Youth & Junior End of Season Party & Prize Giving at Ripon Sailing Club
by Gail Jackson 16 Oct 2017 09:50 BST
14 October 2017
Improvers and a fun session at Ripon Sailing Club © Gail Jackson
Ripon Sailing Club's Youth & Junior (Y&J) Section marked the end of their sailing season in style on Saturday 14 October with a massive turnout for improvers and a fun session, followed by a party and prize giving.
During the day 48 Youth & Junior took to the water to participate in the final improver session of the season and/or a fun water games activity involving relay racing, fun sailing and bin bag racing. Many pre-sailors (3-6 year olds) joined in the fun session, ably supported by the older youth & junior sailors. 60 Y&J and their parents then celebrated the season at the Prize Giving and evening party.
The club also unveiled their three new RS Tera sailing dinghies which have been funded by a grant from the Eric Twiname Trust, in partnership with RS Sailing. Committee had managed to keep the arrival of the new boats secret so the Y&J got a massive surprise at the end of the season party! The boats will supplement the existing club boat fleet and enable more youth & juniors to benefit from club equipment while they learn to sail. The club is delighted with this support from The Eric Twiname Trust at the end of the club's 60th anniversary year.
Over 60% of the club's Y&J membership has participated in sailing activities this season, 50% attending more than 5 sessions and over 15% racing regularly at the club and on the open meeting circuit. This is testament to the hard work and dedication of the volunteer team at RSC.
Club Youth & Junior Sailing Secretary, Fiona Spence says "The club has had a massive influx of new members from our open day earlier in the season, most novice members learn to sail via our RYA courses run by the training team and then move into advanced improvers and learn to race sessions. We are a club run for members, by members and we are very lucky that we have a huge team of volunteers who help run sessions, drive safety boats or help with the behind the scenes admin. 2017 has been a brilliant year for Youth & Junior Sailing at RSC and 2018 promises to be just as good, if not better."
Fiona went on to add that "the Y&J section now includes activities for the pre-sailors, to encourage them to come to the club and join in before they are old enough to participate on the sailing courses. We are also celebrating the success of our youth sailors on the open meeting circuit with Ollie Kent crewing the 4th place boat at the RS Feva World Championships and Ellie Clark winning the 420 U17 & Ladies National title in the summer".
The evening prize giving was sponsored by Mill Volvo Knaresborough, who have again generously supported the club's Y&J activities this year. Mill Volvo provided glassware prizes for the 3 learn to race series held on Sunday mornings, these series are hotly contested and generate much enthusiasm for racing. The club is very grateful for this generous and long-term support from Mill Volvo as it allows the club to provide quality prizes for the Y&J series which are appreciated by all.
The club race coach team supports the series and provide on the water coaching for all participants; Y&J are then encouraged to join in the main club racing. This year we have had up to 25 competitors in these series which is a great turn out given the first race starts 9am on a Sunday! Mill Volvo have also put several new Volvo cars on display at the club for the weekend for the adult members to admire!
So far, being 60 has been pretty fabulous for Ripon SC!