Try Sailing For Free As Greensforge Celebrates £10,000 New Boats Boost

South Staffordshire club hosting Meet the Trainers Open Day on Saturday 28 March

Greensforge Sailing Club kicks off the new sailing season by inviting all comers to get a free taste of sailing and to try out their brand new Sport England-funded boats at their ‘Meet The Trainers Open Day’ on Saturday 28 March (from 11am).

The club, one of the oldest in the Midlands and on Calf Heath Reservoir near J12 of the M6, has added two GP14 dinghies, funded by a £10,000 grant from the Sport England Small Grants fund, to its club fleet to provide even more opportunities for local people to get into sailing at low cost.

At the ‘Meet The Trainers Day’ people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds will be able to discover what the sport of sailing is about, what courses Greensforge offers, and get a taste of the unique, welcoming social life inland sailing clubs have to offer. Weather permitting visitors will be able to get out on the water to have a go too.

A small, friendly club, Greensforge SC became an RYA Training Centre, meaning it conforms to the highest standards of safety and quality, in 2013. Since then it’s been slowly building up its membership while staying true to the club’s ethos of providing value-for-money and progressive dinghy sailing to newcomers and its members.

The new boats play a key part in that as Andi Way, Commodore, explains. “There’s still this perception sailing is out of reach for a lot of people, but our family membership costs just £95 this year, which works out at £8 a month.

“By adding club boats to our training fleet it means people don’t have to rush out and buy their own, they can learn to sail and improve with us while hiring club boats at low cost to really fully embrace the sport. 

“Once people become regular sailors they do tend to buy their own boats, but the message is you don’t have to own your own boat to go sailing. If it does get to the stage you do want to buy your own, people at the club can happily advise on the best options for your budget. It doesn’t have to be as expensive as people think sailing is.”

Greensforge’s Start Sailing courses are set to take place in May and September, with the club also hosting another free Open Day on Saturday 9 May as part of national RYA Push The Boat Out. There are also ‘Get Back Into’ sessions for people who may be used to sail or who are new to the area to rediscover life on the water locally.

Andi added: “The new GP14s have a lifespan of 10+ years with the care and maintenance we will provide them with. The new members and existing members can sail regularly either in our new informal ‘Lazy Sunday’ sessions or racing once they progress their skills and confidence levels. We continue to work towards building a sustainable pathway to regular participation to retain sailors in our sport.”

RYA Push the Boat Out is a nine-day long nationwide festival of sailing aimed at introducing newcomers of all abilities and experience to the sport for free or low cost. Last year 260 sailing clubs and watersports centres in Britain hosted Push the Boat Out events with 17,000 people trying sailing or windsurfing for the first time!

Find out how you can get involved at Greensforge SC this year visit the club website at www.greensforge.org