Celebrations as Sarah Ayton announces 50,000 OnBoard youngsters hooked on sailing 

At the PSP Southampton Boat Show

Last month the RYA announced that half a million youngsters of all ages and backgrounds throughout the country have been introduced to sailing and windsurfing through the RYA OnBoard Programme (OB).   

Today (Saturday 20 September) at the PSP Southampton Boat Show, double Olympic  gold medallist Sarah Ayton officially announced that over the past ten years 50,000 of these youngsters have enjoyed the sport so much they’ve continued to go sailing on a regular basis.  

Sarah said: “It was honour to be here with the RYA and the OnBoard programme today. OnBoard is an amazing programme and I’m a great believer that it’s about creating the opportunity but OnBoard goes a step further and it gives the kids an opportunity to carry on sailing. Hopefully they’ll have aspirations to go to championships or maybe one day compete at the Olympic Games.”  

Whether it’s taking to the water for the first time during a PE lesson or learning how to race, OB introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18 at an affordable cost, through schools, youth groups and training centres.  

Sarah has supported the OB programme since it was created in 2005. Today she was joined by the OB team and 20 young OnBoard sailors and instructors from Lee on Solent Sailing Club. Sarah took the time to sign autographs, share some advice and show the kids her gold medal.  

“When OB was created in 2005 we set ourselves the ambitious targets of introducing half a million young people to the sport but alongside this we also needed to create opportunities for these children to stay in the sport and continue to enjoy the benefits that the sport provides” explains OnBoard Operations Officer Cat Ferguson.  

“To be here today and be able to say we’ve achieved this is fantastic. We’re now seeing these young people going on to have careers within the marine industry, some becoming instructors themselves and others being selected to be part of the RYA Zone Squads. These opportunities may not have been possible without OB and we will continue to inspire many more young sailors in the future”.    

For more information about how to get involved in sailing visit www.rya.org.uk/go/onboard