South West Youth Sailing Academy at the Royal Dart Yacht Club
by Nicholas James 10 May 2016 15:33 BST
7-8 May 2016
Toppers and Teras entering the River Dart © Nicholas James
The Royal Dart Yacht Club at Kingswear hosted the last of six weekend sessions on of intensive race training for over 30 youngsters from The South West Youth Sailing Academy this winter. Sunshine, light winds with the occasional strong gust prevailed for both days as the youngsters aged 9 - 14 put into practice the skills they had learnt over the past sessions with a mini regatta in the picturesque River Dart.
The South West Youth Sailing Academy (SWYSA) is a not for profit community group and has now completed its second successful winter of junior training. The children had come together from local sailing clubs including Paignton Sailing Club, Royal Dart Yacht Club, Teign Corinthian Yacht Club, Stoke Gabriel Boating Association, Royal Torbay Yacht Club and Salcombe Yacht Club. They train together in their Tera and Topper dinghies under head coach Tim Anderton from the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation and a team of class specific race coaches. These motivated young sailors can now return to their club racing and a full summer of open events to practice these new skills on the water.
Nick Ripley, Commodore of Paignton Sailing Club said "Its a great chance for the children to keep sailing throughout the winter so they can be ready to start the new seasons racing. We are also very proud that Emily, one of our own PSC junior sailors, won the "Sailor of the Winter award" with a wonderful prize of a shirt signed by all the British sailing team."
Nicholas James from the SWYSA said, "Its fantastic that the Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation is supporting our training here in the West country with their coaching expertise and seeing the funds raised by the recent Bart's Bash sailing events coming back to help on a practical level right here".
The children, who have had great fun and are keen to return next year for more training, have experienced a variety of conditions with reservoir sailing at Sutton Bingham near Yeovil, launching from the beach at Paignton Sailing Club to meeting a large swell sweeping into the River Dart. Their knowledge, understanding and experience has increased significantly, as has their confidence on the water.
Dates are already being pencilled in for next winters sessions with even more youngsters wanting to get involved and improve their sailing skills. Ben Miles from SWYSA said "We have proved to be a successful model of how clubs can work together for the benefit of their youngsters and their own club. It was great to see two of the sailors from last winters training going on to achieve places on their national squad and it looks like we might have even more from this years group". "our thanks go to all the sailing clubs supporting their young sailors, the RYA and the parents in helping their children have this brilliant opportunity".
If your club would like to get involved or you would like to train next winter please get in touch: