SAILING
Sevenoaks sailing , like all other sports and areas of school life , experienced a very different year . We came back to school in September having not competed in a fixture for almost a year , combined with having missed a lot of invaluable time on the water . We had to contend with the clubhouse at the lake being closed , leading to some ‘ character building ’ in the form of needing to get changed in tents . Despite all the challenges we were able to get out on the water , and although we had no competitions until the Summer term and of course missed out during another lockdown , we did make the most of it when we could .
We saw another bumper crop of Year 9 sailors , 26 in total who took part in sailing through the year , joining 48 sailors in other year groups , and Navy CCF sailing was also able to run in the Summer term again .
The undoubted highlight of the year came during May half term when 13 Sixth Form sailors travelled down to Cowes on the Isle of Wight , one of the Meccas of global sailing , to attempt one of sailing ’ s iconic challenges , the 60 nautical miles around the Isle of Wight . On Wednesday the Upper Sixth sailed over from the mainland on the beautiful classic yacht Whisper owned by the Ratnage family . We all met at Shepards Marina and in the afternoon took out four J / 70 boats , which are 7m long and can be sailed four or five up . We went out and did some practice and inevitably some racing in preparation for the big day on Thursday . After a team BBQ on Wednesday evening , we looked at all the charts and key navigational challenges for the following day .
Thursday dawned to much excitement and anticipation and the four boats supported by two ribs and Whisper left the dock at 8.30am for the first leg of the voyage up to the famous Needles lighthouse . We made excellent progress going with the tide and once we regrouped at the Needles it was time to hoist spinnakers and take the fastest point of sail down the back of the island . We were blessed with great conditions with both the wind and tide constantly in our favour . One of the boats had to deal with a minor breakage on the last leg home but there was no stopping the sailors ’ determination to make it round – we were back on the dock at shortly after 5pm , tired but jubilant ! It really was an unforgettable experience .
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