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UK’s Sail Training Sector on ‘Knife Edge’, Industry Body Warns

14th February 2021
Jubilee Sailing Trust’s SV Tenacious at the Cowes Small Ships Race in 2018 Jubilee Sailing Trust’s SV Tenacious at the Cowes Small Ships Race in 2018 Credit: Max Mudie/ASTO

While plans are in the offing for a phased restart of tall ship sail training and other outdoor learning activities in the UK after Easter, the sector remains on a “knife edge”.

That’s the message from Andy Robinson, chief executive of the Institute for Outdoor Learning, who as Marine Industry News reports has pilloried the British Government’s guidance amid continued pandemic restrictions as “catastrophic”.

“Our £700m industry is on a knife edge,” Robinson says. “But with the right support and guidance, the sector can still be saved.”

He says that UK Outdoors’ Roadmap to Restart “provides a clear and prudent proposal for a phased restart of the outdoor education sector in time for the critical summer term, giving providers a sustainable path to survival.

“If no action is taken and no additional support is provided, the sector stands to lose all its 16,000 jobs, snuffing out a vital British industry.”

Marine Industry News has much more on the story HERE.

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