19/07/2010
Onboard kids beat the gales and have a great regatta on Hove Lagoon.
'Onboard kids beat the Gales!'
A group of children from Sussex all gathered at Hove Lagoon on Saturday 17th July for the 2010 Onboard Festival. All of the children had learnt to sail through the RYA OnBoard scheme and were from various schools and youth groups in the local area.
Strong F5-6 wind and sun greeted the children, fortunately the hosts at Lagoon Watersports were ready and with the Lagoon being super safe and sheltered it made it a perfect spot for the racing in the strengthening winds. The afternoon of fun started with some quick games all centered around improving boat handling skills in the flash 'Bugs' kindly provided by Laser especially for the event. Once the guys had got used to the new boats it was over to Janek for some special go-faster tips and then straight into some hotly contested racing.
The first individual races were won by a triumphant Milan Trayner in his first ever race event! "That was amazing! Racing is really fun and it was great to race against other kids from the area. I was also very happy to beat my brother!"
Mark Saul Onboard Officer for West Sussex ran the event accompanied byLagoon Watersports race expert Janek Payne. Mark commented "I think Janek and I had as much fun as the kids! It was great to get on the water with them and have some fun. Massive thank you to Ian for bringing down the Bugs and well done to the kids it was super windy out there!"
The day finished with a BBQ in the sun and a prize giving where all the kids were presented with Bug goodie bags and Milan was presented with his trophy.