Changing Horizons

In her introduction to this year’s Impact Report, Chair Andrea Minton Beddoes reflects on a simple but powerful ambition: that children growing up on the Isle of Wight should not merely live beside the sea, but feel confident, capable and connected to it. In 2025, we delivered 4,446 free sailing lessons to 723 Year 5 children from 20 local primary schools and home-educated families — a 30% increase on 2024.

Since our inception in 2022, we have funded over 10,000 three-hour lessons, enabling 1,792 Isle of Wight children to learn to sail. Each child attends between five and ten weekly sessions, working towards their RYA Dinghy Level 1 or 2 certificate. But while the certificates matter, the deeper impact cannot be measured purely in numbers.

Confidence Where It Matters Most

The Isle of Wight contains some of the most deprived areas in the UK and has one of the highest proportions of children with special educational needs. Despite living on an island, many children have never been to the beach. Some arrive at sailing lessons anxious or withdrawn. Others are unused to trusting adults outside their immediate family.

Week by week, something remarkable happens. Children who begin in tears finish with smiles. They discover resilience as they navigate changing winds. They learn teamwork when crewing together. They learn independence when they take the helm.

Beth Dyer, Head of the Island’s School Improvement Team, shared the story of one pupil whose early years were shaped by instability and hardship. On the water, for the first time, he was not simply reacting to circumstances — he was making decisions. He learned to trust instructors. He learned to belong to a team. He began to believe in his future. Today, he is thriving at secondary school and aspires to join the Navy.

Opening Doors Across the Island

In 2025, we expanded both reach and depth. Five new schools joined the programme, bringing our total to 20. We introduced Swim Safe training to strengthen essential water safety skills. Our Saturday Club continued to provide progression opportunities for just £1 per session, ensuring that enthusiasm can turn into lasting engagement.

We are also investing in accessibility improvements so that children with additional needs can fully participate. Our guiding principle is clear: no child should miss out.

Isle of Wight  ·  11 February 2026

Every primary school child aged 9–10 on the Isle of Wight will learn to sail as part of their education by 2027 — as an established programme providing free sailing lessons to Year 5 pupils goes island-wide.

The commitment follows the continued expansion of the Seaview Sailing Trust schools programme, which will reach 31 of the island’s 37 primary schools this year, with full island-wide coverage achieved by 2027.

The expansion has been made possible through a new collaboration with the United Kingdom Sailing Academy (UKSA), which will provide tuition to several schools at its base in Cowes. The partnership solves a long-standing geographical challenge, as the journey to Seaview was too far to make regular sailing lessons viable for schools in West Wight.

The programme will be delivered by UKSA instructors to the same standard and structure as the Seaview Schools Sailing programme and will be fully funded by the Seaview Sailing Trust. Of the 31 schools involved this season, 26 will complete the programme with the Sea View Yacht Club and five will attend UKSA.

By 2027, students will receive a minimum of five free sailing sessions — each lasting three hours — delivered as part of PE during the school year by qualified instructors. Many children will receive up to ten sessions, depending on their school.

In 2025, 723 children took part in a total of 4,446 free sailing lessons — a 41 per cent increase in sessions delivered compared with the previous year. That number will rise this coming season to a total of 949 children.

Andrea Minton Beddoes, Chair, Seaview Sailing Trust, with Catherine Dixon, CEO, UKSA (Credit: UKSA)

Since the charity was established in 2022, the Trust has funded more than 10,000 three-hour sailing lessons and taught 1,792 children how to sail. Each child receives sustained, weekly tuition over a term, working towards official RYA Dinghy Stage 1 or Stage 2 certification.

In 2025, the programme also introduced Swim Safe — developed with the RNLI, Swim England and the RYA — to teach young people about tides, wind and other elements of water safety.

The expansion this year has been further supported by additional funding from the Cowes Town Waterfront Trust, helping ensure children from both Cowes and East Cowes schools can take part — a key step in making the programme accessible to pupils from across the island.

A Year of Growth — By the Numbers

In 2024, we delivered 3,150 free sailing lessons to 560 Year 5 children from 15 local primary schools and home-educated families — a 50% increase on 2023. Since our launch in 2017, the programme has grown from 15 children at a single school to becoming one of the Isle of Wight’s most impactful education programmes.

2024 saw us add four new schools and launch a Saturday Club for children who want to keep sailing beyond their lessons. Our ambition remains clear: to reach every Year 5 child across the Isle of Wight.

A Royal Seal of Approval

In May 2024, HRH The Princess Royal visited Seaview to see the programme in action, watching Year 5 pupils from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School sailing their Picos off the Duver. She officially opened the new RYA training centre funded by the Trust.

The RYA Responds

Back in the Classroom, Everything Changes

Beth Dyer, Headteacher at Nine Acres Primary School in Newport, describes the transformation she sees in pupils returning from their sailing sessions: improved concentration, stronger communication, and a newfound resilience when facing challenges.

Seaview, Isle of Wight  ·  16 May 2024

HRH The Princess Royal has taken to the waters off Seaview to watch primary school children learning to sail as part of a weekly programme of free tuition.

After visiting the Sea View Yacht Club and meeting members, The Princess Royal went afloat to see students from St Mary’s Catholic Primary School in Ryde enjoying training in small Pico sailing dinghies. After meeting the children as they de-rigged their boats on the beach, The Princess Royal officially opened the Sea View Yacht Club’s new training centre and boat park on Duver Road, Seaview.

The Seaview Sailing Trust, founded by the Sea View Yacht Club in 2022, is a groundbreaking charitable programme providing Isle of Wight Year 5 primary school children with up to ten free sailing lessons during the summer term. In 2023 the Trust delivered 1,840 sailing lessons to 360 local children, with those numbers expected to grow for the 2024 season. A total of 14 schools from across the East Wight are now enrolled in the programme. Students work to achieve either Stage 1 or Stage 2 certification from the Royal Yachting Association.

The Sea View Yacht Club has been providing sailing opportunities to local school children for more than 25 years. The programme has evolved over the years, including enjoying support from four times Olympic sailing gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie.

Credit: Sea View Yacht Club

The Seaview Sailing Trust was formally set up as a charitable organisation in 2022 and has already raised £300,000 to fund the free training programmes. The Trust has ambitious plans to double the number of primary school children it teaches to sail every year from across the East Wight.

Photo credit: Sea View Yacht Club

Nearly Double — and 20% Ahead of Target

In 2023, we delivered 1,840 free sailing lessons to 360 children from 11 Isle of Wight primary schools — nearly double the lessons provided in 2022, and 20% ahead of our own target. Five new schools joined the programme, and for the first time we were able to help with transport costs so that no child missed out simply because of where they lived.

2023 was not just about growth on the water — it was about laying proper foundations for the future. We began building our financial reserves, opened a dedicated deposit account, created a new land-based classroom at the Duver Boat Park for when the weather intervenes, and started working with the RYA and Andrew Simpson Foundation to formally measure the long-term impact of the programme on children’s lives.

Feedback from the Sailors

A Community That Goes the Extra Mile

Our first full year of fundraising has been incredibly successful. We continue to be overwhelmed by the support we have received from the Seaview community and from trusts and foundations further afield. All lines of funding increased this year including individual donations, trusts and foundations, support from livery companies and from corporate funders — including several local businesses. We are very grateful to all.

Moving Forwards

A Flying Start

In 2022, the Seaview Sailing Trust was formally established as an independent charity — and in our very first year, we delivered 977 free sailing lessons to 167 children from 6 East Wight primary schools. Every child worked towards their RYA Dinghy Level 1 or 2 certificate. It was just the beginning, but the ambition was clear from day one: to reach every primary school child across the Isle of Wight.

The Isle of Wight draws visitors from across the country for its coastline and sailing waters — yet many of the children who grow up here have never been in a boat, and some have never even been to the beach. The island is home to some of the most deprived communities in the UK. The Seaview Sailing Trust exists to change that, one child at a time.

Chair’s Report

Each child receives a term’s worth of weekly half-day sailing lessons at the Sea View Yacht Club. They finish with RYA certificates and, more importantly, they build their self-confidence, expand their communication skills and broaden their horizons.

Fundraising Update

Since its creation in March 2022, the Seaview Sailing Trust has been strongly supported by the community of Seaview and members of the Sea View Yacht Club. A launch event held at the Club in April 2022 helped finalise the funding for the 2022 programme.

The main fundraising event was a garden party for over 200 people. To raise awareness of the work of the charity, ticket prices were set at £27 each — the cost of each individual sailing lesson provided to the children in 2022. We set a target of £30,000, but actually doubled that figure after receiving generous matched funding support.