Push The Boat Out success sees hundreds take to the water on the Island 

Four clubs on the Island 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...

Glorious weather encouraged hundreds of people to come and celebrate RYA Push the Boat Out weekend on 17 and 18 May.  Four clubs on the Island 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 Gurnard Sailing Club (SC), Royal Victoria Yacht Club, Brading Haven Yacht Club and Medina Valley Centre. Shanklin SC will be holding their event next weekend.  

The clubs put on a mixture of opens days, demonstrations, have a go sessions and fun events for all the family.

At Gurnard SC, like the others, the event was a resounding success.    “We ran a 'try a boat day'  and invited new club members as well as the public,” reported the Club’s Liz Harrison. “Our kitchen was open for tea and coffee, and we had various classes of dinghy available for people to take sailing. Twenty two people went afloat, and thirty six turned up altogether.  We had around six membership applications as a result of the day, plus a number of children who want to sign up to our cadet programme and some adults who were interested in sail training.”   

She added “It was a beautiful day, and while we waited for the afternoon wind to arrive we were able to show people around the club, and get them enthusiastic about joining, Our lovely location encourages them.

One little girl, Christina, aged 7 told us it was the best day she had ever had!”  

The Royal Victoria Yacht Club, near Ryde welcomed 21 visitors, laying on a number of different types of dinghies and offering RIB rides too. Steve Sheridan reported “We had one family join and another expressing a strong interest.”

At Brading Haven the Push the Boat Out Weekend 180 people visited the club on Saturday over the weekend with 69 people taking to the water.

Robin Lobb reported “We had all our club boats available for members to take out including Optimists, Picos, Wayfarers and the Club Swan, which is a local boat.  A fun race was held on the Saturday using a short course with a couple more serious races on the Sunday for people to join in or at least watch.”

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 Push the Boat Out here