizes to be given out were those of the pursuit race, Pat Dodd gave out engraved photo frames with vouchers to pick a personal photo to all the pursuit race fleet winners. Sue Ellis, wife of the late Ken Ellis had kindly attended to give the Ken Ellis, former Chairman of RYA, special trophy to the champion of champion, the winner of the pursuit race. The winner from the 2008 regatta was John Draper of the Challenger class. John is also a member of the Transition squad and was delighted with his win, promising to come back next year to defend his title.
The event was closed by Debbie Blachford who gave many notes of thanks to all who attended and helped make the weekend such a success.In particular Rutland were thanked for providing not only the most fantastic facilities and catering but the most willing helpers and volunteers. Debbie also confirmed that the evnts had been booked for next year, she announced ' I am delighted to inform you that the multiclass regatta will be held on the 14th, 15th and 16th of August 2009. This has been such an inspiring event event for everone inolved and because of the continued support of our sponsors we will be able to continue to make this an annual occurrence'.The organisers along with RYA Sailability are hoping that next year the event will gain in momentum even more with the presence of more sailors and boats.RYA Sailability can be rached at info@ryasailability.org.uk for all regatta enquiries.