All-Aboard Watersports Information

As a charity, All-Aboard! Watersports strive to make it possible for everyone in our community to join in a range of watersports and water related activities in the beautiful and historic Bristol City Docks. This includes people with physical, emotional or cognitive disabilities or infirmaties, of all ages, who would otherwise feel that there were barriers to their participation. We work with individuals, groups, schools, charities and healthcare providers. We are a recognised training centre for the RYA, British Canoeing and British Rowing. in addition we are an RYA Sailability Centre of Excellence, Onboard centre and Volvo Championship Centre. All-Aboard was set up initially as Avon Schools Sailing Association, by a small group of dedicated teachers who wanted to introduce their pupils to sailing. Over the years, the number of children increased as did the number of sessions and WESSA West of England School Sailing Association, was formed. The ethos was the same, to encourage, support and facilitate those young people who would normally be denied the opportunity to access the water. During the 1980s we were offered the opportunity to take over the Bristol Sailing School, which allowed us to channel any profits from the school back in to support the growing charity. In 2004 Bristol Sailability was born. This allowed us to offer sailing to those who were denied access to the water by means of disability or sensory impairment. From the small beginnings of a Drascombe lugger being donated by Children in Need, we have grown to a premier Sailability Centre, catering for a wide range of abilities, from children with complex needs, to a development pathway up to Paralympic standard. In 2013 we took a further leap forward, by becoming one of the first Charitable Incorporated Companies in the country. This allowed us to widen the scope of our work to include, canoeing, rowing and boat building, as well as the profile of the people who we work with.