UKSA, raising funds!

Medina House School has been chosen by youth education and maritime training charity UKSA to be the beneficiary of several pots of locally generated donations, including all the cash put into collection tins over the last financial year.

Members of the public kindly donated a total of £166.84 through tins at Cowes Yacht Haven, Corries Cabin, Red Jet Terminal, Chiverton’s Newsagents, Musto, UKSA, Pier View Pub and Plaza Ice Cream.

Added to that, UKSA staff donated money every month through their Dress Down Friday events, where they can wear casual or fun clothes to work. This raised £157.56.

Shoppers at Waitrose who selected UKSA as their chosen charity by placing tokens in their box helped raise £171, and Carisbrooke Shipping kindly donated the proceeds of their New Year’s Resolution lottery, a generous £118.

The money will help Medina House School, which has booked a number of day activities at UKSA to benefit all of their pupils starting from May.

They need to raise more than £2,000 to cover the costs so the donation from UKSA is a great help.

Headteacher Julie Stewart said: “Each class in Medina House School have the invaluable opportunity to go to UKSA and experience basic sailing and different water activities such as canoeing, kayaking, Picos and Ribs all appropriate to their individual needs.
“This not only boosts their water confidence, it helps build on social, communication and life skills. We greatly appreciate all donations that are given to allow all children to access UKSA’s fantastic provision.”
Dr Paola Tinti, UKSA fundraiser, said: “We are proud to support this school, which is one of the many local causes that we help. If anyone else has any fundraising ideas or wants to donate, we would love to hear from them.

Find out more about the UKSA and their work here. 

The main consideration with sailing at Brook is the tide. Low water can leave exposed rocks in places, so you need to get your tide times right.

The Forces Windsurf Challenge team

The windsurfing teams from The Army, the Royal Navy and the RAF have completed the challenge they set out to achieve by windsurfing round the Isle of Wight. A combination of relay teams and solo windsurfers took up the challenge, in all 20 services personnel. Starting at 0830 on Thursday 16 September it was always going to be a tough day whatever the conditions so a force 4 wind from the West promised to test the fleets sailing skills to the limit. The beat to the first stopover at Colwell Bay was, as expected, difficult with the added pressure that the teams knew they had to get round the Needles before the tide turned against them. As a windsurfer cannot sail directly into the wind the straight-line distance of 10 nautical miles would be at least half as much again. For some this was to prove too great a task and by the time they got to stop two at Brook beach, on the southwest of the Island, the chance of getting all the way round in safety was gone.

Those who got ahead of the tide at the Needles now had the benefit of the wind (which remained a steady force 4 from the West) they also had the tide helping them along the south of the Island. This leg – approximately 20 nautical miles – passed around St Catherines Point, on route to Yaverland for a well-earned rest. For most of the fleet by this point the wind was starting to drop so a number of crews decided to fit bigger rigs to allow them to maintain speed. This no doubt helped, as they still had to go back up wind to the finish.

Windsurfing around the East of the Island was always going to be in light winds towards the East Solent heading back to Cowes and the finish. It was now late afternoon and the wind was dropping as the sun began to set. This was the time everyone had to dig in and keep going if they were to succeed.

The first entry to complete the challenge was the RAF comprising of Simon Kent, Ginge Ashmore, Mark Richards and Stu Tillbury. Next to arrive was the first pair of solo windsurfers, the RN pair Gerry Northwood and Steve Roberts.

An incredible effort and the difference in appearance of those that had completed the whole trip was clear to see. Next in was the Army pair Gareth Baker and Steve Williams who arrived as dusk was giving way to darkness, which left Jon Metcalfe as the only remaining complete navigator. He was accompanied to the finish with the final member of the Army team of Ian Beaton, Dan Scudder and Rob Hickley – completing this great challenge roughly 14 hours after it had begun, and in total darkness! A welcome drink was enjoyed by all on the beach.

Twenty windsurfers set out on the challenge, 13 finished with 5 completing the whole trip. A tremendous achievement which, added to the charitable donations, should be a great source of pride for all involved.

The support that was provided by the RIB owners, drivers and support crew was equally impressive with one boat (Poole Sea Safaris) coming from Poole at 0530 and then returning back to Poole long after dark. All generously given at no cost.

“The Forces Windsurfing Challenge certainly lived up to its name; 110miles over 11 grueling hours, it was the most demanding physical and mental challenge I have ever completed. Months of planning and organisation had not fully prepared me for the extreme highs and lows that windsurfing around the Isle of Wight would bring. I would like to thank all those who donated their time and equipment to make this fantastic event, and personal aspiration, possible. In addition, over the last few months I have been overwhelmed by public support for the forces, and their generosity to help injured servicemen who face far greater physical and mental challenges than we did everyday”.

Maj Gareth Baker RE Army Windsurfing Secretary

The fundraising has not stopped yet and there will be a evening with a presentation on his last tour in Afghanistan by Maj Gareth Baker. He will also shed some more light what it is like to windsurf around the IOW!

Details on how to donate and attend the FWC Evening are on the website:

www.forceswindsurfing.org.uk/

Tim Hazel

At 6:30am on Wednesday 15^th September, most of us were still tucked up in our duvets…..well I know I was, Tim Hazel was on his way out of Walsash in an attempt to Windsurf around the Isle of Wight in support of the Naomi House Children’s Hospice.

Naomi House Children’s Hospice is a charity that provides support to children and young people with conditions that mean they are unlikely to live to become adults.

The charity provides care to families living in communities across the seven counties of Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Surrey, West Sussex and Wiltshire http://www.naomihouse.org.uk/ .

The island is 67miles in circumference, a bit further when you add in a few necessary tacks and gybes – windsurfing around the Island is a challenge that has been considered by many windsurfers, especially after a few beers on a Friday night, but achieved by very few!

With a forecast of SW 20 to 24knts, it was never going to be easy, but accompanied by a sturdy support crew, Nick Daniels, to keep up morale and spirit…….plus updating Facebook for the avid followers of us, he had lots of backing!

His journey began with a beat up the Western Solent, an increasing wind and a call for the first sail change to a 7.5m – all before most of us had had our first morning cuppa! The target was to reach the needles by 9:30 and he wasn’t far off it.

For anyone that has sailed a Raceboard, you will know that they are no mean feat to sail, but throw in an average of 20knts and developing swell and you have a challenge similar to that of an untamed beast on your hands!!

After a further sail change East of the Needles, Tim made his way round the back of the Island to St Catherine’s Point, home of the famous lighthouse and wavesailing spot Niton. At this point, I think the support crew were in need of a little TLC, the swell was pretty big!

Lunchtime views were Ventnor then Shanklin…….and a very wet iPhone!! But with Tim’s drive to successfully complete his challenge he rounded the Eastern end of the Island, passing Bembridge mid-afternoon. With a final push past the Forts, he finally completed the challenge just after 1700hrs, arriving home in a fantastic time of 10hrs 34mins after his journey began – Congratulations!!

But this is merely a warm up.…….while most of us would have been happy celebrating this fantastic achievement, Tim is already planning his next adventure – Cherbourg to the Southampton Boat Show – watch this space for September 2011!

If you would like to support Tim and Naomi House, donations can be made via ‘just giving’ on: http://www.justgiving.com/Timothy-Hazel-Windsurfing

rti-1 rti-1_thumb RTI-2 rtiSupport-crew rtiTim-1

Rob and Mart of Rapanui

A small Eco Fashion brand from the Isle of Wight has made it easy and convenient for customers to find out where their clothing comes from and how it is made; traceability that is years ahead of  the industry.

The brand says that it’s not that people don’t care, it’s just they don’t know, and believe that talking to customers more is key to sustainability. The result is an interactive map format with images, video, facts and figures where shoppers can investigate the complete product lifecycle on page, “packaged simply so that consumers can shop quickly with a conscience.”

Rapanui, based on the Isle of Wight, was founded by brothers Rob and Martin Drake-Knight in early 2008 and its two young directors have been nominated for countless sustainability and entrepreneurial awards.

The brand’s website also hosts a live Wikipedia style resource packed with information about their supply chain, where consumers can find out where clothing comes from, how it is made and ask questions on anything – from planting the seed to stacking on the shelf.

“So far eco-fashion has been about new fabrics and new ways of manufacturing. We think sustainability is about designing new ways of businesses communicating with consumers, opening up a dialogue with consumers rather than talking at them. Our traceability technology allows us to do that and allows the market forces of demand and supply to work for sustainability” said Rob.

Rapanui make clothes out of organic natural fabrics in a wind powered factory audited by the Fairwear Foundation. As well as reaching the finals of the Enterprising Young Brit awards and Sustainable Business Awards, Rapanui has recently been nominated for the ISPO Brand New award, international recognition for their eco-marketing model.

“If we can inform and educate people as to where clothing comes from and how it is made they can make informed decisions as shoppers. As a brand, if we can mix eco with trend and inspire people to think about the environment in wider lifestyle choices, we will have done our job” said Mart.

Find out more about traceability and Rapanui at: http://www.rapanuiclothing.com/eco

11 year-old George

George Grisley (11) from Lymington has raised £1,300 for Sport Relief, ‘Rising to the Challenge’ by windsurfing from the mainland, near Lymington to the Isle of Wight (Hamstead Ledge) and back, in total sailing 6.5 miles.  The 5^th April saw a Force 5-6 south-westerly and with the support of a RIB with video onboard, a headcam attached to the mast to record his journey, he set off for his challenge, taking 21 minutes to get to the IOW and 32min to return, due to the wind veering slightly southerly.

George told us: “It was brilliant, I was more scared of failing because I had raised so much money and didn’t want to let people down.  The water was still really cold, I was on my 85L Young Gun with a 3.4m sail, and it was really gusty which made it quite hard work.  It was such a great feeling once I had completed it and I can’t wait to think of my next windsurfing challenge.  Thank you to everyone who supported me, my original target was £250 so to raise £1,300 is brilliant and hopefully through the local newspaper reports I received I have also inspired other children to get involved in windsurfing – it is such a cool sport.  If anyone would like to watch my journey, go to video.mpora.com/watch/fVs9CHb8W”.