OnBoard Festival at the Lowport Centre, Linlithgow
by Alan Henderson, RYA 17 Sep 2010 09:10 BST
11 September 2010
OnBoard Festival at the Lowport Centre, Linlithgow © Angie Sword / RYA
Fun and teamwork were the keynotes at an exciting event last weekend for young newcomers to sailing. The event was the OnBoard Festival, held at the Lowport Centre, Linlithgow on Saturday 11 September.
21 kids came to the Festival from Outdoor Centres all over Scotland, and all had learned to sail through RYA’s OnBoard initiative. At the Festival, the kids had the chance to meet for the first time with kids from centres elsewhere in Scotland in a friendly competition.
The centres sending teams were the Lowport Centre, Linlithgow, Lochore Meadows, Fife and SailLaser Scotland, Motherwell, and all the kids got the chance to try four varied types of activity. On Linlithgow Loch there were rigging races, relay races, racing around marks and a milk bottle race. Don’t spill that milk!
The kids were all aged 8 to 15, and many had learned to sail just this year. The weather was perfect to help the kids show their skills, starting with a good breeze which increased later, while the sunshine kept spirits high.
All races were very close, with all the team members keen to earn points. The accent was on team activities, and visitors from the 11 strong Lochore Meadows contingent combined well to take the team prize. Top scorer in the individual event was Ewan Armour of Lowport, followed by Ciaran Sneddon of Lochore and Kiaran Campbell of Lowport.
The organiser, RYA Scotland Development Officer Angie Sword, said, “The event was a huge success with all the kids smiling and having a great time. The kids were all queuing up to thank the instructors at the end because they had so much fun.”
Campbell Wilson from Lochore Meadows, one of the kids, enthused, “Sailing is much more fun than school, it’s awesome!”
The event was supported by official OnBoard supplier Harken, who provided goody bags for the competitors and gift vouchers for the volunteer helpers.
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 aims to introduce a minimum of 500,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting over 10% of them into regular participants. So far it’s nicely on track.
For more information about how to get involved in sailing visit the RYA’s website or the OnBoard website.
Results:
Overall team
1st Lochore Meadows, Murray Thomson, Catherine Speight, Caitlin Sneddon, Aaron Tate, Ewan Speight, Fraser Walker, Duncan Lewis, Campbell Wilson, Tommy Starkey, Ciaran Sneddon, Julia Speight
Individual event winners
1st Ewan Armour, Lowport
2nd Ciaran Sneddon, Lochore Meadows
3rd Kiaran Campbell, Lowport