FAMILIES made a splash when they took up the offer of free watersports.

The invite came from the Andrew Simpson Watersports Centre (ASWC) on Portland which celebrated its fourth birthday with an open day.

The not-for-profit centre was set up at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy to carry the legacy of Olympic sailor Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson from Sherborne who tragically died while training for the America's Cup in San Francisco Bay in 2013.

There are now four centres in the 'family' – Portland, Portsmouth, Reading and Lake Garda, Italy.

A record number of people attended the birthday event on Portland, all taking full advantage of the light winds and glorious sunshine and getting out on the water to enjoy sailing, kayaking and stand up paddleboarding taster sessions. Families and friends enjoyed sailing together and there were lots of smiles as they returned to shore.

In the afternoon, crowds gathered in their hundreds to watch the notorious Great Dorset Cardboard Boat Race, an event which is rapidly becoming one of the highlights of the year in the local area. Local Jamie claimed the first prize, second place went to Sam and Lenny and the team from Sunninghill Prep School took third place.

The local RNLI station from Weymouth and the YHA Portland team also attended the event and provided educational and fun activities on the shore.

Alex Porter, Centre Manager at the ASWC said: “This was definitely our busiest open day yet, thank you to everyone for coming along and joining in all the activities. Once again, we had perfect sailing conditions and it was fantastic that so many people from the local community were able to experience the enjoyment sailing and watersports can bring.

"We hope to see more people at the centre during the summer and at our next family fun day which will take place on Sunday 2nd September as part of the Andrew Simpson Foundation’s Bike4Bart event”.

To find out more information on the RYA courses, multi activity programmes and clubs on offer visit www.aswc.co.uk