Two RS Vision dinghies join Ripon Sailing Club's fleet
by Jennie Clark 27 Aug 2013 08:03 BST
26 August 2013
Family Fun Day at Ripon © Jennie Clark
On Monday 26 August Ripon SC's Commodore, Dennis Altoft, was delighted to launch 2 new RS Vision dinghies, generously grant funded by Sport England. The dinghies will join the club's fleet of training boats and will be available for hire by members. Rear Commodore, Jennie Clark, speaking at the launch said 'these dinghies will allow us to train more adults and provide a valuable resource for hire by our members'. The club is a recognised RYA Teaching Establishment and each year a programme of junior and adult dinghy and powered craft courses are run, with demand this year outstripping the original timetable and additional courses being run to get 'more people sailing more often'.
The dinghies were launched as part of 'Family Fun Day', and were soon in use. With asymmetric spinnakers the boats will bring a new dimension to the club's training timetable and allow the training and coaching teams to run more advanced programmes.
Family Fun Day is a regular feature in the club's programme and this year the good weather resulted in a massive on the water presence with shrieks of laughter ringing out across the water as balloon races became water fights, those on the shore enjoyed treasure and scavenger hunts, an anagram race kept minds active and a barrel race ensured that all the children got very wet! One of the club's youngest members, Josh Phillips, who will be 2 in a fortnight, was taken out for a sail by his Dad, Dan - the entire Phillips family having been afloat over the weekend with a 'duel' between his parents providing a lot of amusement and partisan shouting from the shore, with his Mum, Craftinsure's Claims Manager, Katy winning the battle!
It's an exciting time for the club, with work starting shortly on the refurbishment of the clubhouse to improve access and facilities for the disabled, and bring the building up to date in terms of changing facilities, heating and lighting systems. This work is being part funded by a £50k Inspired Facilities Grant and the club intends to have the new facilities up and running in time for a hectic 2014 season.