- Dates: 29/04/2024 > 02/05/2024
- Venue: Cowes Yacht Haven, Cowes PO31 7BD, UK
- Event Website: www.ukfsc.org.uk/
UK Firefighters Sailing Challenge (UKFSC) is the National Sailing Championships for the Firefighters of the United Kingdom. The event is held every Spring in The Solent and with the help of our sponsors, we raise money to help many charities.
Our sailing event is held every Spring in The Solent and with the help of our sponsors, we raise money to help many charities.
The majority of us are Firefighters, but entry is also open to other Emergency Services, with entries from Police and Ambulance crews. We also extend a welcome invitation to Fire Services from other countries and our sponsors can participate.
Format of the Event
The event is usually four days in total, with three days of sailing and three social events. We start with an opening ceremony and Skippers’ briefings in Port Solent on the Monday evening. We then race on Tuesday and Wednesday and have a gala dinner on Wednesday evening with a charity raffle and guest after-dinner speaker. Our renowned ‘Passage Back’ race starts on the Thursday morning and gives the opportunity for boats that have come last in previous races, to start first. We usually get back to Port Solent around 4pm and say our goodbyes.
Charities
Over the lifetime of the event we are very proud to have raised over £120,000 for charity. Out of the charity money we raise at each event, we always donate 25% of it to the RNLI and 25% to The Firefighters Charity. The rest is divided equally between a charity nominated by the guest speaker, and a charity nominated by the overall winning team.