Ladies Afloat visit Dart Sailability

Thursday 23 July was another glorious day at Dart Sailability, with warm sunshine and a gentle breeze providing perfect sailing conditions for our All Boats session.

We were delighted to welcome the ladies' sailing group from the Royal Dart Yacht Club Ladies Afloat (LA). Many of our Dart Sailability volunteers have been, or still are, members of LA, sharing a lifelong love of being on the water.

Steve Oakey one of our Dart Sailability sailors recalls assisting LA when working at BRNC in 2000 with College Bosun dinghies at Sandquay.

Rob Berry, Pat’s late husband, facilitated and organised events and sail training at BRNC for over 30 years and was key in supporting sailing to women in the local community at BRNC utilising the Sandquay facilities and the College Bosun dinghies.  Rob, together with Pat, who was also active within the RDYC, were instrumental in establishing Ladies Afloat within RDYC in 2000, initially using the BRNC facilities at Sandquay.  Rob subsequently developed dementia and Alzheimer’s, and together with Pat gained so much support and amazing time sailing with Sailability. It also offers a social experience which really enhanced their lives.

Jinks, also a longstanding LA member was there at the very beginning of Dart Sailability and was delighted to see how things had progressed with the group.

It was a busy day, with 17 volunteers and sailors, plus our Ladies Afloat visitors arriving by launch. Keeping everything running smoothly took some impressive teamwork and organisation!

ARC was the first boat to head downriver, giving some of our newer sailors the opportunity to take the helm and enjoy the thrill of steering. The river was full of life, with pleasure boats, the steam railway, kayakers, paddleboarders, seals and even a mermaid to spot along the way.

Our Hansa and Liberty dinghies all made the most of the lovely breeze, watched over by our safety and support boats. Equaliser (our Hawk 20) and Kanata (our Drascombe Longboat) also enjoyed a wonderful sail with full crews on board. As always, there was plenty of laughter, conversation and a little sail-trimming to try and smooth out those persistent creases!

After a fantastic afternoon on the water, everyone returned to the clubhouse for well-earned refreshments, plenty of water, cups of tea and some delicious cake—followed, of course, by more chatting.

Our Ladies Afloat guests thoroughly enjoyed seeing Dart Sailability in action. It was wonderful to hear that some felt inspired to volunteer in the future, while others are considering making a donation to support our work. They also plan to spread the word to friends who may be interested in sailing with us.

And yes… the cake really was as good as everyone said!

A huge thank you to all our volunteers, sailors and visitors who helped make it such a memorable and successful day.

[And thanks to Alison for compiling this Blog with background information from Pat!]