Autism on the Water

23/06/2026

A beautiful write up on the blog Rule 69 by the delightful Magnus Wheatley! All focussing on the last few days and future plans 🙂

https://rule69.substack.com/p/making-magical-memories?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=3412219&post_id=203230677&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=55lsns&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Cowes Town Waterfront Trust
Cowes Yacht Haven
Pontoon View Bar
Royal Yacht Squadron
Royal London Yacht Club
Royal Ocean Racing Club
Island Sailing Club
Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club
Premier East Cowes Marina
UKSA
Royal Yachting Association
RYA Sailability

Quietly our sport is doing great things for the disadvantaged...

22/06/2026

Our final day of Isle of Wight Festival trips today from Cowes - once again in gorgeous weather and even hotter then yesterday! Mabel and Dora, Rachel and Cassie and Amy and Reuben all enjoyed their trips up the River Medina taking in all the beautiful sights with the sun shining and of course all had great times with taking turns to helm the boat.

With the event done, that’s 26 people from the Isle of Wight Autistic Community been out on the water over the last 4 days bringing a total of 68 attendees so far for the AOTW South Coast Base.

A major thank you to all the participants this weekend for coming, Pontoon View Bar for keeping us hydrated and of course the incredible Cowes Town Waterfront Trust and Cowes Yacht Haven for without them we could never have achieved what we have done so far this year.

As director of the charity, it’s been a real personal honour to skipper the boat over these last 4 days and seeing the change and impact it has had on all the young people and their parents too.

Regular Community Sailing will soon begin in Cowes and updates on this will be available shortly.

Total of participants in 2026 in Scotland and the South Coast so far have been 94 attendees!

22/06/2026

Last year during Cowes Week when we were the event charity, we were very generously gifted at beautiful brand new chart plotter for our South Coast boat from Garmin - it arrived at our base at Cowes Yacht Haven recently and we are preparing to get it fitted in time for our next event.

A MASSIVE Thank you to all at Garmin for this generosity! It will be of huge use to the boat and also for our autistic guests to learn about the importance of navigation.

The South Coast Branch is generously supported by Cowes Town Waterfront Trust

21/06/2026

Cowes was full of sunshine and high temperatures today, which made for a spectacular day on the water.

First, Danielle, her children, Patrick and Joel along with their Grandad Gary enjoyed a lovely trip up the River Medina taking in a very busy waterway full of boats attending the Isle of Wight Festival. Both kids were on the helm and made themselves huge potentials to become yacht captains in later life.

This afternoon we welcomed a family attending their first ever AOTW event, Laura, her son Bruce and Grandad Gill enjoyed an outing out around the breakwater and up towards Gurnard Beach and then a relaxed run back to Cowes where Bruce enjoyed helming a boat for the first time ever especially when passing the Royal Yacht Squadron before heading back up the River Medina for a look at UKSA and returning back to shore in time for a well earned ice cream! It was wonderful to see the happiness from all three of them and look forward to having them on board again.

Tomorrow is our last day of this special four day event with the final two trips on board.

The South Coast Boat is supported by the generosity of Cowes Town Waterfront Trust with as always incredible support from Cowes Yacht Haven.

21/06/2026

Our regatta is getting closer and we’re delighted to welcome the following yachts -

Rooster Cogburn - G Anderson
Bluefin - A Spence
Doofer - R Marshall
Rhett Butler - D Crisp
Peristella - B Dunlop
Svalan - D Dunlop
Four Bells - J Butterworth

Entries are still open and we will be accepting entries right up until 9am on the day of the regatta.

You can race the passage races or just the day at Crinan!

10/11 July - a fantastic weekend promised.

Craobh Marina
Crinan Hotel
Crinan Canal
Scottish Canals
Oban Sailing Club
Ardfern Yacht Centre
RYA Scotland

21/06/2026

On Saturday Evening - we hosted a very special VIP trip out of Cowes.

Anna-Louise Felstead who is a renowned and talented Artist joined AOTW with her autistic son Freddie at our first event in May of this year as a last minute booking and loved it so much that whilst she was painting on Monaco at the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the profits raised from the auction of two fantastic paintings, half of which she donated to AOTW raising an outstanding £4,000. Anna Louise’s generosity in this fundraiser has enabled us to ensure that our future events continue to remain free of charge for people with autism and their families.

As a big thank you for her contribution, AOTW founder Murray and AOTW Isle of Wight rep Sophie took Anna-Louise and Freddie out for a special sail from Cowes to Osborne Bay and back. Our VIP guests had a fantastic time taking in the beautiful surroundings and enjoying the peace of being under sail in good company. Young Freddie of course had a great time gaining new self confidence in himself and taking great pride in showing us his skills of flying his toy aeroplanes but we ensured they didn’t go into the sea!!

A massive thank you once again to Anna-Louise for this incredible generosity and also a special mention to Pontoon View Bar who went above and beyond to ensure Freddie had the correct bowl of chips to eat after he returned from his sail! Community is everything with AOTW and Cowes really does show that well 🙂

The South Coast side of AOTW is supported by Cowes Town Waterfront Trust with incredible help from Cowes Yacht Haven 🙂

20/06/2026

Another excellent day for AOTW! Another day of taking autistic families up the River Medina. The weather was warm but cloudy and our guests had a fab time taking turns to drive the boat and see the everyday life of a busy boating area. There was everything from Navy ships to the Chain Ferry!

Two families made lifelong memories with each other today 🙂

The South Coast program is supported by Cowes Town Waterfront Trust with amazing support from Cowes Yacht Haven

19/06/2026

A truly stunning first day of our Community Sailing Weekend for Isle of Wight Festival!

Today we had 5 guests and we simply had some lovely runs up the River Medina in gorgeous sunshine and warm temperatures!

All had a great time and we look forward to the next few days!

The South Coast Branch is supported by Cowes Town Waterfront Trust with support from Cowes Yacht Haven 🙂

18/06/2026

We’re thrilled to be back in Cowes for a long weekend of Community Sails for Autistic Families from the Isle of Wight. With 21 people booked over the 4 days as well as the Isle of Wight Festival being on, it’s shaping up to be a busy weekend and the weather forecast couldn’t be more perfect for getting afloat.

Our South Coast Program is supported by Cowes Town Waterfront Trust with support from Cowes Yacht Haven.

15/06/2026

The AOTW Team are heading up to Oban for the next couple of months - upcoming events

Round Mull Race racing 2 handed
AOTW Regatta - ENTER HERE! - https://www.autismonthewater.org.uk/regatta-2025
Clipper Day at Oban Sailing Club

In addition, we will be running a brand new event at Tarbert Harbour and also due to popular demand, we will be returning back to Rothesay for another Isle of Bute event!

All events are Free of Charge as always!

Dates and bookings coming soon!