FOUR members of Chesil Sailability travelled to Rutland Sailing Club to represent Great Britain in the Hansa European Championships for sailors with disabilities.

There were 24 boats in the two-person class and some very stiff competition from the Portuguese, Swiss and Hungarians.

After a day of measurement, registration and then a very windy and wet practice race, the Chesil sailors were raring to compete on day one.

Unfortunately, strong winds meant racing for the day was cancelled. The following day saw a long postponement in the morning for a strong enough and stable breeze to get racing underway.

It was a steep learning curve for the sailors starting in a big fleet again.

Anya de Iongh of Chesil Sailability said: “For the rest of the week, the sun shone and the wind was favourable. Thanks to our great shore crew we were able to get some great races in.”

The Chesil sailors improved each day and Dick Foyle and Philip Hall, sailing Spirit of Zoe, posted a ninth and a 12th on their final day to finish 17th overall.

Sailing Rod Shipley 1, Tim Scarisbrick and de Iongh finished eighth overall and were the top British boat.

De Iongh said: “It was a very challenging week of sailing with lots of learning and even more laughs.

“Thank you to the volunteers who came up to Rutland as our shore support crew and made it possible for us to race.

“Thank you also to Heatric who have kindly supported the Chesil Race Team this season.”

The next event will be the Hansa National Championships which Chesil Sailability are hosting from August 14-16.

WEYMOUTH Sailing Club (WSC) will support the RNLI with a barbeque on Thursday, July 30.

On the water, the Cruiser, Dinghy and Squib classes are all set to compete in the RNLI Crews Race, while the Dinghy fleet will also have the RNLI Single-handed Race to deal with.

After racing, the prizegiving takes place in the boat yard along with the barbeque.

Live music and homemade puddings are also available in the clubroom.

The evening starts at 6.30pm and all WSC members and visitors are welcome to support the event for this very important charity.