Volunteers at Cowes Sailability Club are readying the boats in preparation for the start of the 2022 sailing season.
Amid much excitement, Cowes Sailability Club has started preparing for the 2022 sailing season. A working party of volunteers has been busy cleaning, maintaining and polishing the club’s two Drascombe longboats, to get them ready to set sail again.
If weather conditions permit, the first sailing afternoon for members of Cowes Sailability Club will take place on Monday 9th May. Anyone with a disability can become a member and take part in weekly sailing activities throughout the summer.
The preparations are being overseen by Cowes Sailability Club’s two bosuns, Tony Steadman and Toby Matthews. “Getting the sailing boats ready for the start of the sailing season is our biggest job of the year,” Tony says. “There is always a lot to do to ensure that the sailing boats are clean, properly equipped and safe to use.”
Over recent weeks, volunteers have pressure washed the hulls of the two sailing boats, rubbed down and oiled the woodwork and reassembled the masts. The engines have been serviced, the covers have been put into storage, and the boats have been put back in the water.
Next, the bosuns plan to thoroughly clean Cowes Sailability Club’s patrol boat and arrange the annual engine service. They are also developing a new safety schedule for the club’s boats, to help volunteers carry out safety checks prior to each sailing. Volunteer training has been arranged, and everyone is looking forward to the start of the new season.
