British Sailor, Olympian and SSW Ambassador, Sophie Ainsworth travels the world, training and competing at some of the most incredible sailing venues. Join me, SSW's Lottie Miles, as I catch up with Sophie each month and follow her bid to represent Team GB once more at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo... How it all began... I first met Sophie Ainsworth in 2007, during the first few days of our Exercise and Sport Science degree at the University of Exeter. Sophie was already

Team GB's Sophie Ainsworth competed at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games alongside Charlotte Dobson in the inaugural Woman's 49erFX event. Now, Sophie has joined SSW as we follow her bid to represent Team GB once more at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo... After leading the celebrations for Sailing Southwest's 1st Birthday at the RYA Dinghy Show, Sophie is back at work this week, as she travels to Palma, Mallorca to compete in the Princess Sofia Regatta. This time, Sop

Most sailors know the basic Part 2 rules within World Sailing’s Racing Rules of Sailing regarding “When Boats Meet” but as a Race Officer, you get to know the rules a lot deeper. This month, I thought I would share some of the more useful rules that are buried a bit deeper within the rule book or case studies which can help your sailing – especially at larger events: Rule 26 – most sailors understand the “5, 4, 1, Go” start sequence but did you know that times are taken from

The 2017/8 SSW Lakes series comprised 3 events, Roadford Rocket, Sutton Bingham Icicle and Wimbleball Exmoor Beastie, but following the Beast from the East, part 3, the Beastie disappeared under several feet of snow. The Rocket achieved a record 64 entries on the water with the inaugural Sutton Bingham Icicle a creditable 32 entries. Sailors universally commenting favourably on the series with many travelling from all parts of the region to take part. TracAce™ GPS tracking s

The Royal Torbay Yacht Club has been at the heart of sailing in Torbay for over 150 years. The club is proud of its long and distinguished heritage, but now has a dynamic team driving the club forwards. We have the Torbay Youth Sailing Trust, setup and run by members of the club, nurturing the young into the sport, and helping us to deliver some top end coaching. We are always looking for new members so please pop in and have a drink in the club. Next Month's Featured Club

A warm spring day dawned over the Sutton Bingham Reservoir, near Yeovil, with a 10-15kn Southerly wind building with some sharp gusts. It looked like a challenging day out on the water and so it proved… A mix of locals and series travellers arrived for the inaugural Sutton Bingham Icicle, a 3-hour pursuit race. The race team set a long beat down the lake with some challenging gybe marks and a reach to the final buoy. Several competitors went afloat early to test the condit

GB Olympic sailor, Sophie Ainsworth talks to Lottie Miles. After digging their way through the snow, SSW's Jon, Fiona and Lottie managed to get to the RYA Dinghy Show just in time to set up the stand for the company's 1st birthday party. British Olympian, Sophie Ainsworth led the celebrations, leading a 'three cheers' for SSW, before doing the honours by cutting the amazing SSW cake, baked by Emily Sydenham. British 470 sailor Flora Stewart did a fantastic job pumping up

The twenty-eighth Exe Sails and Covers Starcross Steamer was held on Sunday February 25th. This was the second race of the three race South West Series and the seventh in the longer new 10 race Sailing Southwest series. The Steamer is getting more and more popular and the limit of 100 boats was reached within a week of the entries being open, over a month before the event. For well over a week the weather forecast was for a temperature 5 degrees with Easterly winds, with some

Wimbleball Sailing Club has been around for as long as the reservoir and before that it inhabited Clatworthy Reservoir. There are still a few members to claim to have raced at Clatworthy. We are both a cruising and racing club – Sundays being the race day in the beautiful surroundings of the Brendon Hills. The club is open all year round. “The Beastie” has been a fixture on the regional race calendar for many years. Why “The Beastie” – well to some extent as homage to the leg

Following on from my post last month on the RYA Spring Series event, I have been asked to write a monthly piece for the Sailing Southwest website. As one of the youngest qualified RYA Race Officers, and currently working towards my National Race Officer qualification, I am going to focus this column on looking at events from a unique, Race Management perspective. However, I am also involved in many other aspects of the sport including instructing, coaching and of course racin