Aspiring West Wales sailors earn own boats
by Hamish Stuart, RYA Cymru-Wales 20 Dec 2014 12:26 GMT
19 December 2014
Two aspiring West Wales sailors have been awarded their very own boats, donated by the John Merricks Sailing Trust (JMST), the official charity partner of the RYA OnBoard programme.
Amelia Grant-Jones from Fishguard and Joshua Price from Haverfordwest were among 13 youngsters across the UK who were selected from over 70 applications after competing in the RYA Zone and Home Country Championships which took place at nine venues across the UK this September.
"This is the second year we've teamed up with the JMST to run this scheme which is aimed at helping ambitious young sailors to progress in the sport. These youngsters have all shown huge enthusiasm, talent and commitment to the sport despite some of them being fairly new to sailing. This year we will award six Toppers, three Optimists, three Bic Technos and one Laser" said RYA OnBoard Operations Officer, Cat Ferguson.
The boats and boards that the JMST have donated will provide these sailors, who may not have ordinarily had the opportunity, to progress their skills with the highest quality equipment to continue to participate in sailing.
Twelve year old Joshua, who sails at Solva Sailing Club, was delighted when he found out he was being gifted the use of his own Topper boat. "I love being on the water, on my own seeing how far I can go before I capsize. I also enjoy the responsibility of looking after the equipment and making sure I have the boat set up to the best of my ability," he said.
"Piers, my coach, has taught me nearly everything I know about sailing and without him and the support of the club I would not be where I am now.
"I would dearly loved to get a JMST boat so that I can enjoy it and them pass on a great piece of equipment to the club so other youngsters can get the same chances I have had.
"I enjoy learning new techniques and strategies. I try to be as athletic as possible so I love sailing as it is a brilliant form of core exercise.
"My aim for two years time is to progress along the 'pathway' to the Welsh National squad, competing at a high level."
Grant-Jones is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her older sister who is already part of the South West Wales regional Topper squad.
"I like sailing because it gives me the pleasure to enjoy having fun," she said. "Before the race even starts I get nervous but when I do the race I have a great time.
"The club's boat is a training boat so when I compete I go slower. When I complete the race and look at the scores I don't mind coming last or first because as long as I enjoyed it then that's fine with me.
"In the next two years I would like to achieve a lot and hopefully be able to join the squads. I am very thankful to all of my coaches this year for helping me especially Matthew Pritchard. Sailing is a brilliant sport so I am going to carry on with it as long as I can. Winning a boat this year means I can do lots of new things and learn."
Cat concludes: "We'd like to thank Bishop Skinner who once again are supporting the partnership as the official RYA OnBoard JMST marine insurer. Thanks also go to Topper, Laser, Boardwise and IBI Sailing for helping us to make this possible."
Run by the RYA, OnBoard is a grass roots programme which introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18, through schools, youth groups and training centres.
Over a ten year period OnBoard has introduced over 500,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting over 10% of them into regular participants.
JMST seeks to help young sailors and youth sailing organisations to achieve their goals and was set up in the memory of leading Olympic sailor and 1996 Olympic silver medallist John Merricks.
Ian Walker, John's former sailing partner, JMST Trustee, double Olympic silver medallist and skipper of Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing, commented, "John Merricks did not come from a sailing family and learnt to sail at school. He was a fantastic sailor, but was as well known for his sense of fun as he was for his natural talent. Many people helped John on his way to achieving his Olympic Silver medal and the Trust set up in his name aims to support youth sailing at a grass roots level, hoping to encourage young sailors like these to follow in his footsteps."
For more information about how to get involved in sailing visit the RYA's website www.rya.org.uk or the OnBoard website www.ruob.co.uk
For more information about the JMST visit www.jmst.org.uk