YOUNGSTERS at a sailing club can now enjoy a new boat thanks to a Lottery grant.

Lyme Regis Sailing Club has received a rigid inflatable boat (RIB), thanks to a £10,000 Sport England Lottery grant.

The Highfield 420 RIB with mid-sized Honda engine was chosen for its lightness, which makes it easy to launch and recover. This is particularly important when it is being used as a safety and coaching boat in the youth training sessions, which involve children as young as six years old sailing in Optimist class dinghies.

Commodore Jeremy Rook, said: “Our Optimist class group of young sailors has grown significantly over the past couple of years, and our two large sea-going RIBs are too big to help them, and the other youth sailors.

"We needed this new boat to help us develop our youth training schemes further. There seems to be no limit to the number of parents locally who want to get their children sailing.”

This funding success for the club follows the award of a grant in 2015 by the John Merricks Sailing Trust, used to purchase three training Optimist boats, and the Oppie Cadets club has been a huge success, leading to a big rise in family memberships.

The Optimist boats allowed the club to teach children from the age of six to sail - previously unavailable until young sailors were 10 years old.

Vice Commodore Dave Stubbs has run two courses this year, each for 12 children, and has one fully-booked already for 2017.

While many families have purchased their own Optimist, Lyme Regis Sailing Club’s own fleet of small dinghies is available to children who might otherwise never get the opportunity to sail.

The club's youth training takes place on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings, and the young members are also encouraged to join in with club racing on Wednesday evenings and Sundays.

For more information, visit lymeregissailingclub.co.uk