Have you dreamed of doing your own Top Gear-style Sailing Challenge?
Do you love sailing and want to see it’s accessibility and inclusivity pushed forward?
Are you keen for a fun weekend, with camping onsite, a well stocked bar, and a £300 cash prize for the event winner?
Well, keep reading for all the juicy details!
Sailing has a bit of a reputation for being expensive, elitist, difficult to get involved with.
We were banging our heads together, trying to think of a way to show that you don’t need the latest gear to compete, you don’t need to spend thousands of pounds getting a new set of sails every year for your <5 year old boat, you just need to get out on the water and have fun!
So, we came up with “The Colander Cup”…
Following the success of the 2025 Colander Cup, we’ve booked in with Northampton Sailing Club to do it all again next year!
So save the date, because on the 9th May 2026, we will be going “banger racing” once again.
To keep in line with inflation, the boat budget has been increased and boats must be valued at a MAXIMUM of £313.51!
£313.51 is not a huge budget, but there are actually quite a lot of options out there, you just have to look for them. Remember, this isn’t about getting the latest gear, it’s about going banger racing and having a laugh. Leaky boats are encouraged, Colander Cup by name, Colander Cup by nature. These boats should be leakier than sieves!
To really sweeten the pot, FM Sailing will be providing a CASH PRIZE of £300 to the winner of the Colander Cup.
Maybe you have a bunch of old boats rotting away in your dinghy park and you’ve been waiting for an excuse to get them back out on the water and sailing.
Maybe you fancy having a crack at a Top Gear-style challenge, seeing what you can get for a couple hundred quid and turning up for a bit of fun.
Maybe you want to relive your Mirror sailing days, even if you now have a beer belly and a mortgage, neither of which were present when you last stepped in one of those old wooden bathtubs with red sails.
Whatever your reason or excuse to get involved, GET INVOLVED!
This new event is one of a kind, and we’re really hoping that it will be a fun way to celebrate everything good about the sailing community.
Full event rules, sailing instructions, and notice of race to follow. But for now…
Put 9th May 2026 in your Diary.
Get on eBay, Apolloduck, Facebook Marketplace, Gumtree, or even down your local sailing club, and start looking for your racing colander!
To help us plan next year’s event, we’ve opened “pre-entry” so you can register your interest.
This is free and helps us to gauge numbers!