Rockfish Supports Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust
by Jonathan Reynolds 5 Aug 2018 10:01 BST
Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust launch a new dinghy thanks to donations from Rockfish © Jonathan Reynolds
An impressive donation of nearly £5,000 from Rockfish has allowed the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust to purchase the latest RS Quest sailing dinghy to join the fleet. Going from strength to strength, thanks to the huge amount of support it has received, the Trust makes it possible for children who live locally to the River Dart, and wouldn't normally have the opportunity to try sailing, to get out on the water.
To give a flavour of the Trust's activities, over the last two weeks, the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust has given 64 primary and 24 secondary school children from Kingswear, Galmpton, Stoke Fleming, St Johns, Totnes, East Allington Primary and Dartmouth Academy the chance to sail. Those from Kingswear Primary and Dartmouth Academy spent two days achieving the RYA level 1 whilst everyone else enjoyed a 'learning to sail' taster day. For most of the children it was their first experience of sailing. With almost non-stop sunshine and fair winds, confidence soon grew resulting in lots of capsizing games towards the end of each day. A note of thanks goes to Savills who sponsored t-shirts for every child taking part from the local schools.
Commenting on the Rockfish donation, owner and chef Mitch Tonks says: "We love what the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust does in giving children from all different walks of life the chance to sail." Mitch continues: "Sailing has always been something I've enjoyed doing with my family and I am delighted that, through the Trust and through our customers' generous support, we are helping them fund a new RS Quest dinghy and are encouraging more young would- be sailors to take to the water." Mitch named the RS Quest sailing dinghy 'Stella Maris', which means 'star of the sea'.
Each of the restaurants in the Rockfish group supports a local charity. An optional £1 table donation is included on their menus, which many customers choose to give to the named charitable organisation. The Dartmouth Rockfish chose the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust to be one of its charities of choice.
Chairman of the Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust, Ian McClelland says: "We hugely appreciate the support by the customers of Rockfish whose enormously generous donation and all the support Mitch Tonks himself has given to the Trust along with the many other sponsors who have helped to make this happen and the Royal Dart Yacht Club who make their facilities available for use. For the children who are getting the chance to sail, it really is a life changing opportunity."
One of the children, who had never been on the water, was heard to tell her Instructor "this has been the best day of my life"!
The Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust was established in June 2016 as a legacy of, but as a separate entity to, the Royal Dart Yacht Club's 150th anniversary celebrations. In addition to getting a broader group of children the chance to sail or getting them out by other means on the water it also supports the Royal Dart Yacht Club (RDYC) junior sailing.
The Royal Dart Youth Sailing Trust is offering several opportunities to get involved through sponsorship. Please get in touch by email to to explore the various packages which include sponsoring a young person to take up some sail training for one or more years, the naming of two individual boats, or even putting company or business logos on sails of the six new RS Quest dinghy sails. Also get in touch to to find out more about the various sailing activities if you are at school close to the River Dart and may like to join in the fun.