Rutland Sailing Club has welcomed Blind Sailing this season.

Rutland Sailing Club, based on the south shore of Rutland Water, has welcomed the team from Blind Sailing, a UK charity who help blind and partially sighted sailors get out on the water.

Their members join in at a range of levels and sail with the charity for 11 months across the year, the team confessing that they "love a crisp winter sail".

Rutland sailing club welcomed Blind Sailing in May and June 2023 and provided, according to the group of visiting sailors, the perfect conditions both on and off the water to run their Keelboat training in the RS21 ahead of competing at the RYA Sailability Multiclass Event in July.

Rutland Sailing Club has multiple launch sites and boats for charter. Image credit: Nub News.

Rutland is a great spot for visually impaired and blind sailors to squeeze in a bit of practice before the July competition, as it has no tide but long stretches, a variety of wind and water conditions, experiences waves, and promises the challenge of shifting, changeable wind conditions because of the surrounding hills and trees.

It also brags a large fleet of experienced sailors and volunteers happy to support both regular and visiting groups who may need support from the shore and on the water.

In the vein, the club support Rutland Sailability, a disabled sailing charity who recently launched a new boat donated by Stamford Rotary.

Read more about the recent maiden voyage of the new boat here.

Charlie from Rutland Sailability took a vessel, donated by Staford Rotary, out on Rutland Water earlier this year. Image credit: Nub News.

Members from Rutland Sailability, as well as club volunteers and passionate local sailors and staff at Rutland Water Sailing Club, were on hand to help their visitors across the week.

A spokesperson for the Blind Sailing team said: "Rutland like, many of the clubs we work with, provided a great classroom and pontoons we tie up to and work through different elements.

"Key these two weekends has been foot work.

"You may ask why foot work. Well, if you are new to reading about Blind Sailing you may be thinking how does that work? Well, a lot is to do with feeling the wind on your face and the boat underneath you - give it a go when out in the fresh air, see if you can locate the wind on your face and walk and turn and see if you can keep it on your cheek.

"With having little or no vision, we are not visual learners, so we listen to instructions and build up our skills, taking on feedback, but with land drills our sailors can place their hands on our volunteers and see how to move across the boat, then they can support our sailors doing the same.

"Blind Sailing is proud to have such great coaches support the charity and these weekends were supported by Steve Irish is a long standing coach to Blind Sailing, working and asking questions and goals of the sailors ahead of the weekend and when I say sailors we are one big team when we are training, our volunteers enable us to enter events so training together is key helping us all develop.

"This takes away the sails flapping and holding a course and allows time to talk."

Across both weekends, the visually impaired and blind sailors experienced great conditions, with winds of 10-13 Knots and sunshine throughout.

This allowed all sailors to make the most of both weekends, putting in long days but progressing and moving forward.

At the end of some long days, the team also enjoyed a "great" barbecue put on by Rutland Sailing Club.

The team added: "Both weekends we were spoilt, including some special cakes, and the onshore facilities were just as good as on the water. Everything is one place, helping the training run smooth. It's a great club."

The sun set on a great weekend fro Blind Sailing who visted Rutland Water. Image credit: Nub News.

The Blind Sailing team concluded: "So many thank you, our Rutland Water Sailing Club, our volunteers, our key sponsors Rooster Sailing Ltd, ARB Tree and Garden Solutions, RYA Sailability and the Together Fund. If you want to know more please get in touch and we are also looking for more clubs to support our Sail At Home project getting more visually impaired sailors regularly sailing and racing.

"Finally, a big thank you to David Wilkins for helping organise the event with his team Jon, Bill and Tony, and the office for making it all run smoothly."

Find out more about Blind Sailing on their Facebook page and website.

Alternatively, view a video from their recent trip to Rutland below: