AHOY there shipmates! Pirates have been spotted ahead.

A family of buccaneers have moved into The Rapids at Romsey.

Captain Rapid and his family, Peggy, Jake and Banjo are the latest attraction of the Southampton Road site and they are there to share the ‘pirate code’ with customers as they get ready to enter Rapid Island.

The pirate figures have been deployed by Valley Leisure officials to provide fun games for people waiting in the queue and encourage customers to do their bit to keep the Rapids as tidy as possible.

Customers can also pose as pirates using specially made cut outs, take photos and post them on Facebook.

Neil Barker from Valley Leisure urged Rapids customers to give the Pirates area a go.

He said: “We hope the new pirate family will help make things even more fun for people coming to the Rapids. We know at busy times people often have to wait a while, but the pirates should make it a little more enjoyable, especially for young ones. And if everyone does their bit to clean up after themselves, like throw away tissues or take shoes off, we can keep the changing rooms cleaner.”

Mr Barker added that a new banding system had been introduced in a bid to ease problems with queuing at the leisure centre. He said that on some days around 1,700 people go swimming at the Rapids.