UKSA Instructor wins silver medal!

James Merrick, 23, a UKSA multi-disciplined instructor, traveled to Lake Rotorua, New Zealand last month to take part in the 2009 IFDS World Blind Sailing Championships.

The Championships is divided in to three classes; B1 - with a blind helmsman and mainsail trimmer, B2- helm and mainsail trimmer with limited vision, and B3 - with the helm and mainsail trimmer with some useful vision. Each crew is aided by a sighted tactician, who is prohibited from touching any part of the boat's controls, together with a sighted crew member whose role is restricted in terms of which controls they are able to operate.

After completing some of their preparations and training at UKSA, the GBR team invited James to join them as the sighted tactician for their B1 crew. 19 crews from 10 different nations took part in the Championships, and after competing in three races per day over the period of a week, the GBR team finished in silver medal position overall, just behind the New Zealand team.

Well done James!

Learn to sail or paddle for just £6 a session

UKSA is offering a great new club for anyone aged 8-16 to learn a variety of watersports offered at UKSA. Each club takes place once a week and covers a 3 hour training session. Sports on offer include dinghy sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, and keel boating.

At just £54 for a full 9 weeks of weekly sessions or for just £6 per session, local young people can get to grips with these fantastic sports without it costing an arm and a leg.


Both beginners and improvers will be shown how to master their chosen watersport from experienced professional instructors using the UKSA's top notch kit and facilities.

If you want to learn more, or you want to reserve your space call us on 01983 203034
or visit www.uksa.org/H2oclub

but hurry, places and availability are limited.

Skydiving Housekeeper Mick, takes the plunge to raise funds for UKSA

Male UKSA Housekeeper Mick Hill (50) from Cowes is about to embark on a 10,000ft tandem skydive in an attempt to raise £5000 for UKSA's work with children.

Mick, who describes himself as having a very healthy respect for heights, will be undertaking the jump on the 6th of June with 15 other jumpers. To aid his fund raising efforts, Mick has created a just giving page where anyone wanting to, can sponsor the event.

Friends, work colleagues and family have all contributed, but to realize his fund raising target, Mick needed to reach out to an audience beyond friends and family. With help from some work colleagues Mick has created an online training spoof video to promote the event. " We hope anyone watching the film will have a bit of a laugh at my expense. It's kind of a Rocky Spoof " explains Mick, "but the YouTube movie has a serious message as well, because it promotes what I am preparing for, and points viewers to my www.justgiving.com donation and supporters page. The plan is to film preparations for the jump, and the big moment itself, and post it on YouTube for everyone who sponsored me to enjoy. Heights are not my thing, and I'm not looking forward to it, but if I can raise some funds and kids will benefit it will be well worth the effort."

Listen to an audio interview with Mick Hill



To view Mick's online video or to sponsor Mick's efforts just visit www.justgiving.com/skydivinghousekeeper

Sponsor Mick's efforts- just click on the button below.

UKSA mothership gets a face lift

For any of you passing by on the river Medina, you may notice some extensive works being done to our building. It is essentially just some routine maintenance, but by the time it is completed you will notice a dazzling difference.

Yes after years of service our trusty blue and red sail designs that adorn our building from the front are being replace. The whole building will be a dazzling pure white.

The work will be completed by the 18th May, with repairs being made to the balcony which is being re timbered. The team of 5 working on the project will be using 300 litres of paint.

Schools and groups section of blog launched

Hi all,

We have opened up a new section to our blog specifically for our schools and group visitors. Bookmark this labelled section of our blog to get the latest news from the schools and groups team. Post your comments, share your experiences :-)

Watersports Podcast Episode 4 - Kitesurfing: Out now

Today, UKSA launched a new series of podcasts aimed at anyone with an interest in Watersports. The New podcast has been published as part of our "Watersports Podcast" audio feed, and features an in depth discussion with UKSA's Kitesurfing Instructor Stuart Easton. Stuart discusses getting into Kitesurfing and covers the BKSA Kitesurfing syllabus, as well as providing details on UKSA's professional Kitesurfing Instructor Training. Over the next six months, there will be monthly episodes covering different disciplines in the sport. Next months episode will cover Windsurfing.

We have provided a low res audio version here for you to preview, but to get the best from these, you should subscribe in iTunes

Changing Lives and Changing Rooms at UKSA...

The children's chill out room at UKSA is recieving a much needed make-over this weekend with the help of local artist Jacey Abram. The rather uninspiring magnolia walls will soon be awash with Jacey's distinctive and colourful characters in a watersports and yachting themed mural to provide the hundreds of children that will visit UKSA this Summer somewhere to relax after a hard day on the water!

All hands will be on deck on Saturday and Sunday to finish the mural before the first groups of children arive on the 6th April! Local businesses E Watts & Sons and Beardsalls have kindly donated some of the paint to be used.

If you're in the Cowes area at the weekend and you're a dab hand with a paint brush, then feel free to come along and get painting!

UKSA presents... An evening with Ron Holland

World-renowned yacht designer, Ron Holland, will be paying a visit to UKSA at 6pm on Thursday 14th May 2009, to give a talk to all with a consuming passion for sailing, marking the 35th anniversary of Ron Holland Design.

Ron has kindly donated his time to talk with us about the fascinating world of yacht design, and the inspiration that led to the creation of his latest custom yacht the 190ft performance ketch, Ethereal.

This event is open to everyone with an interest in yacht design and provides the opportunity to ask Ron those burning questions about legendary yachts such as the 246ft Mirabella V. Entry to the event is £10* with all proceeds from this event supporting UKSA's work with young people, inspiring self-confidence, self-reliance, and a vision for the future. Visit www.uksa.org/changinglives.

To book a place at this event, call one of our course advisers on 01983 203038. Places are limited, so book today!

*UKSA students and staff free of charge. However, please still register as above.

If you cannot make it down to cowes you can listen to a live broacast of this talk here. Just pop back at 6pm on the 14th may.

UKSA on Top Dogs tonight BBC2

Exciting news! Tonight at 9pm on BBC 2 tonight is the next episode of Top Dogs, a documentary series featuring Sir Robin Knox Johnson, Sir Ranaulph Finnes, and Jon Simpson. The series is about men over 60 who still go to the extremes in their lives or work and can still hack it.

UKSA's Chief Mentor Steve Rouse provided the team with sea survival training last autumn for the stars of the show and the production team, in preparation for tonights showing of their trip around Cape Horn. We haven't seen any of the footage yet, but we will all be watching to see how much of Steve's part made it through editing :-)