Cardiff Sailing Centre () is a

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff () is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Administrative divisions of Wales, principal areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

run watersports facility based on

Cardiff Bay Barrage Cardiff Bay Barrage () lies across the mouth of Cardiff Bay, Wales between Queen Alexandra Dock and Penarth Head. It was one of the largest civil engineering projects in Europe during construction in the 1990s. History Origin The origin of ...

Cardiff Bay Cardiff Bay (; colloquially "The Bay") is an area and freshwater lake in Cardiff, Wales. The site of a former tidal bay and estuary, it is the river mouth of the River Taff and River Ely, Ely. The body of water was converted into a lake as part ...

. The centre runs

dinghy A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or Towing, towed by a Watercraft, larger vessel for use as a Ship's tender, tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they diffe ...

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind-propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the Californian aerospace and surf culture. Windsurfing gain ...

powerboat A motorboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine; faster examples may be called "speedboats". Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the inter ...

and other shore-based courses.

History

The centre opened in 1968 as Llanishen Sailing Centre and was based at

Llanishen Reservoir Llanishen Reservoir () is a Victorian reservoir in north Cardiff, Wales. The reservoir is one of the reservoirs constructed as part of the Taff Fawr scheme for supplying water to Cardiff and was completed in 1886. It forms part of the Nant Fawr ...

in North Cardiff. It was rebranded in 2010 when the centre was forced to relocate to Cardiff Bay due to the draining of the reservoir but is still one of the major watersports centre's in Wales. The centre has produced a number of Welsh national, GB National and international sailors over the years, including Olympic Gold & Silver medallist Hannah Mills MBE who started sailing at the centre in 1996 and won the Silver Medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in Weymouth and the Gold Medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

. A number of regional, national and international events have been held at the centre over the years, including the 2001 Summer Games of the Special Olympics UK and recently facilitating the hosting of the

Extreme Sailing Series The Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) (formerly the iShares Cup) was an annual global racing series, organised by OC Sport, which ran from 2007 to 2018. The series started in 2007 with its main attraction being the stadium racing which puts the race ...

since 2011 and the 2017–18 Volvo Ocean Race.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.cbwac.com
Cardiff Sailing Centre's Council webpage
Sports venues in Cardiff Water sports in Wales Sailing in Wales Tourism in Wales Organizations established in 1974 1974 establishments in Wales Sports clubs and teams in Wales