Isle of Wight-based charity, UKSA, has been chosen as the Yachts & Yachting Charity of the Year for 2018.
Located in Cowes, UKSA is a national charity that uses sailing and watersports as a catalyst to transform people’s lives. This year, Yachts & Yachting magazine will be actively promoting the charity to its readers as part of a new partnership to benefit young people.
The announcement was made at the London Boat Show on Thursday (11th January).
Yachts & Yachting is the leading performance sailing magazine, covering every aspect of the racing scene, from dinghies to keelboats. Each year the magazine chooses a charity to support and promote.
Georgie Corlett-Pitt, Editor of the magazine says:
“The team at Yachts & Yachting is committed to supporting more young people entering the sport. Working with UKSA this year will not only help more children benefit from sailing and water sports, but will also mean Yachts & Yachting readers can benefit from the in-house expertise at UKSA throughout the year”.
The charity partnership is focused on raising funds for a new residential watersports programme – Opportunities Afloat – funding and subsidising school children who would normally never have the chance to visit UKSA. These programmes at UKSA are designed to develop life skills such as communication, participation and self-belief.
Ben Willows, UKSA CEO, said:
“We are delighted to be Yachts & Yachting Charity of the Year, and so grateful to the team for choosing us to partner with them. Most importantly this partnership will allow us to directly benefit more young people. I’m so glad that people and organisations – like British Marine Trades Association – are getting behind the campaign already.”
Of the 10,000 people on UKSA’s training courses annually, over a third are part of a funded programme. Many of these young people are from the Island through UKSA’s ‘Test the Water’ programme – offering free sailing sessions to all Island children in Year 6 – and through partnerships with the Isle of Wight College, supporting young people into careers in the industry.
For more information on the programmes available at UKSA, visit: https://uksa.org/schools-and-groups/.
To donate to Opportunities Afloat, visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/uksa/opportunitiesafloat or text UKSA18 £10 to 70070.
