Young British crew to compete in Arabia Yacht Race

Feb. 10, 2012 - PRLog -- Sailing on board Team Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Team KSA), the British crew will race competitively against nine other Farr 30 yachts around the Gulf region from12-27 February.  

Robin said: “I approached the race organisers four months ago about bringing a British team to this event as I wanted another challenge to work towards after the British Keelboat Academy’s success in last year’s Rolex Fastnet.”

Robin is currently a member of the British Keelboat Academy (BKA), a partnership between the RYA and Isle of Wight based maritime charity UKSA. The BKA aims to help young sailors develop the skills and get the experience needed to take their sailing to as high a level as possible, providing input to their technical sailing skills, campaign management and personal development.

This range of training as members of the BKA has helped the crew put together a well-rounded sailing campaign which includes logistics, gaining sponsorship and media coverage alongside training together in preparation for the 760 mile race.

For Robin, sailing with Team KSA has given him the opportunity to take on the role of skipper. He commented: “My ultimate career goal is to compete in the Volvo Ocean Race and Vendee Globe, so it has been a great experience to take charge and run a sailing campaign. My time with the BKA has helped ensure that I have every element of our campaign covered.”

“This event will give us a chance to highlight that a young British crew can compete in a highly competitive, international event.”

To follow the progress of Team KSA in the 2012 Sailing Arabia, The Tour visit the BKA Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BritishKeelboatAcademy) or their Twitter profile (@tweetbka)

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Notes to Editors
Contact: Jessica Padley, jessica.padley@uksa.org

About UKSA

UKSA is the UK's leading youth maritime charity, working to change lives through maritime education and personal development.

Based in Cowes, UKSA's 3.5 acre on shore campus and fleet offers a comprehensive range of industry accredited yachting and watersports careers, programmes, leisure activities and multi-activity watersports trips for schools and youth groups.

UKSA has a strong alumni network in the global maritime industry including the world-renowned sailor Dee Caffari.
The charity celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2012.
http://www.uksa.org

About the RYA

The RYA is recognised by all government offices as being the negotiating body for the activities it represents. It continually fights for the rights and freedoms of its 103,000 personal members, the majority of whom choose to go afloat for purely recreational non-competitive pleasure on coastal and inland waters.

It represents a further estimated 500,000 boat owners nationally through its 1600 affiliated clubs and boat owner associations.

Olympic and Youth sailing is a beneficiary of the Lottery funded World Class Programmes (WCP) and administered by the Sports Councils. The Programmes focus on performance sport with the aim of achieving sporting excellence on the world stage. Further information can be found on the UK Sport website at http://www.uksport.gov.uk and Sport England's website at http://www.sportengland.org

Further information can be found at http://www.rya.org.uk

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The British Keelboat Academy supports young people aged between 18 and 24 in developing the skills needed to take their keelboat racing to a professional level.