Rudyard Lake Sailing Club gains youth excellence award

Rudyard Lake Sailing Club in Staffordshire has been recognised by the Royal Yachting Association for its commitment to developing the next generation of racing sailors.

It has been awarded British Youth Sailing (BYS) Recognised Club status as part of a national accreditation scheme run by the sport’s governing body. BYS Recognised Clubs have to demonstrate a safe and fun environment for youth and junior sailors with a regular race training programme and a commitment to supporting future talent.

Patricia Ordsmith, President of Rudyard Lake SC and Lead Instructor for its junior club, said: “We’re ecstatic to receive this accreditation in recognition of all the good work we are doing with our very active junior section. We are proud to offer training for all levels from beginners to advanced and a number of our junior members are now racing at the club and at events around the region and nationally.”

Rudyard Lake SC has a wide range of boats and equipment available and has also been successful in training up its older youth sailors to become instructors, who are then able to support and inspire the club’s junior members.

Parents Bruce and Emma Carter are coordinators of the junior section, which includes their children Grace, aged 10, and 16-year-old Ollie, who after learning to sail at the age of eight following an open day, now races competitively and is an Assistant Instructor.

Mr Carter said: “The club is genuinely welcoming, accessible and inclusive, and the children can progress at their own speed and to whatever level, whether that’s simply enjoying sailing as a life skill or racing competitively. The club can accommodate all aspirations in terms of what the children want to achieve and the enthusiastic instructor team does a superb job delivering quality training so the kids keep coming back for more.”

Rudyard Lake SC is now looking forward to a busy summer on the water and to cheering on its very own Olympian, John Gimson, who will be representing GBR in the high-performance foiling Nacra catamaran class at the Tokyo Games, his own journey in the sport having started with junior sailing at the club.

Junior Racing Captain Tom Darlington added: “This British Youth Sailing endorsement shows the increase in appetite for racing at the club and with the upcoming Games in Tokyo this looks like a great summer for racing at Rudyard Lake!”

To find out more about Rudyard Lake Sailing Club visit www.rudyardlakesc.org.uk or for British Youth Sailing go to www.rya.org.uk/racing/british-youth-sailing.