Ladies Who Launch (at Upper Thames Sailing Club)

Ladies who launch © Norman Waite

Ladies who launch © Norman Waite

Ladies who launch © Norman Waite

Towards the end of last year, the RYA (Royal Yachting Association) Regional Development Officer Guy Malpas spoke with the Upper Thames Sailing Club's senior instructor Sally Reed, who lives on the riverside in Bourne End, about ways in which Sailing could attract more people to take up this recreational sport. It was agreed that one group of likely participants who would benefit would be the lady members and wives of members who had not sailed before, or who had very limited experience of sailing or helming a sailing boat, plus those ladies who because of family commitments were unable to sail during normal club times.

To its credit, the club had already achieved a lot of success in the past two years with the "Saturday Fun Sailing" initiative which had targeted families, however this often left the ‘mothers’ on the riverbank supervising and organising the family! Indeed this was also the case when the RYA 'OnBoard' scheme events took place because this scheme’s focus was on getting youngsters without experience to try Sailing as a sport. So what could be better than introducing a dedicated mid-week sailing session just for the ladies.

With the added incentive of some promised RYA 'start up' funding, Sally took this to the next stage and proceeded to canvas potential participants. To her delight the club’s ladies reacted very enthusiastically to the idea of having a sociable and supportive time when they could practice their sailing or powerboat skills at their own pace, with the chance of coffee and a light lunch to keep it all nice and relaxed. It was a winning formula and there were 16 people plus 8 apologies at the inaugural meeting. Spring saw the beginning of the programme when the weather was warmer and the river had calmed down a bit.

With Sally’s RYA qualifications and with help from other UTSC trainers, the programme got underway supplying tuition as formally or informally as people wanted. As a confidence builder and as an introduction to the river, it was decided to start on the club’s powerboats first (which are used all year round as the club’s normal rescue boats and in a self-help club, these skills are always required) and then move on to sailing proper after the initial few weeks. So the ‘ladies only’ course continued with weekly sessions throughout the summer. This initiative became such a success that after the first stage was completed in May, there was a celebratory lunch when all 20 ladies, either sailing or providing instruction or safety cover went down river to The Bounty, a local riverside restaurant (they also took the men instructors as well!).

It was at this event that those who had reached the required standard received their Certificates (mostly for powerboats) which now enables them to help with the Regatta safety boat rotas or with the children’s events including Junior Bourne End week or on ‘Saturday Fun Sailing’.

The ladies’ confidence and pleasure just seem to go on increasing and the word continues to spread. In fact there was no shortage of volunteers to help at the Summer Term visits from locally based St Paul’s School year 5 children and Clayton’s School group for their ‘Healthy Living Week’ - all of these pupils thoroughly enjoyed their afternoon on the river and the Teachers hope to make this a regular event in the future.

Naturally many of the ladies for the mid-week event were either young mums or retired, and as the initial funding was soon spent, we approached Wycombe District Council (we had previously advertised our offer of an ‘open’ session on their ‘Reactivate, Bucks’ website) and were fortunate enough to receive a £400 grant which has provided a cushion against the cost of the instructors thereby making the weekly meetings self supporting.

One of the big milestones of this initiative was the annual ladies race. Last year there was only one entrant, this year we had thirteen entrants!! Ladies also showed a lot of interest in all the other tasks involved including crewing, race management and safety cover. It was great!

Whilst the current programme will conclude for the year this Autumn, people are already asking when will we start again next spring. Sally reports that it has been lovely to have been part of this project which has enabled ladies to be more confident and skilled on the water. She has viewed it as a real privilege and is so proud of the progress individual ladies have made this year. One of the other names given to this initiative was ‘Women On Water’ or WOW! In the circumstances this seems to be a most appropriate acronym.

The Upper Thames Sailing Club at Bourne End welcomes new members - see www.utsc.org.uk