The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy Streamlines Organisation for 2012
The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) has announced today,10 May, that it will be streamlining the organisation ahead of the 2012 sailing events which will attract the world’s top sailors to the South West of the UK. The new structure at the venue that is shortlisted for the 2010 Sport Industry Award ‘Sport Venue of the Year’ will see the merging of the onsite commercial company ‘Sail Force Ltd’ with the not-for-profit Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
John Tweed, Chief Executive of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy explained, “when the WPNSA was first established, it was set up as a not-for-profit organisation in order to apply for essential grants from the Sports Lottery Fund, the South West Regional Development Agency, local authorities, charitable trusts and other associated benefactors”.
The Academy then appointed a commercial company ‘Sail Force Ltd’ to undertake the majority of the venue’s operational activities. Sail Force, a family business owned and managed by Phil and Sandra Gollop, brought commercial acumen as well as detailed knowledge and experience of running high elite level competitive events from their previous business at the nearby Weymouth Sailing Centre. This original structure worked effectively to date and the decision to merge the two organisations was made earlier during 2010 in order to streamline onsite management.
The venue for the sailing competition at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games will continue to be a not-for-profit organisation with a clear new management structure moving forward to the Games period and through into the future legacy years. Sail Force will now be re-branded as ‘WPN&SA Ltd’ with the well known Gollops continuing to work hand in hand with their team at the Academy.
Edward Leask, Chairman of the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, commented, “We have a very exciting and challenging time ahead of us. We wanted to make sure we had the right organisational structure in place to meet these growing challenges through a clear, responsive and agile organisation that could only be produced through this streamlining. Our future outlook is now very much orientated around our not-for-profit status however, we still need to operate in a financially prudent and sustainable manner to ensure we generate sufficient income to ensure financial stability for the venue and a strong future.”