Push The Boat Out success sees hundreds take to the water in the Portsmouth area 

Glorious weather encouraged hundreds of people to come and celebrate RYA Push the Boat Out weekend on 17 and 18 May.

Five clubs in the area opened their doors at the weekend to invite people of all ages and abilities to come along and have a go at sailing and windsurfing, including Lee on Solent Sailing Club (SC), Mengeham Rythe SC, Hill Head SC, Thorney Island SC and Langstone SC.  

The clubs put on a mixture of opens days, demonstrations, have a go sessions and fun events for all the family. At Lee on Solent SC, like the others, the event was a resounding success.   

The club’s Jonty Challis said “Lee on Solent pulled out all the stops to bring about a fabulous weekend afloat. Our young sailor programme, Gybe Club, created an all action, swash buckling series of pirate adventures with over 30 youngsters taking part. We ran our special ‘Push the boat out’ Try a Sail – offering local people their first steps afloat. Even with almost no wind in the afternoon we continued with our Adult Refresher training and a series of themed club races. We also did a roaring trade in the all-day galley with loads of bacon butties.”   

At Mengeham Rye SC Wendy Ferguson reported a very successful day.  “Our Junior members were invited to ‘Bring a friend’ to experience the fun of sailing We also gave tours of the Club to non-members.”

She added “We had 45 people on the water on the day, 16 of which were Juniors who were taking part in RYA training. Others were visitors to the Club, plus families, friends and visitors watching from the balcony. Two of the families who came for a tour had membership interviews on the day and others took information packs and are interested in becoming members.  The Juniors who took part had a fantastic time on the water in perfect sailing weather.”

One visitor said "Thank you so much for inviting us as we all had a really lovely day. Our boys had such a great time out sailing that we will be looking to buy a boat and sending in our membership application soon." 

At Hill Head Sailing Club there were kayaking and canoeing sessions in the morning supported by the Gosport  5th Scouts group followed by sailing tasters. Club cruiser members sailing for the Shamrock Shaker challenge and a  dinghy cruiser sailing expedition to Fairthorne Manor was also run with club support.  

“We had 82 people on the kayaking session and several are planning to come back for another session” reported the club’s Tim Johnson. “We also had an incredible 109 people on our sailing taster sessions. Including members we had 247 people in total at the Push the Boat out Day.”

Many people expressed their appreciation.  "Thank you and your lovely club for the wonderful taster day that we enjoyed today.  The weather was amazing and we had a great time kayaking and sailing,” said  Sharon & Ivory-Willow Thyme. 

"What a day! Thank you so much - you welcomed us with such friendliness and we had a great time. You will be seeing us soon!” said another visitor, Ann.

The national event saw over 260 sailing clubs and centres up and down the country opening their doors to their local communities with Push the Boat Out ‘have a go’ sessions and open days.    

RYA Club Support Advisor Jackie Bennetts said: “Push the Boat Out is all about giving people the opportunity to discover the sport at their local sailing club and to find out just how easy it is to get involved.   “We were delighted to see so many clubs and centres taking part in the weekend, running fantastic events for their local communities. Thank you to everybody involved for all of the hard work.”

More information on RYA Push the Boat Out.