Hippo takes to the water

Our new rescue boat was officially named 'Hippo' by the Mayor of Stockport in a ceremony at Etherow Country Park on Saturday April 29th.

The naming was the culmination of fundraising efforts by members over the previous year, matched by a grant from the RYA (Royal Yachting Association). 

The safety boat has inflatable sponsons that make recovering sailors for the water much easier and more comfortable than the previous craft. A more powerful engine means the boat can get to any incident faster and also tow disabled boats in strong wind conditions in a controlled way.

Thanks go to all the club members who put on events, donated money, prizes, time and enthusiasm to support the fund-raising.

To entertain the onlookers at the ceremony, several club members took part in a demonstration race with commentary from Phil Howarth on the public address system.  As can be seen from our videos page, the strong winds made it difficult to launch and rig the dinghies and there were some spectacular capsizes.

After the race, a short demonstration showed how the new boat could help to right capsized boats and in the event of broken equipment, techniques such as putting the mast across the rescue boat to take it back to the landing stage under full control in gusty winds were proved possible with Hippo, though this would not have been with the craft it replaced.