With Spring in the air and the gales lashing the rigging it’s time to brush up on our sailing plans for this year!
At last shipmates we are on the very cusp of cruising, the sharpened edge of racing and the fulfilment of flotilla’ing!
First up is the Royal escape, now renamed the Ramsgate Run as those frolicking Frenchie’s don’t want us pesky Brits buying their baguettes or quaffing their calvados – hey ho we say and Ramsgate it is! The plucky crew head off on the 80mile dash along the south coast on 25th of May returning with trophies clutched and a victory song playing on their lips on the first of June. Fully subscribed and with film footage and match reports to follow.
The Round the Island Race follows, skippered by Rick Smith and fully booked with his race hardened crew. They’ll be hitting the start line along with 1800 boats early on the morning of 3rd July. Pip Hare is in the mix and I have no doubt our boys will be pushing to finish before our well travelled patron! Good luck team Visa-gb and we look forward to hearing all about it.
Our Sea Vision odyssey starts on 7th August with Peter Sandover calling the shots for week one as they cruise from Falmouth to Poole. Four days of day sailing are happening in Poole with 20 new visually impaired sailors having a dash around the bay. Tim Sandford picks up the baton on the 14th for week two of the trip with a gentle meander to Plymouth where we hand over to Rosie Dalton for week three. Rosie is running two taster days, one in Plymouth and the final one in Falmouth, whilst cruising the lovely waters of the South West. Sea Vision, thanks to the national lottery, is providing sailing for 39 visually impaired adults free of charge – so thanks again to the national lottery and to all the volunteers taking part in this event – the first of it’s kind! dates and details are all on our website.
Solent trip on a UKSA boat is now in the diary starting on 5th September, more to follow on this one as we may have a couple of spare berths, it’s early in the planning so await updates.
And then the pipes, the pipes, are calling you! It’s flotilla time on the beautiful West Coast of Scotland. Dates are 18th to 25th September. Four boats with Rick Smith, Steve Benn, Mark Godwin and David Thompson as your skippers. It promises to be a cracker, four lovely yachts from our friends at Flamingo Yacht Charter, a great set of volunteers and you, yes you know who you are, sailing those boats around the islands and lochs – enjoy!
There’s still talk of a warm weather cruise in the Autumn, Big Al is working hard to locate suitable boats, locations and all things needed to make this marvellous Mediterranean mystery tour bear fruit. Contact Sue if you fancy dipping your toes into the warm waters. We’ll keep you updated as soon as plans are firmed up.
We have some exciting plans for 2022 but you can help by letting us know what you’d like do, where you’d like to sail and by lending a hand on organising – get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.
That’s all for now but isn’t great to know we’ll be out there soon!
“What do you call a sail with only two corners?” “I haven’t got a clew!”
All the best from all the Trustees at Visa-gb
