Dinghy Show Preview

Dinghy celebration!

The ever popular RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show, presented by Suzuki, takes place on 26-27 February. What is in store this year?

The RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show, presented by Suzuki, takes place at its new venue of Farnborough

International Exhibition Centre over the weekend of 26-27 February.

With room to expand and include new exhibitors, the 2022 show promises to be better than ever and this year will widen the scope of the event to feature paddleboarding, kayaking and other board sports, in addition to its dinghy core.

RYA Shows and Promotions Manager Celia Edgington said: “For 70 years the show has proudly hosted some of the greatest names in the industry and for 2022 we have a full range of expert speakers across three stages. We’re welcoming back some much-loved dinghy sailing favourites alongside watersports coaches, medallists and more.” Over the next few pages we preview the show, with a glance at some of the exhibitors, talks and other attractions that are going on.

ABOVE

Boats, equipment, clothing, talks and time to enjoy a shared hobby, all in the show's new venue at Farnborough

We will have our own stand there at A24. Please come and say hello, grab your free copy of the magazine!

Exhibitors at a glance

Barton

The UK company has a vast range of dinghy kit from class-specific replacement packs to individual blocks, vangs, strops and more. Their dinghy boom strut and Laser kits have proved innovative and popular.

bartonmarine.com

Stand F64

Bainbridge

The world’s oldest sailcloth and hardware manufacturer and distributor will be selling a range of sailcloth bags, sailing gloves, foul weather clothing, and buoyancy aids as well as displaying a wider range, relevant to the dinghy world. They will also be offering sailcloth advice.

bainbridgeint.com

Stand C24

Devoti/D-zero

The company is a regular show exhibitor and will have an ILCA and D-zero at the show as well as information about its many other boats and projects it has ongoing with top sailors.

devotisailing.com

Stand E20

Gill

The British brand will be for sale at the show through outlet Pinnell & Bax, with much of its latest range including its Aqua Parka (second from left, below), retailing for around £140, well-suited for duties in the dinghy park.

gillmarine.com

See Pinnell & Bax, stand F82

Harken

Harken UK will be at the show offering sales and information on its products ranging from its grip tape to high performance blocks, to furling hardware and more.

harken.co.uk

Stand C40

Mustang Survival

A new brand for UK sailors but wellestablished in Canada and the US, with high quality sailing clothing and kit for sale and much more in the pipeline for 2022.

mustangsurvival.com

Stand G81

Musto

Sustainability is the name of the game at Musto and their latest range, launched with 11th Hour Racing, includes the Evolution hoodie (second from right, below). All products in the range are made entirely from polyester, “facilitating a circular recycling process at the products’ end-of-life”. Musto has several big announcements at the show including news about new kit for 2022.

musto.com

Stand F40

Nacra

Multihull specialist and UK dealer Fluid Boat Services will be on hand to discuss all things Nacra, including coaching, brokerage, spares, maintenance and more, along with the World Sailing youth multihull the Nacra 15, along with its big sister the Olympic Nacra 17, plus an F18 Evolution, a Nacra 20 and the brand new Nacra 500.

nacra.co.uk, fluidboatservices.com

Stand B30

Rain & Sun

A range of dinghy and catamaran covers, made in the UK from UV treated materials, easy to fit and take off thanks to clip buckles and straps and shock cord draw strings.

rainandsun.co.uk

Stand D4

Rooster

A show staple and offering a huge range of dinghy kit including new replacement Laser/ILCA sail combos, Velcro clew straps for various dinghies and much more.

roostersailing.com

Stand G30

Royal Hospital School

The school that produced Youth Worlds ILCA6 champion Seb Kemp is an RYA-recognised training establishment offering inland sailing on Alton Water, a few minutes from its main campus in Suffolk, and coastal sailing too.

royalhospitalschool.org

Stand A34

Seldén

Win a complete Seldén dinghy deck hardware kit at the show – enter at the Seldén stand. Plus see Seldén’s new manual ratchet and soft attachment blocks (pictured below). These, and the company’s complete range of dinghy deck hardware, will be for sale. Meanwhile the Seldén SailJuice Winter Series’ prize giving is on the Suzuki Main Stage at 10.15, Saturday.

seldenmast.com

Stand C12

Seafarer

Win a holiday for two at Nikiana Beach Club, with flights! This will launch online on 17 February and run until 15.30 on the Sunday of the show, with a prizegiving at 4pm at the show and on Facebook Live.

seafarersailing.co.uk

Stand F54

UKSA

The team from the Cowes sail training base will be on hand with information about their wellestablished courses and industry training.

uksa.org

Stand F56

For the full list of exhibitors, visit dinghyshow.org.uk

Show talks – what not to miss!

The RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show has a series of excellent talks throughout each day, across three stages. These feature some of the sport’s biggest names and a wealth of experts passing on invaluable advice for racing and cruising in small boats, as well as on maintenance and other general tips on boat ownership.

The Club of the Year competition, supported by Gallagher, is one of the big highlights, run by the RYA with Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting. The RYA’s new chief executive Sarah Sutcliffe will announce the winning club, as voted for by the public, on the Suzuki

Main Stage at 4pm. The atmosphere is always tense for this one!

The Suzuki Main stage also hosts some of the British Sailing Team, giving insights on their careers and historic performances – watch out for Eilidh McIntyre (Saturday only), Dylan Fletcher and Matt Gotrel of INEOS Britannia (Sunday only) hosted by Hannah Diamond (see page 67 of this issue).

The show is not just about racing. The Dinghy Cruising Association’s Roger Barnes talks about his latest dinghy travel adventures, followed by Steve White from Cody Sailing Club on the new RYA Dinghy Trails.

Also on both the Saturday and Sunday, historian Dougal Henshall will give a fascinating talk about the last 70 years of performance sailing.

The Knowedge Zone is packed with useful practical talks, including start line expertise with British Sailing Team coach Jonny McGovern and 'rudderless steering' with Steve Cockerill.

Our regular writer and Olympic coach Mark Rushall talks on both days at 11.15am on tactics – always one of the best attended sessions of the show.

This year there is also a Watersports Stage, with sessions on the RYA Wing Scheme, as well as talks about windfoiling, windsurfing, winging and paddleboarding.

Meanwhile you can head to the show’s ‘Sailors’ Corner’ to meet members of the British Sailing Team and other sailing heroes, plus play virtual reality games.

Over the next few pages we talk to some of those people presenting at the show. See the full schedule at dinghyshow.org.uk

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The Club of the Year winner announcement is always a packed house

BELOW L-R

Laser star Sam Whaley will be busy with several appearances at the show; Stu Bithell and Dylan Fletcher, seen here pre-Olympics at the last show – Dylan will be at the 2022 event; Hannah Diamond is show host

Keeping girls sailing

Demonstrating pathways is a key element of sustaining participation in any sport and ‘ is Girl Can Race’, a

Q&A session at the Dinghy &

Watersports Show on both Saturday and Sunday, will give top female racers the chance to relate their routes through the sailing ranks.

Hosted by Hannah Diamond, ' is Girl Can Race' will feature

Laser Radial sailor Hannah

Snellgrove (Saturday only), 49erFX sailor Steph Orton (Sunday only), of the British Sailing Team, and 29er sailor Hattie Rogers.

Also on the panel will be Susie

Moore, RYA Regional Development

O cer for the south region and a keen competitive sailor herself as skipper of a Solent-based J/111.

Susie said: “It’s about showing pathways that are not so obvious, such as race coaching, lifelong friendships and even travelling the world, because across all sport, not just sailing, we do see girls in their early teens start to step away from the competitive elements.

“Sometimes they feel more motivated by the recreational side and they feel they may lose the social side of the sport in a competitive environment. e irony is that you still very much have the social element within the regatta world and if you progress to keelboat or yacht sailing, then the bigger the boat, the more the social side grows.”

Sailing club membership across the UK is roughly 39% female and Susie said: “Society in general is at 51%, so our clubs are not representative and that does indicate that we’re not structuring the sport in a way that is female-friendly."

A decline in female participation is noticeable in the early teens and while the title of the Q&A session might suggest it’s only for young female sailors, Susie makes clear it is as much for race organisers.

“ ere can be an improvement in how those who are organising events think about who they are organising them for,” she said. “ ey’re not doing anything wrong, it’s just about awareness.”

A full day on the water with back-to-back races and no chance to go ashore fails to take into account needs as basic as menstruation. Susie says: “ ese are things that historically haven’t been considered and for some people it’s an unconscious bias, but it is o en males that are running the racing and they might not think about that, or the fact that women can’t just go for a wee o the back of the boat. It’s not a conversation that people are comfortable having, hence the lack of awareness, and we also need to talk to women and girls so that they can handle this.” On the J/111 that Susie skippers, it’s a mixed crew and she said: "Yes, women can be great tacticians, great helms, but they can also have the strength to do other jobs on the boat. “You can also create partnerships. We generally need a smaller crew because we have a class weight limit – so we’ve made sure our mastman can support our bow, who is a woman, when strength is needed. Meanwhile we accelerate quicker with a lighter person up front. “I’d love to see a world where we are not referring to a ‘female tactician’ – it should be just ‘the tactician’ and based on skills. at’s when we know we’ve reached gender equality.” She stressed: “Gender isn’t the only part of our sport where we need to push on doors and ask why some people don’t see sailing as something that’s for them. Everyone has di erent types of privilege. We need to have the right conversations so that people feel comfortable stepping through the doors of their local sailing club." Covers is Girl Can Race takes place at 2.15pm on Saturday and Sunday in the Knowledge Zone

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Youth sailing is thriving but there is a noticeable drop-o in young female participation

www.rainandsun.co.uk

Dinghy covers

Call Philip Bull on 023 8034 8854

Dinghy cruising treasures

These two dinghies will be centre stage at the Dinghy Cruising Association's stand A20, at the RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show.

Mary Dooley’s Mirror dinghy has been seen at the show before and will make a welcome return, no doubt causing as much astonishment as ever that a humble Mirror can be home for a blissful few days of camping cruising. Mary will be there in person again to show how she does it.

Also on the stand will be Alastair Law’s self-built Paradox, Little Jim, not quite 14ft long and 2ft wide. She’s

ABOVE (L-R)

Alastair Law's home-built Paradox; and Mary Dooley's Mirror flat bottomed with no centreboard. Alastair will also be on hand to explain Microcruising as a concept.

Exploring by Dinghy, a talk by the Dinghy Cruising Association’s Roger Barnes, followed by Steve White from Cody Sailing Club, on the new RYA Dinghy Trails, will be on the Suzuki Main Stage, both days, at 12.30pm.

How to get a decent forecast

In this excellent age of access to a million and one weather sources,” says meteorologist Simon Rowell, who is giving two talks at the RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show, “it’s easy to look at your phone and forget about how the weather is actually working. What

I want to do is show people how to get a decent forecast to make their day on the water more enjoyable.”

Simon is a Clipper Race-winning skipper, author of several weather books and consultant on weather to everyone from the British

Sailing Team to ocean rowers.

He approaches the subject from all angles, utilising traditional methods as much as he does the latest tech: “It’s about learning to understand it better and then being able to use it more. Part of going back to basics is always just using the mark#1 eyeball, but now with the internet you can look further upwind to see what is happening out of sight – there are lots of sites that will give you wind readings along the coast. If you’re expecting the wind to pick up in an hour or two’s time, you’ll be more aware of what's going on when it starts to kick in. You can use weather radar to actually watch the fronts come down towards you. So yes it's going back to basics, but it’s about using observations and using the tech you’ve got to boost your awareness."

For dinghy racers on a club lake, the advice remains the same: “If you’re inland and sailing out of the edge of a forest into a bunch of fields, you’re going to get a change in the wind as you go across the lake – it's something that everybody knows, but may not think about in the course of a race or before a race.”

Simon enjoys the fact, at the show, that he’s speaking to a well-informed audience.

At the same time, he’s aware that the watersports boom has introduced countless new people to the scene.

He advocates “a measured approach to starting your watersports career – the ideal thing is to do an RYA course”, and his talks will be relevant for kayakers, paddleboarders and other watersports enthusiasts: “There are quite a few people out there now who are keen on the sport and want to get out and do something, which is great, but it is easy to get into trouble around the UK where the weather is changeable and we do have strong tides.”

Forecasting for Watersports, with Simon Rowell, is at 4pm on Saturday and Sunday on the Watersports Stage. Weather Forecasting Afloat is at 11am on the Suzuki Main Stage.

LEFT

Simon Rowell is the British Sailing Team's weather guru

Sustainability for life

When the winners are announced in the University Sailing Sustainability Challenge, on the Suzuki Main Stage at 1.15pm on Saturday, it will mark the culmination of a journey that will surely remain with the undergraduates involved for the rest of their lives

The University Sailing Sustainability Challenge is one of the most impactful initiatives connected with the RYA Dinghy and

Watersports Show, although perhaps one that is at times overlooked.

Launched in 2015 and run by the RYA and British Marine’s environmental arm e Green

Blue, it requires university sailing clubs across the UK to undertake a series of environmental challenges over the academic year, meeting green criteria in aspects of their sailing lives ranging from kit, to waste, to travel, to seabed protection and more.

Backing comes from the British

Universities Sailing Association (BUSA) and sponsorship from

OceanЯ, who provide prizes to those who achieve an award.

Around 25 university sailing clubs enter each year.

Kate Fortnam, Campaign

Manager at e Green Blue, said: “It’s a great experience and opportunity for them to build up their skills and knowledge in environmental sustainability within sport. is generation of sailors are very much in tune with the environment and want to protect it.

“Not every university sailing club competes in regattas, but for the Sustainability Challenge, any university club can take part. It’s an even playing eld and something all sailors can participate in.”

Within the university, taking on the challenge can be useful for the sailing club, to gain further support and recognition from their Student Union as as well as contributing towards their university’s overall sustainability goals. is can help to gain funding if the university can point to proactively sustainable internal sports clubs.

Kate said: “Over the last three years, there has been a heightened interest in this area amongst students, and universities as a whole have pushed sustainability to the top of their agendas. anks in part to the social and media interest that has been happening around preventing plastic pollution, everyone is a lot more conscious around environmental issues.” e Sustainability Challenge encourages each sailing club to appoint a Sustainability O cer. e role holder is responsible for coordinating the club’s entry and submitting evidence to demonstrate that the club has achieved the sustainable actions set out by the challenge.

Kate said: “It ranges from raising awareness through social media, to supporting their sailing venue with spill prevention kits, to making sure their venues are displaying green boating guides, as well as ensuring that they’re cleaning their boats to remove invasive species.” e students must also show they are using sustainable materials; this includes their equipment and their club kit. e Challenge's sponsor, OceanЯ, produces a range of sports clothing made from recycled waste plastics and o ers participating clubs discounts on teamwear. ree levels of the Challenge exist – bronze, silver and gold – and all three can be achieved within one year, but most universities choose to tackle one per year.

Prizes, from OceanR, include discounted team wear, branded with their club’s logo, and a cash prize draw split across the three award levels to spend on sustainable initiatives at their sailing club.

Over the years the Challenge has been streamlined so that award levels can be achieved over time, making impact on the university sailing clubs and their venues transformational year on year. Meanwhile the impact on the undergraduates themselves is clear – the awards presentation at the Dinghy Show is o en an emotional a air.

Watch the announcement of e Green Blue University

Sailing Sustainability Challenge on the Suzuki Main Stage at 1.15pm on Saturday.

ABOVE

Explore seagrass beds in virtual reality on e Green Blue Stand; Kate Fortnum congratulates the 2020 winners of the University Sustainability Challenge; invasive species can be a threat if you don't wash down your boat

BELOW

e Green Blue stand has plenty of guides and advice on how to make your sailing greener

year on year. Meanwhile the themselves is clear – the awards presentation at the Dinghy Show

The Green Blue stand

The Green Blue, meanwhile, has its own stand at the RYA Dinghy and Watersports Show, this year with two parts to it – one offering advice on how you can make your sailing, club, centre or business greener, with various approved, sustainable products from The Green Blue’s online Business Directory, showing visitors how they can be more sustainable in other areas of their sailing activities, with green boating guides and other information available.

The second focus of The Green Blue at the show will highlight the organisation’s work with the EU LIFE Recreation ReMEDIES Project, led by Natural England, which aims to find ways of protecting and restoring seabed habitats such as seagrass and Maerl in UK waters. As part of this project The Green Blue is raising awareness of seabed habitats and encouraging the adoption of sustainable practices among recreational boat users. Best practice advice and guidance for landing, launching, anchoring, and sustainable moorings will be available.

The Green Blue team will be joined by partners in the project including the Marine Conservation Society and Ocean Conservation Trust to help deliver educational activities on the stand, including virtual headsets that will give visitors the experience of swimming beneath the waves among seagrass, to see what kind of wildlife it supports, as well as the chance to replicate the project’s efforts in reseeding the seabed with seagrass.

The Green Blue is on stand B5. For information, guidance and resources to help make your boating more sustainable, visit thegreenblue.org.uk and follow @TheGreenBlue

Crewing masterclass

ACrewing Masterclass with the current Rolex Sailor of the Year is not something any aspiring sail racer wants to miss.

Olympic gold medallist

Eilidh McIntyre will be on stage, at 12.45 in the Knowledge Zone, on Saturday.

Hosted by Ian Walker and featuring other top sailors sharing insight and advice, it promises to be one of the highlights of the show. We caught up with Eilidh to find out how an Olympic gold medallist approaches the sometimes underrated role of dinghy crew.

“I have had an interesting background in crewing – although

I’ve done it for a long time I wasn’t always a crew. Coupled with that, I really didn’t have an awful lot of respect for my own crews when I was younger!

“Now – I mean, I would say this, but I truly believe it! – the crew is such a vital part of the boat and that applies in professional and amateur sailing. I don’t think the crew is given enough credit or utilised enough in many boats. If you want to create a team and real partnership, plus have fun on the water and succeed in your racing, you need to be working as one unit.

“It’s about pulling together both people’s skills. It is definitely not just about the helm while the crew is sitting there! I really want to bring that to life and my talk will focus on how much a crew can add to the boat and how essential they are to a great performance.”

What are the main things for club sailors to focus on?

“I would really focus on the communication element – how vital it is for you, as the crew, to be the eyes and ears of the boat, to be engaged in the racing and be a part of that.

“At the show I also want to get into how hard it is to feel a boat without having control of the rudder – how that is a real skill to hone. You need to focus on what parts of your body you are using to be able to feel the boat. You need to know when it feels good and how to dial into that, because it is certainly harder when you can’t feel the rudder and it takes a long time to develop that.” Eilidh, unsurprisingly, has childhood memories of visiting the show with her father, himself an Olympic gold medalist, who introduced Eilidh to Ben Ainslie, Bart Simpson and Iain Percy. “I remember that from my RS days," she said, "being very shy, them signing my t-shirt, but also feeling very inspired. I clearly remember thinking ‘I’ll do that. I’ll be here one day’.”

The last time Eilidh was at the show, it was five months before the Olympics – until just weeks later, the Games was postponed.

She reflected: “When I look back at the last two years, I feel pretty relieved that it’s done and it worked out the way we wanted it to.”

Crewing Masterclass hosted by Ian Walker, with Eilidh McIntyre (Sat) and nine times Endeavour Trophy winner Toby Lewis (Sat) plus Steph Orton (Sun) at 12.45pm in The Knowledge Zone.