Being able to do what you enjoy is a luxury that many have missed over the past few months.
The need to stay safe and protect ourselves, as well as each other, was quite rightly prioritised over our desire to train, compete and just generally enjoy sport but as many activities are able to resume, Frensham Pond Sailability are still craving the open water and camaraderie that sailing brings. As we have replaced face to face interaction with online meetings, Frensham Pond have followed suit and are utilising one of the key benefits of virtual racing – global participation. Partnering up with Wynyard Yacht Club in Australia, the two clubs have found a way to keep their members’ competitive spirit alive with their own friendly International, COINS Virtual Regatta.
Frensham and Wynyard both operate in a competitive and therapeutic capacity offering first class facilities for people who require support to sail and COINS Foundation is delighted to have been supporting their work for a number of years. Sailability has been a huge part of a number of Stepping Stones students’ varied curriculum and many have benefitted from the freedom and independence that being on the water brings.
On the other side of the world, one of our supported sailors is European and World Silver medallist, Chris Symonds who will be taking on this challenge and testing to see how his virtual sailing matches up to his superior skills on the boat. As well as competing at the highest level, Chris gives a huge amount of time back to the club, coaching and sharing his experience to help the next generation to improve and enjoy sailing in the way he has.
Each sailing session will be comprised of 4 races and there will be three ‘legs’ to determine a team and overall winner. Frensham and Wynyard will each put forward 10 boats so we hope to have an exciting few days of virtual sailing ahead of us!
The races will be held at 11am (BST) and 8pm (Tasmanian/Eastern Australia time) on Monday 6th July, Monday 13th July and Monday 20th July. If you would like to tune in to watch the races live, you can do so on the Virtual Regatta site. If you're new to the site, we'll be posting full instructions on how to find each race closer to the date on our Facebook page.