SailLaser get afloat and raise money for Red Nose Day
by Katie Ashworth, LaserPerformance 23 Mar 2011 08:11 GMT
19 March 2011
On Saturday 19th March, the UK woke to the news headlines that Comic Relief had raised a staggering £74 million pounds on Red Nose Day [Friday 18th March] to support charities across the UK and Africa. Eighty young sailors at SailLaser Weymouth and SailLaser Scotland took to the water on Saturday morning to add to that total in a Red Nose Day fundraising event.
SailLaser Scotland’s hosted a Tri Mile Race, our take on a Triathlon which includes a run, pedal and sail! 20 local sailors, ran around the bottom of Strathclyde Loch, climbed into Pedalos on the shore opposite the SailLaser centre, pedalled to the waiting Laser Pico fleet, sailed around a course and then sprinted to the finish line! Families and friends lined the course and cheered all of the entrants on. The Race was won by Callum and Andrew Leber and top fund raiser was Demilee Smith who raised an impressive £150. “The event was such a success, we’ll definitely be doing the same again next year,” commented Centre Manager Robert Mutlow. Entrants enjoyed Easter eggs (a little early!) after the Tri Mile.
SailLaser Weymouth’s fundraising event offered regular OnBoard Club and Race Club members the chance to introduce a friend to sailing for free! OnBoard Club Members sailed in Laser Picos and Race Club participants sailed in a mixed fleet of Laser Bahias and Laser 2000’s. All participants wore “red” fancy dress over their wetsuits! Students from Weymouth College also took part in the Race Club. OnBoard Club Members were challenged to collect letters from each of the racing marks as they sailed the course with the aim of making a word when returning to shore, the longest word would win. Long words included Halloween and Cheesey-moon (not really a word, but we were doing “something funny for money” after all!)
Jed Gravelle and Tommy O’Sullivan were the top fundraiser at SailLaser Weymouth, collecting £72! The conditions were great for non-sailors to enjoye their first taste of sailing. A 15% discount voucher was presented to the non-sailors for Stage 1 and 2 courses during the Easter holidays at SailLaser Weymouth. Hannah Burywood added, “It’s been great to see our regular sailors teaching their friends to sail, we hope to welcome them all back to SailLaser again soon.”
A cake sale at SailLaser Weymouth also raised some extra funds for Red Nose Day. So far, sponsorship money collected at both SailLaser centres totals £1,504.54, a great contribution to the Red Nose Day total.
The charity Comic Relief was launched on Christmas Day in 1985 from a refugee camp in Sudan. The highlight of Comic Relief’s appeal is the bi-annual Red Nose Day. The first Red Nose Day was held in 1988 and £15 million was raised. In 2009, over 5 times that amount was raised to support projects in 25 African countries and the UK. SailLaser is proud to do their bit to support Comic Relief in 2011. To find out more about Comic Relief, click here to watch a short video.
You can still donate to Comic Relief by sponsoring the SailLaser UK effort through their Red Nose Day fundraising page.