Burton Bids To Uncover Stars Of The Future As Club Gets Onboard! 

More than 65 youngsters are already involved with the scheme at Burton SC

Burton Sailing Club hopes to find Britain’s next sailing superstar after signing up to OnBoard, the flagship kids’ grassroots scheme run by sailing’s national governing body, the RYA.

With three-time Olympic champion Ben Ainslie leading the all-conquering British sailing team into London 2012, Burton SC, near Repton, has laid down the foundations for local youngsters to follow in their footsteps through the RYA’s hugely-successful nationwide OnBoard initiative.

32 youngsters from 73rd Derby (Allestree) Scout Group became the first group to enjoy an OnBoard taster session at Burton SC last month, while seven youngsters from The William Allitt School, Swadlincote are undertaking weekly sessions with the aim to achieve their RYA Youth Sailing Stage 2 award over 12 weeks.

RYA OnBoard provides low cost sailing and windsurfing opportunities for local school and youth groups, enabling kids aged eight to 18 to learn to sail. If the youngsters want to start taking the sport more seriously, RYA OnBoard clubs have pathways in place to enable them to develop their skills further and, if they wish, start racing.

Adam Kenney, Burton SC Vice Commodore, said: “OnBoard is proving to be a great success with over 65 youngsters already involved and committed to learning to sail with the club’s training team. We want to make sailing as fun and accessible for every young person, regardless of age, gender and background and OnBoard provides us with another fantastic opportunity to do that.

“OnBoard is a recognised standard of quality so children, and their parents, know they will be receiving the best tuition in a safe, friendly club environment.”

Burton SC are enthusiastic participants in the RYA’s nationwide London 2012 initiative, Sail for Gold, celebrating Britain's unmatched Olympic sailing heritage and inspiring more people to get out on the water more regularly. The club has its own proud Olympic history with founding member, Lord Gretton, a double gold medallist at Paris 1900.

Last month more than 80 people descended on Foremark Reservoir for the club’s 2012 Sail for Gold Open Day. Families enjoyed free sailing taster sessions accompanied by Burton SC's RYA qualified instructors as well as experiencing the social side of what the club has to offer.

Meanwhile there are still a handful of places available on the club’s five-day learn to sail course for children aged from eight to 16 in August.

The club have also recently celebrated the news that they have been awarded £2,000 from the Sport England Small Grants fund to invest in new club boats to help keep developing and improving their club resources for members and newcomers alike.

Adam added: “This is just the beginning for Burton SC. Many people who undertook the club’s first RYA Learn to Sail courses of the year last month have since joined the club, enabling them to build on the sailing experience they gained on the course through the many sailing opportunities and development schemes available at Burton SC. We hope they will be the first of many new faces we welcome in this Olympic year and beyond.”

RYA OnBoard has got an impressive track record in enthusing young sailors – over 350,000 OnBoard beginner sessions have been run across the UK since 2004, with over 19,000 young people taking up sailing or windsurfing on a regular basis. There are over 230 OnBoard Clubs and Centres nationwide.

Any local schools and youth groups interested in getting involved in OnBoard should contact Brett Cokayne, RYA OnBoard Development Officer for Derbyshire, at brett.cokayne@rya.org.uk

For more information about Burton SC visit www.burtonsailingclub.co.uk