Hampshire independent school team sails the world-famous yacht race around the Isle of Wight, and achieves a top result.
A crew from Ballard School, an independent co-educational school in New Milton, Hampshire, proved their sea legs in this year’s ‘Round the Island’ boat race around the Isle Of Wight, when they came second in their class.
In the annual 50 nautical mile one-day yacht race, where 1,584 boats set sail from Cowes, the team of amateur sailors from Ballard School raced alongside some of the biggest names in sailing, racing past The Needles, round St Catherine’s Point and Bembridge Ledge and back into the Solent.
Headmaster Alastair Reid says:
“We’re very proud of our team who did very well to finish second in their class (Class 7) and fifth overall out of 754 boats, which is some achievement. They managed this despite a problem off St Catherine’s point when they lost their spinnaker.”
The crew included pupil Oliver Hill, who secured a place in the Optimist GBR team for the 2015 European Championships, teacher Andy Maskell who was the skipper, and six parents.
The Ballard team joined competitors who came from all over the UK and as far away as the USA to take part in the boat race, which is the fourth largest participation sporting event in the UK after the London Marathon and the Great North and South Runs.
The race is the latest in a string of extra-curricular activities Ballard School offers to its students, including participating in major performing arts productions, swimming and sporting events and Duke of Edinburgh Awards.Entering the event goes hand in glove with the school’s ethos to offer the widest range of opportunities possible to students, in the belief that if you play hard, you’ll work hard.
Ballard is a holistic ‘through’ school for children from Nursery to GCSE, offering an all-round education leading to superb academic qualifications. The school’s GCSE exam record makes them the best performing ‘non-selective’, independent co-educational school (that is, without an entrance hurdle) in the region. For more information, go to www.ballardschool.co.uk
For more information on the J.P Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race, organised by the Island Sailing Club, go to www.roundtheisland.org.uk
Matt Jenkins
