Sailing Success

Published 10:57 on 13 Aug 2013

Congratulations to the 8 children and 10 adults who successfully completed start sailing courses at Thames Sailing Club in Surbiton last weekend.

The students, many of whom were complete beginners, were taught how to sail in just 5 days by members of the Thames Sailing Club volunteer run Royal Yacht Association (RYA) accredited Training Centre.

During the courses the students developed all the skills and knowledge needed to enable them to sail a small boat in light winds without an instructor on board. This involved learning how to rig, launch, sail in all directions, how to recover from a capsize and other essential safety knowledge and led to the children attaining internationally recognised RYA Youth Sailing Scheme Stage 1 and 2 qualifications and the adults attaining RYA National Sailing Scheme Level 1 and 2 qualifications.

Club member and volunteer Chief Instructor Sally Reed said:

Teaching young people and adults to sail here in Surbiton on the River Thames is incredibly rewarding. As a club we are delighted to be doing our bit to introduce people to sailing; a fantastic sport in which people of all abilities and ages can take part, either by themselves, as a family or part of a team. We are particularly pleased that many of the graduates tried sailing for the first time here on the river at the clubs ‘Have a Go’ Open Day in June which attracted over 200 people.

After the awards ceremony, the graduates were treated to a sail on board iconic Thames A-Rater Vagabond (built in 1907 to a Linton Hope design); one of the forerunners to all high performance sailing dinghies.