03-07-2025
Arklow Sailing Club's new training vessel to develop more ‘women at the helm'
Commissioned by B.J Marine, the Beneteau First 27 training boat was recently sailed from Greystones and delivered by club members to Arklow, where they were greeted by the seaside town's new RNLI lifeboat along with and club members boats out on Arklow Bay and escorted up the Avoca River to Arklow Marina where it will be berthed.
Mainly funded by the National Lottery, with support from the Sports Capital Programme and a contribution from Arklow Sailing Club, commodore Seamus Cramer and vice commodore Patrick Russell said that their grant application under the Capital Sports Equipment Grant grew from an idea within the committee to promote the idea of an Equal Sailing Opportunities Development Programme.
'The goal of the project was to procure a sail training vessel to develop our women at the helm and develop sailing as a sport within the community,' Seamus said.
'The goal of the project was to procure a sail training vessel to develop our women at the helm and develop sailing as a sport within the community,' Seamus said.
'This new boat alongside our other sail training boat will help us develop female skippers and encourage women and junior skippers to take the helm, as well as encourage participation in regional and national races/regattas.
'We would like to extend a big thank you to all at the National Lottery and Sports Capital Programme and all of our committee for their work on this project.
'Also, a big thank you to all at Arklow Marina for providing a berth for the boat and John Doyle, Dolco Engineering Arklow, for supplying a Berthing Pack for the boat.
'Both Patrick and I agree that the new training boat will enhance the future for the sport of sailing in Arklow.'
