The Noosa Yacht and Rowing Club – Youthsail Holiday Sailing Program during the Queensland school holidays was again a resounding success with close to 80 children between 6 and 16 years undertaking an introduction to the Yachting Australia ‘Get Into Small Boat Sailing' scheme.
The program was run on six different days during the school holiday break with children learning boat and water safety, rigging and launching, tacking, gibing, how to tie sailing knots, capsize drills and sailing up and down the beautiful Noosa River.
Sailors started sailing the Vagabond 3.7m sailing dinghy with a qualified Yachting Assistant Instructor on board and many tried their skills on the Sabot, Laser and Taser enjoying constantly changing and challenging conditions throughout the program.
Each day the kids sailed to Noosa Woods for lunch and raced back down the river for drills around the buoys outside the clubhouse before hitting the beach for fruit and snacks and then back on the water for an afternoon session.
The bravest of the lot signed up for capsize drills in the cooler water and were quick to hit the hot showers when they came in for de-rigging and clean up.
Kids from Darwin, Adelaide, Melbourne, England, Germany, Sydney and Brisbane took part in the program with many of the local kids have now signing up for the Funsail program that takes place each Tuesday and Friday afternoon after school to improve their skills with the hope of gaining the Yachting Australia Basic Skills accreditation.
Private lessons will take place this week for NSW school holiday students holidaying on the Sunshine Coast. Contact the sailing office for details.
The Holiday Program will again take place during the September and Christmas school holidays and all details are available on the club website http://www.nyrc.com.au or by emailing Paul Blundell at the sailing office on sailing@nyrc.com.au.
