Second ‘Sail for £5 week at SailLaser Weymouth
by Katie Ashworth, LaserPerformance 24 Jun 2009 15:02 BST
15-19 June 2009
Powerstock and Dorchester Middle Schools during the second ‘Sail for £5’ week at SailLaser, Weymouth © SailLaser
The second ‘Sail for £5’ week took place at SailLaser over the week of Monday 15th June – Friday 19th June. In total, 506 children came to SailLaser and had a taste of sailing on the Olympic waters. This was made possible by SailLaser who provided boats and staff, and The Chesil Trust, who subsidised the whole event. Trophy’s were given out to winners of each session, which were kindly donated by The Dorset Echo.
The weather for the week was good, with most sessions taking place, in brilliant sunshine and gentle winds. A couple of the groups had stronger winds, but all managed a full on water session! The only rain for the week came on Wednesday afternoon, as the group were getting changed to go home! This didn’t stop the children getting wet though – several got wet by abandoning ship to go for a swim or even the odd capsize!
Each session started out with the instructors teaching the children how to set up the boat, steer and turn around, by running land drills on the shore. The children then rigged their boats, before heading down to the water. Once on the water they sailed on a beam reach course (Backwards and forwards across the wind), before following an instructor to sail the length of the causeway, and then sailing all the way home!
On arrival back at the slipway, the children packed up their boats, before heading for warm showers and dry clothes!
A winner from each session was selected to win a subsidised course from SailLaser. This is made possible by the support of The Chesil Trust. One winner received a scholarship to come back and learn to sail, gaining both their stage 1 and stage 2 qualifications, while the other winner won a scholarship to gain their stage 1 award. There were two winners from each session, who will all be coming back throughout July and August to complete their courses. Once they have completed their stage 1 course, they will be able to continue sailing with SailLaser, by attending the OnBoard Club, held at SailLaser every Tuesday evening.
All in all, it was a very successful week, and we look forwards to running more next year!
If any schools are interested in taking part, please contact Emma Dawson on 0845 337 3214.