Winner of the safety boat competition announced

Winner of the safety boat competition announced at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show © Paul Wyeth / RYA

Today (Saturday 05 March) at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show, Kevin Armstrong from Little Chalfont, near Amersham was announced as winner of the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show / Suzuki Marine, Safety Boat competition.

Picked from amongst 2000 entries, Kevin, who is a member of the Wembley Sailing Club commented: "When I found out that I won I was absolutely delighted if not a bit shocked as I'd forgotten I'd entered.

"I decided to enter the competition as clubs find it hard to get funding so the opportunity to get a boat like this is incredible. We are trying to encourage more youngsters to get in to sailing and this boat will be perfect to get in amongst them on the water.

"When I told the club that I'd won they were all delighted and slightly surprised, as the club had entered the competition before and never won and on my first time of entering I won, they were all wondering how the hell I pulled it off?"

Incoming Wembley Sailing Club, Commodore, Julian Bradley added: "We are ecstatic about Kevin's win. The boat package will be a great addition to Wembley SC at Welsh Harp. It's a robust little boat and will be used for training and as standby rescue boat at the club."

Kevin clinches a fantastic safety boat package worth over £5,500 (RRP) consisting of a Rigiflex Newmatic 360 powered by a Suzuki DF9.9A outboard plus a road trailer from Extreme Trailers for his club, as well as a special VIP invitation to the show to claim his prize, where he was joined by fellow club members to help celebrate his win.

"This competition always proves to be extremely popular because ultimately it's a quality package. With any safety boat you need performance and reliability and I think Rigiflex and Suzuki offer exactly that, so when it's called upon it does the job", commented George Cheeseman, Sales and Marketing Manager, Suzuki Marine and ATV.

"As title sponsors of the Show we want to give something back and give sailing clubs the opportunity to access to the best boat package on the market. Our way of saying thank you", George added.

The Rigiflex Newmatic 360 is one of the most popular club safety boats on the market and when combined with the Suzuki DF9.9A is a very robust and durable package and makes up one of the three safety boat packages from Suzuki Marine developed by Suzuki in partnership with Ribcraft and Rigiflex, and in conjunction with the RYA, offering clubs standard packages that will cater for the needs of most clubs and training centres.

Alongside the inland/inshore Rigiflex, there is also a 4.8m inshore RIB and a 5.85m coastal RIB so that there is a safety boat package to suit most club locations and needs.

For more information about the Suzuki Marine safety boat packages visit www.rya.org.uk/programmes/dinghy-show/Pages/safety-boat-packages-from-suzuki.aspx

If you're visiting the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show over the weekend of 05-06 March, make sure you check out the Safety Boat packages on display on the Suzuki Marine stand, F10.

For ticket details and more information about the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show visit www.dinghyshow.org.uk or follow the show on Facebook (ryadinghyshow) and Twitter (@dinghyshow)