News

In two evenings spent on the ocean (mostly within a quarter mile of the coast) we have seen and heard some amazing things… Two peregrine falcons chasing each other, ducks with ducklings chattering away, a pair of razorbills talking to each other making a great noise, choughs, porpoise, billions of very small creatures in the water, doves, guillemots, shags and best of all three puffins!!! All at once, doubling my lifetime sighting of puffins in one go 🙂 We live and work in the best place in the world! #visitisleofman #bestplacetobe #oostwestthuisbest#puffins #lifeisblessed

Over thirty women took to the water last weekend with our This Girl Can events.  The weather can only be described as perfect!  We had sunshine, just the right amount of breeze, nice flat water and it was warm too.  The ladies signed up for Powerboat and Sailing Taster Sessions were in for a real treat and we all enjoyed the best that the Isle of Man has to offer.

The idea to get 7th Wave signed up to run a This Girl Can event came from former Manx Youth Sailing Squad member, Izzy Sharpe.  Izzy finished 2nd girl at the RS Tera World Championship in 2010.  Since then she has worked as a Dinghy Instructor at 7th Wave, Centre Parcs and now on Lake Windermere.  She says “Jen was a fantastic female role model for me growing up, so I love coming back to do #ThisGirlCan with 7th Wave now.”

The original brief was to encourage more girls into dinghy racing and to grow the number of girls in the Manx Youth Sailing Squad.  For the last three years Georgia Harding has been the only female member of the squad, this year the balance tipped ever so slightly when Daisy Cope joined, now two of the twelve squad members are female… 

Izzy led a This Girl Can Start Racing weekend and we were delighted to have ten junior girls sign up for the weekend.  The course started with race training and boat-handling exercises culminating in a three race regatta on Sunday afternoon, before the wind died completely and the session ended with capsizing games and some cooling off in the water.  All ten girls were awarded the RYA Start Racing certificate and we have found ourselves some new talent for the 2019 Manx Youth Sailing Squad.

The concept grew to extend the This Girl Can weekend to encourage more women on to the water and with Foraging Vintners on our doorstep we combined powerboat and sailing Taster Sessions on the water with a taste of pink fizz in the sunshine afterwards.

Sailing sessions were really popular and of course on such a glorious day, our instructors were keen to get on board and have a sail too.  Ladies were treated to a lap of the bay while they got feel for the ropes and by the end of each hour long session everyone had taken the helm too.

We couldn’t have asked for better conditions for powerboating and there was plenty of smiles and laughter as we opened the throttle up and started planing out to Bradda Head, slowing at the mines round the back of Bradda to take in the stunning scenery, dramatic coastline and the abundance of seabirds and wildlife.  “I arrived on the island by ferry seven years ago and I haven’t been in a boat since”. Twenty minutes later Lisa Salinardi was at the helm of the RIB, blasting toward Niarbyl wearing the biggest of smiles!

Powerboat and Sailing Taster Sessions continue all through the summer and it’s not just for the girls. #Everyonecan!

Gotta love having young folk working here… Something new every day!

Had a great time at Manx Radio yesterday,
with Beth and Christy on the Women Today program, talking about boats, sharks and Strictly! If you missed it here is a wee clip about my trans Atlantic astro nav adventure / Yachtmaster Ocean exam.

https://www.manxradio.com/on-air/blogs/women-today/post/women-today-listen-again-jenni-kneale-hannah-riley-and-christopher-richardson-hall/

Here we are after work last night, Jen Kneale and Wendy Stevens, off Bradda Head, in a 10’6 hot pink rowing boat. It is a beautiful evening, mirror calm, warm and sea is full of life, gannets, jellyfish, plankton. It has all the right ingredients for basking sharks. We get a little excited when I spot something, it is moving too fast over the water for a bird…. could it be? Oh my word it is!!! It’s a SHARK.

Well that was a fun afternoon yesterday.  Buchan Badge nautical with Form 2 asking “Who keeps us safe on our coast?”  Fortunately for the class they are in good hands, with teacher Miss Ashton being a member of the Coastguard and myself being RNLI crew.  We bring our gear in to school, have a bit of a fancy dress session and share some stories of rescues and our activities around the coast.

It is always fun when the youngsters realise there is a fourth emergency service (and it isn’t the AA!), “You can dial 999 and ask for the Coastguard” always a handy tip when you live on an island!

Yesterday we hosted our annual Sail for Gold Regatta at Port Erin, with 15 boats and 18 youngsters out on the water it was certainly a good spectacle to watch. The fleet comprised a wide range of classes, including an RS Feva, two Topper Vibes, one Tera Pro, two Topaz, a Laser Radial and six Tera Sports!   Admittedly racing was slow due to the light breeze, but luckily, once the breeze had settled to the west it held and built slightly in the final couple of races.

It was great to see so many newcomers and more experienced sailors to take part.  Among the top sailors were Patrick and Alec Cope, both really embracing the spirit of the regatta with Patrick helming the RS Feva for his petite crew and little sister Daisy, and Alec offering words of encouragement between and during races to younger brother Max who was sailing in is own RS Tera Sport.

Alec Cope stitched the series up nicely counting three bullets after discarding a second from Race 1 which was won by Patrick and Daisy Cope in the Feva.

The battle for second and third place was hotly contested by Georgia Harding and Nickolas Ellis, with positions changing frequently between them throughout the afternoon.  It was Georgia’s day in the end with two seconds and a third to Nickolas’ two fourths and a second.  This is the first time in five years that a girl has finished on the podium at this regatta, beating Amie Shute’s third in 2012 and the first time ever that a girl has won the RS Tera Sport fleet.  Well done Georgia #thisgirlcan

Further down the fleet there was plenty of close racing and after four races Luke Crowe and Jake Orme, sailing in the Topaz’ finished on equal points with and without the discard!  Charlie Mugan, Euan McConnell, Max Cope and Oscar Jackson all taking the helm in the this regatta for the first time enjoyed some close racing.  Oscar seemed to have the upper hand in the middle of the fleet counting 5, 5, 6.  Dylan Sewell, sailing his Laser Radial came fifth in Race 2, which is a great result for the Radial in this competitive fleet.

Peter Cope and William Mugan took on Wilf Kermode and Ben Brunschweiler in the Topper Vibe race, some “centreboard awareness” issues in the Kermode / Brunschweiler boat gave Cope and Mugan the lead after Race 1 and they went from strength to strength getting to grips with the kite and putting in some tidy gybes by the end of the day.

Overall results:

1st.  Alec Cope (RS Tera Pro) 2, 1, 1, 1

2nd. Georgia Harding (RS Tera Sport) 3, 4, 2, 2

3rd. Nickolas Ellis (RS Tera Sport) 4, 2, 4, 4

4th. Patrick and Daisy Cope (RS Feva) 1, 3, 8, 9

5th. Oscar Jackson (RS Tera) 5, 9, 5, 6

6th. Jake Orme (Topper Topaz) 12, 11, 3, 3

7th. Luke Crowe (Topper Topaz) 6, 12, 6, 5

8th. Peter Cope & William Mugan (Topper Vibe) 11, 7, 7, 7

9th. Charlie Mugan (RS Tera Sport) 7, 6, 9, 8

10th. Dylan Sewell (Laser Radial) 10, 5, 10, 10

11th. Max Cope (RS Tera Sport) 9, 10, 12, 12

12th. Euan McConnell (Topper Taz) 13, 8, 13, 13

13th. Wilf Kermode & Ben Brunschweiler (Topper Vibe) 14, 14, 11, 11

14th. Jackson Katz (RS Tera Sport) 8, 13, DNC, DNC

This week is giving a similar forecast to last week, with easterly winds around force 4. So in Port Erin this means we’ll have flat water, an average wind speed of less than force 4, but it might be gusty in the offshore breeze. Hopefully this sunshine will last too.

We will be on the water from 5 o’clock, with the latest launch time at around 7.30pm, giving you more flexibility with start and finish times. If you’ve sailed before, there will be someone on the beach to help you rig, launch and recover the boats. We’ll have a safety boat on the water with an instructor on board, so if you want a little bit of coaching whilst your’re out just ask.

If you are new to sailing and want to have a go our instructors will guide you through the basics and on the water tuition will be given too. Sessions will run every Thursday regardless of the weather, if it is too windy we’ll run shore-based sessions on navigation, weather, tides, knot tying and general sailing theory.

You can attend as many or a few sessions as you like. The price per week is £22 per person.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. To book your place please get in touch.

So, while the Squad were away competing at the RS Tera Nationals, we were busy with our final Race Academy weekend of 2016.

On Sunday afternoon to round off the course we had our own three race regatta.  The fleet was slightly diminished with all the Teras being at Pwllheli, but this gave us some exciting and really close racing between the 8 boats we had on the water.