BBC One’s The Apprentice Candidates treated to Luxury Sailing Experience on RS21s

Lord Sugar treated the winning team of last night’s BBC One episode of The Apprentice to race on RS21s at Queen Mary Sailing Club. The episode (which featured on BBC One, 22 February at 9pm) saw the teams battle it out in a race around Jersey to be the best ‘Discount Buyers’. Introducing the RS21s, Lord Sugar told the winners “so, your treat; you’re going from negotiation to navigation.”

Lord Sugar described the adventure on RS21s as a “luxury sailing experience” and clips showed the eight Apprentice candidates whooping and cheering with delight as they blasted across the water at Queen Mary Reservoir. Team leader Noor Bouziane led her team to victory. The team – Rachel Woolford, Raj Chohan, Dr. Paul Midha, Foluso Falade, Steve Darken, Tre Lowe and Flo Edwards – donned lifejackets and safety helmets as they left the dock for the ultimate racing taster session.

The RS21 is an un-matched one-design racing keelboat which is raced competitively. A record-breaking 55 boats attending the World Championship last year in Sardinia, and this year, the 2024 worlds will be held in L’Escala, Spain. Entries are anticipated to increase even further as the popularity of the RS21 grows.

The RS21 is not just for high-level racing campaigns, it is also used by training centres around the world to teach sailing and give novices an introduction to the exhilaration of keelboat racing. The fleet of RS21s at Queen Mary Sailing Club are used for taster events, like The Apprentice candidates experienced last night, as well as British Keelboat League ‘rock up and race’ series all the way through to championship level racing.

The boats are designed to be handled by sailors of varying skill levels. Everyone has a role to play and ease-of-use is part of the attraction. “I feel ecstatic it’s amazing.” Beamed contestant Raj Chohan said: “I just hope I sail through a few more tasks now.”

Team leader Noor Bouziane, Dr. Paul Midha and Tre Lowe commandeered one of the RS21s. Tre shouted “come on guys, let’s race!”, while the other four contestants followed closely behind in the other one-design RS21.

“Fourth win on the trot; super excited,” said contestant Flo Edwards, who was beaming from ear-to-ear after racing the RS21s; “We just had the most amazing treat as well!”

You can watch the full episode featuring the RS21 luxury sailing experience on BBC iPlayer. Search for the The Apprentice, Series 18, Episode 4. Click here.

RS21 UK and International Class Manager, Nick Redding, was watching last night, “It’s been a big 12 months for the RS21 class. It’s great to see the boat showcased on The Apprentice by Queen Mary Sailing Club. What a highlight to get new people involved in high performance keelboat sailing. It’s a great way to kick-start the biggest season yet in the RS21 class with this iconic TV moment.”

For RS21 taster days in the UK, reach out to Nick via email on manager@rs21ukclass.org or visit the RS21 UK and Ireland Class Association to see how you can get involved and #jointherevolution.

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