RYA heritage exhibition heads to Cowes

The RYA’s Olympic and Paralympic exhibition ‘Our Sporting Life - Sail for Gold’ will be at Cowes Yacht Haven for the weekend of the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island race (29 June - 1 July) on the sixth leg of its tour of the UK.

Sixteen thousand views
Having already visited London, Scotland, Liverpool and Cornwall, some 16,000 people have had the opportunity to enjoy the exhibition and immerse themselves in 112 years of triumph and glory at this extraordinary exhibition celebrating Britain’s unique Olympic and Paralympic Sailing heritage.

Anyone visiting the exhibition will discover how Britain cemented its place as the world’s most successful Olympic and Paralympic sailing nation through the captivating anecdotes, photographs and keepsakes of those sailors who made sailing history.

The secrets
From ‘yachting’s’ debut as an Olympic sport at Paris 1900 to Britain’s record-breaking medal haul at Beijing 2008, the exhibition lets you into the secrets behind the success including how the boats, the racing and the sailors have changed dramatically over time.

Stories are brought to life through a creative mix of fascinating historical artefacts and modern-day videos, linking our wonderful sailing past with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic sailing regattas taking place on this summer.

“We are delighted to be bringing the exhibition to Cowes Yacht Haven over the weekend of the Round the Island Race giving even more people get the chance to come along and really get a feel of how wonderful and exciting our Olympic and Paralympic sailing history really is.

“The exhibition will give visitors an insight in to just how times have changed and hopefully will get them excited about the upcoming Games and get them right behind our competing sailors,” commented Sail for Gold Exhibition Coordinator, Celia Edgington.

Final few stops
From the Isle of Wight the exhibition will go take its place down in Weymouth as part of the Weymouth Bayside Festival for the duration of the Olympic Games, before heading to its last scheduled stop at Brightlingsea Sailing Club in Colchester.

To find out more about the ‘Our Sporting Life – Sail for Gold’ exhibition visit www.rya.org.uk/sailforgold.

Watch the trailer for the sailing heritage exhibition on YouTube.