This entry was posted on Monday, August 19th, 2013at 8:46 am by Active Nation

SWAC Awarded RYA Sailability Centre of Excellence

Southampton Water Activities Centre has been rewarded for its ongoing contribution to disabled sailing, as the Royal Yachting Association named the venue as a Sailability Centre of Excellence, one of only nine in the UK.

Sailability is an RYA scheme encouraging and supporting the participation of people with disabilities in the fine sport that is sailing. SWAC set up its own varied and inclusive Sailability programme in 2009 and it has gone from strength to strength, opening up great opportunities for disabled people in the local community and duly seeing participation rates steadily increasing ever since.

And four years on, the hard work and determination of the SWAC team was formally recognised as the RYA declared the facility as a Sailability Centre of Excellence for the Southern Region on 17th June 2013.

In order for the RYA to grant such status to a shore-based facility, it had to be able to provide sailing activities for no fewer than nine different categories of disability, covering physical, sensory and learning disabilities. The facilities need to be suitably accessible and available. And on top of that, our team had to be making outstanding contributions to disabled sailing by providing continuous and unwavering support and development. In short, gaining this accreditation is no mean feat!

Naturally, our team are absolutely ecstatic about this award. “This recognition is a fantastic award for us,” SWAC Sailability Coordinator Jack Mitchelle proudly commented. “It highlights the hard work and determination from the volunteers and instructors over the last four years, along with the dedication of all our supporters who turn up every week to support the programme and enjoy our facilities.”

As a Centre of Excellence, SWAC becomes a central link between the region’s sailing clubs and centres involved in the Sailability scheme, and a shining beacon of good practice in the (very watery) field of disabled sailing. In addition, the RYA will refer potential new sailors to SWAC and also be an available source of funding to aid the continuing expansion of our Sailability programme and get more and more people with disabilities active, which is brilliant.

Not being ones to celebrate quietly – certainly not following the visit of none other than HRH Princess Anne, patron of the RYA Sailability Charity, for the centre’s 25^th anniversary in 2011 – SWAC hosted an awards evening on 24 June for the team to revel in their fantastic achievements together, as well as to pay due recognition to the outstanding work of the volunteers and sailors that enables SWAC to keep the good times rolling. Long may they continue!

If you would like to find out more about the Sailability programme, give SWAC a call on 02380 915753.