On Wednesday 1st April at 15:00, the RYA and YachtsandYachting.com will be hosting a ‘live’ eSailing demonstration event. Attracting the crème of UK dinghy racing talent, the event promises to be a real showdown in virtual and tactical skills. This is your chance to tune in and find out more about eSailing hosted by Virtual Regatta, while enjoying some great racing.

The live event will see 16 competitors log in to do battle on the virtual waters in a bid to top the leader board. Taking part in the live event are British Sailing Team sailors Luke Patience, Eilidh McIntyre, Emma Wilson, Giles Scott, Anna Burnet, Ben Saxton and Stu Bithell. Amateur champions Katie Burridge (Laser 2000), Andy Davies (Merlin Rocket & Solo), Sam Watson (GP 14), Dave Hivey (Moth & RS200), Johnny McGovern (RS200 & 470), Sam Whaley (Laser & Waszp), Matt Mee (GP14, RS200 & Merlin Rocket), Christian Birrell (Merlin Rocket), Adam McGovern (GP 14 & Mirror) and Paralympic medallist Nikki Birrell (Skud18 Medallist at Rio Olympics).

Mark Jardine, editor of YachtsandYachting.com who will be compering the racing commented: “With such a strong line-up I’m confident we will see some very close racing during this live event. It will be interesting to see how their on-water skills translate to the virtual world.”

With the temporary closure of so many clubs and centres and everyone having to stay at home eSailing is proving to be a fantastic way to stay in touch and continue racing while practicing your racing tactics from your own home.

“Many clubs, classes and training centres, as well as individuals have already signed up to eSailing with Virtual Regatta and we felt that the live event would be a great way to show everyone how it works and how much fun it can be. We hope that lots of people will tune in for what promises to be a great event with some great racing”, commented Alistair Dickson, RYA Director of Sport Development.

The live race off is free to view at 1500 tomorrow (Wednesday 01 April). We will be streaming this live on the Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com homepages: