Future of UK dinghy sailing under scrutiny during today’s free webinar

Dinghy racing in the UK is still among the most vibrant and diverse small-boat racing circuits anywhere in the world, but can it do better?

That is the question that co-organisers of the Selden Sailjuice Winter Series, Simon Lovesey and Andy Rice, are asking during an online discussion being held on Zoom at 7pm this evening (11 April 2023).

The free forum will be a wide-ranging conversation about what’s working — and what’s not working — in the small-boat racing scene in the UK.

“We don’t want to rule anything off the table for this discussion,” says Rice. “We’re keen to find out what people think about the state of play with dinghy racing in the UK. If there’s one thing that Simon and I are focused on with this meeting, it’s how to increase participation. It’s hard to think of many classes or events where people are satisfied with the number of boats and people taking part. So it would be good to share ideas on how to increase participation.”

“We also believe there are too many events with too few entries to be financially viable or even to be particularly interesting for competitors to take part in, or for clubs to host,” he adds. “But this is one of the topics where we’d like to hear more input from different parties in the sailing scene. From sailors, clubs, class representatives.”

The free Zoom call takes place at 7pm tonight (Tuesday, 11 April 2023). To take part, visit the webinar’s page and register your interest. Everyone who has registered interest in taking part in the call will receive a Zoom link and passcode.