News - 12/04/17

Sail and powerboat training schools are an important part of the Shepards Wharf community and we encourage training schools to be frequent visitors with our berthing discount scheme. 

One of our regular visitors that we always look forward to welcoming at the Marina is Ocean Youth Trust (OYT) South, a charity that offers residential sailing opportunities to young people, taking them to sea in their sail training vessel, the 32-metre Prolific, which this season replaced OYT South’s previous vessel John Laing. 

Skipper Andy Viney said: “We visited Shepards Wharf on Prolific’s very first voyage with young people – they always make us and the young people very welcome; they make every effort to have a convenient berth for a larger boat, and they are always on hand whenever we need assistance. Prolific is going to be a fantastically exciting boat for OYT South over the years to come and I’m sure we’ll be in and out of Shepards often. We would encourage everyone to look out for us and come and say hello if you can!”

OYT South voyages last from a couple of days up to two weeks but usually include four or five nights on board. This allows plenty of time for young people to develop familiarity and confidence in sailing the vessel, make new friends, work as a team, learn new skills, face new challenges, have a lot of fun, and go home with a real sense of achievement.

To find out more, do visit the OYT South website. You can also see a short video of Prolific at sea on YouTube.

Shepards Wharf is a great location for training schools, being just a couple of minutes from Cowes High Street and all the shops, restaurants and pubs, and yet the Marina is just far out enough from the centre to be away from the hustle and bustle of the town.

To find out more about Sailing Schools berthing at Shepards Wharf, check out the Marina Berthing section of our website.

Photos: ‘Adventure Under Sail’ with OYT South

Top photo: Shepards Wharf Marina Manager Jock Rafferty (left), with Skipper of Prolific, Andy Viney (right).