Boats at Preston Marina snapped up by keen sailors

Directors at the city’s Marina were inundated with interest after they offered to give away the two Flying Fifteen keelboats for free.

In the space of an afternoon, director at Preston Marina Steve Miller had to shut down the offer, which had been issued on their Facebook page. He said: “We have got these two sailing boats and they are not looking after themselves. They needed someone to look after them.

“We were looking for enthusiastic and experienced sailors who would clean them up and us them in the Docks.

“Two different people are going to come and see us about them. We think that’s better than the boats sitting there going green.”

Steve says that he has tried to start a sailing club down at the Marina before but enthusiasm trickled out and he hopes that with enough interest there might be a sailing club at the Marina again one day.

In the initial offer on its Facebook page on Tuesday Preston Marina said: “To try and encourage more activity on the water here in the dock we have the following opportunity...

“We have two Flying Fifteen keelboats here and an opportunity for some very very cheap sailing fun here in Preston for the right people.

“We will gift these Flying 15’s free and provide free marina berthing so that they can be sailed and raced in the 40 acre dock basin virtually any day.”

Preston Marina then listed a series of conditions for people who hoped to use the boats on the water at the Docks.