Organisers of the National Watersports Festival (NWF) have confirmed that after 10 years of hosting the leading windsurf and stand up paddle boarding event on Hayling Island in Hampshire they are moving the event to Rutland Water, East Midlands where a new chapter of the event kicks off on 2nd to 4th June 2017.
Hayling Island has provided the perfect home for the NWF with its welcoming beachside venue and the unwavering support of the local community. However, with the growth of the event over the past decade organisers have been looking at how they can develop the festival further and Rutland has been chosen as the venue to provide this opportunity.
Rutland Water is the second largest reservoir in Europe and is renowned as a centre of excellence for watersports and will give the event plenty of room to expand. There are a host of facilities onsite which include camping for 600 people, an aqua park, zoo, cycle trails and climbing facilities, which will attract even more people to the festival and the area as a whole.
Allan Cross, events director, explained: “We have loved our time on Hayling Island and will look back over the years with very fond memories and our thanks to everyone who has supported the event.
“Rutland will help us to deliver the NWF over the forthcoming years and we’re really excited about the move. Our aim now is to get more families involved with the festival, so we’ll look to get more clubs and youth participation and are looking to combine the main NWF event and the NWF Junior into one big super festival. Within this we’ll also provide more access to disabled riders.
“We’re proud of how we’ve introduced the sports of windsurfing and SUP to many thousands of newcomers over the years and we want to use the excellent facilities at Rutland to help develop an even larger ‘taster’ session element in order to get more people out on the water and enjoying the sports that we hold so dear.
“We will continue to deliver the windsurfing aspect that we always have but our new model will also cater for the ever increasing number of recreational paddlers and wind SUP users.
“We’ll have the usual parties, live music, racing, trade area, clinics and a whole lot more to welcome the next decade of the NWF. We’ve got the full support of the industry so it’s all systems go!”
For further updates keep checking the NWF website www.nationalwatersportsfestival.com
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