RYA North East OnBoard festival 2011
Last weekend, young sailors from schools across the Newcastle area came together at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club to take part in the RYA North East OnBoard Festival.
The young sailors ranged in age from 12 to 15 years and all had learned to sail in the past year at one of the RYA OnBoard Clubs across the North East Region, mainly at Derwent Reservoir and at Tynemouth. With the backing of the RYA, these OnBoard clubs work with youth groups and schools in their local area to bring sailing opportunities to youngsters who might otherwise not have the chance to take up the sport.
"A really fun time despite windy start"
The schools at the festival included, Longbenton High School, The Royal Grammar School and the Newcastle School for Boys.
“Everyone had a really fun time and despite a windy start to the day the event ran well. In the afternoon the sun even came out,” said Helen Bainbridge, RYA North East OnBoard Development Officer.
“All the teams did exceptionally well under the conditions and they showed great skill and enthusiasm. It was fantastic to see everyone coming together to support the event.”
“As well as sailing, the teams were given a series of challenges to perform which the youngsters completed in their Topper dinghies, such as the Duck Race and the Blindfold challenge. The winning team on the day was the “Tynemouth Tigers” composed of pupils from Longbenton High School and the RGS.
Team members were: Leah Braviner, Will Brown, Matt Simm, Corin Hails, Callum Hails, Paul Curry, Ben Owen (RGS) and Michael Gratton (RGS). A fantastic effort!”
Special awards
Special awards were also given out to some individual students:
- Paul Curry (Longbenton) - Dedication to ducks!
- Michael Gratton (RGS) - Extreme sailing
- William Sensicle (NBS) - Style and panache
- Thomas Melborne - (NBS) stamina and commitment
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. Coming at the end of the RYA North East OnBoard season, the festival was a great success.
"The youngsters were raving about it all the way home"
“My group had a fantastic day,” said Jo Duckworth, OnBoard Co-ordinator at Longbenton High School.
“The youngsters were raving about it all the way home. They have had a great summer sailing, thanks not only to Helen but also to Mike Shipway at Tynemouth. The feedback I have had from parents has been amazing, as has their support. We have many more pupils at the college who now want to sail and planning has already taken place to make next season a more successful one, with our current group sailing on a regular basis and a new group learning. Mike Shipway and Tynemouth Sailing Club have been fantastic throughout and I cannot thank them enough.”
The above feeling are echoed by Charles Drax at the Newcastle Boys School: “I would be very keen to encourage the boys to take part in future OnBoard events like the one last weekend. I also very much hope that Maurice Cooper at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club will offer another sailing course next May/June 2012. Already about 20 boys have taken part in previous courses at the club.”
More information
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 www.rya.org.uk or the OnBoard website www.ruob.co.uk