Congratulations to Ellis!

Ellis had submitted his application having got his teacher involved for support, with his phenomenal enthusiasm for the sport coming as quite a shock considering that he doesn’t like ‘traditional’ sports in school e.g., football, rugby, badminton, etc. His Dad, Gary, also said: “I have always found it hard to get him to get involved in sports, until I got him on a boat sailing himself, and now he is looking at the weather days before and wanting to be at the lake early as possible so that he can get rigged up and ready before the race brief.”  

Ellis’ club were also full of praise for him, saying: “Ellis demonstrates consistent enthusiasm to get out on the water sailing. He is frequently one of the early arrivals at Sunday sailing being keen to get his boat rigged and out on the water as soon as the safety cover is in place. He never seems to let adverse weather conditions dampen his desire to sail, and actively looks to participate in club racing despite using an ageing club Pico dinghy that is far from competitive. This enthusiasm extends beyond just sailing activity as Ellis has supported his father when he has been on Patrol Boat duty. He clearly has a desire to learn and understand all aspects of sailing club participation. Brenig Sailing Club has a strong track record of supporting the RYA pathway programmes both in terms of providing junior participants to the various classes and also having consistently hosted pathway training events.”  

From our point of view, it’s just been amazing to see Ellis progress so well and for him to be rewarded with this fantastic opportunity, and he sums it up pretty well with his reaction on hearing about his successful application: “Wow! This fantastic opportunity has become surreal, being a winner has left me overwhelmed. I am so lucky, excited and intrigued to see what the future will hold for me in the big word of sailing. This is going to be life changing for me and I am truly grateful. I would like to say a big thank you to everyone involved from the JMST and RYA OnBoard, this is amazing, and I can’t wait to be working with you.”  

Best of luck Ellis.