Qualla: Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: Introduction

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The Royal Yachting Association had been eyeing Portland Harbour for decades. Wind from every direction. Eight and a half square kilometres of sheltered water. Chesil Beach and four Victorian breakwaters keeping the worst of the Channel chop out. There was only one problem: the Royal Navy owned it. When the Navy sailed away for the last time on 21 July 1995 and the harbour was sold the following March, the lock came off. A non-profit company formed in 1999. By 1 April 2000 the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy was open, working out of old naval buildings on Osprey Quay. Five years after that, London 2012 announced where its sailing events would be held.

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: Why This Water

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward, Public domain. Sailors talk about Portland Harbour in terms that border on reverence. The 8.6-square-kilometre basin sits open to the prevailing winds but protected from ocean swell - the four breakwaters built by Victorian convicts have been doing their secondary job, calming the racing surfac...

Image: Edward | Public domain

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: Building the Clubhouse

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Noel Jenkins, CC BY-SA 2.0. For the first five years the academy ran out of converted naval premises. The new clubhouse opened in June 2005, opened by the Princess Royal, paid for with 7.85 million pounds donated by charities, individuals and local councils. It is a working sailing centre, not a yacht club ...

Image: Noel Jenkins | CC BY-SA 2.0

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: London Calls

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0. On 6 July 2005, the day London won the 2012 Games, Weymouth went up too. WPNSA had been chosen as the sailing venue. The Olympic Delivery Authority added a new 220-metre slipway accessible at any state of tide or wind, seventy more marina berths, and a dinghy park big enough for ...

Image: Raimond Spekking | CC BY-SA 4.0

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: Two Weeks in 2012

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ajsmith141, CC BY 3.0. Olympic sailing ran from 29 July to 11 August 2012. Paralympic events followed from 31 August to 5 September. Sailors from every continent fought for thirty Olympic medals and eighteen Paralympic ones across courses laid out in the harbour and the bay. A cruise liner berthed at P...

Image: Ajsmith141 | CC BY 3.0

Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy: After the Olympics

Wed, 20 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit The original uploader was 17beavers at English Wikipedia., CC BY-SA 3.0. The medals went home with the sailors, but the infrastructure stayed. Sail for Gold, the RYA Youth National Championships, the J/24 Worlds, the Moth Worlds in 2008, the 2006 ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships, the BUCS Fleet Racing Championships - the calendar fills itself, y...

Image: The original uploader was 17beavers at English Wikipedia. | CC BY-SA 3.0