Plas Heli - Update June 2023

Plas Heli Cyf – The Welsh National Sailing Academy and Event Centre, a volunteer not for profit distribution community enterprise company, with charitable aims and where all surpluses are reinvested back into the facility for everyone's benefit.

We host seven significant sailing events in 2023 including the IRC Welsh National Championships and Feva Nationals in May. In August we host the ITCA Topper Nationals and 420 Class Association UK Nationals, Optimist Late Summer Championships in September and a 29er Grand Prix in October. There is a World Championship booked in for 2024 along with a strong order book of impressive, proposed events and the regular training camps for RYA, RYA CW, and Class Associations.

We have continued to improve the facilities with additional grass areas for tents camping and we now have 53 electric hook-ups for camping! (only 15 in 2020). Work is progressing with the cctv cameras on both Cei Heli and in the main compound. These add to our existing coverage.

The telehandler makes the deployment of equipment for events and training camps a safe and easier operation. The perimeter flags have been hoisted and make a significant improvement to the site appearance.

The crane has been a big benefit to the Centre and we hope to see growth in the sports boats fleet.

We have further extended our capacity on the pontoons with new finger pontoons. There have been substantial upgrades to the fleet of 10 RIBs and race management equipment.

We also have more landscaping projects in the pipeline including work on Cei Heli and a new security barrier access to Cei Heli for our pontoon customers.

Plas Heli Pontoon customers will also shortly benefit from new dedicated shower cabin in Caban Heli. Work has started on this project, and we hope to share more information on this very soon. 

We continue to work closely with RYA CW to provide facilities for training camps, storage, and activities, and we respect the strategic importance of the facilities for events, training and boating in Wales.

Community engagement works continues and included our work with clubs and associations, assistance with facilities for a disability boat, fundraising events, classrooms for community groups, meetings, teaching and our work with children in-need.

Catering at the centre is with our franchisee operator Sean Devlin Ltd. The service is growing in reputation, and they have built a good name for quality and customer experience.

We are reliant on volunteers and are of course, grateful for all assistance provided by our stakeholder groups and clubs.

Challenges for 2023 include energy costs and shower and toilet provision for the growing events and training portfolio.

There is more about Plas Heli in the updated Plas Heli - Prospectus