With the Trustees of the John Merricks Sailing Trust having announced their intention to dissolve the charity late last year, the funds were to be put towards purposes that will continue to honour the memory of Olympic dinghy sailor John Merricks, who tragically died in a car crash at a young age. With the charity’s aims to provide a lasting legacy for young people under the age of 25 to achieve their potential through the sport of sailing, Rickmansworth Sailing Club’s project to purchase a number of Topper Dinghies which will be used by the Club’s youth section fitted the bill perfectly.
Rickmansworth Sailing Club, which sails on Troy Lake in West Hyde, is an active Sailing Club with a mixed sailing programme for all ages. It sails year round with a packed racing and cruising calendar. The Club is an RYA Recognised Training Centre and it recently became part of the RYA’s OnBoard programme, which focuses on getting young people aged 8-18 into sailing. The Club already had a particularly popular youth section, known as the ‘Trojans’ – giving young people the opportunity to have fun on the water, so these additional boats add to the opportunities available to members and the local community.
Martyn Hawkins, Club Commodore, said “We were delighted to succeed in our application to the JMST, because of their generosity we are taking delivery of six brand-new Toppers on the 08 April just in time for use in summer.”
As an RYA Recognised Training Centre, these boats will be well used to deliver training to young people, introducing them to and helping them to improve in the sport of sailing. The Toppers will be great for our youth activities as an RYA OnBoard Club. Of course, they will also be available for club members of all ages to hire when they are not in use by one of the teams.
It is an exciting time for Rickmansworth Sailing Club, as well as the new Toppers we are undertaking the refurbishment of our clubhouse to help offer better facilities for our members and the community groups using our club.
Located in West Hyde, Hertfordshire, we’re a friendly club sailing and socialising in a lovely setting on 45 acres of water owned by the club, with around 300 members enjoying the facilities. We sail all year round, aiming to make sailing fun, with a mixed sailing programme suitable for all ages and Trojans specifically for the younger members. We offer supervised sailing for those who prefer to cruise rather than race.“
Rickmansworth Sailing Club was one of eight sailing clubs awarded funding, which was announced at the RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show.
To find out more about Rickmansworth Sailing Club visit http://www.rscsailing.org/
Run by the RYA, OnBoard is a grass roots programme which introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18, through schools, youth groups and training centres.
The low cost sessions are designed to promote equal access to sailing for young people from all social and economic backgrounds, whilst encouraging their character development.
Since 2005, OnBoard has introduced more than 900,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting some 70,000 of them into regular participants.
For more information about how to get out on the water in the East Region, visit https://www.rya.org.uk/start-boating