Twelve King’s sailors travelled to Cowes on the Isle of Wight over the Easter weekend for four days of keelboat sailing at UKSA. The sailors were split into two teams of six, sailing J80 keelboats and working through the RYA Level 2 and 3 syllabus each day. In the evenings, the pupils took part in a variety of activities including a quiz, archery, and crab fishing.
The weather was fairly kind, with only one day of rain. However, the wind proved very variable – at times exceeding the wind limit, and at others, almost disappearing completely. When the wind wasn’t playing ball, there was an opportunity to practise motoring, coming alongside pontoons, and man overboard drills.
On the final day, both crews made the most of the building breeze with spinnaker practice, gybing downwind and concentrating on boat speed. The culmination of the four days afloat was all pupils receiving RYA certificates from the UKSA instructors.
Many thanks must go to the team at UKSA for their excellent instruction and for ensuring that all the King’s pupils remained fully engaged throughout, despite the occasionally challenging conditions.
