As patron of St Marys Junior Sailing Club, I was delighted to be able to join them for the annual laying up supper and prize giving. This took place at Stokes Bay Sailing Club where some of the older and braver sailors graduate to if they want to continue their sailing career.
I celebrated the fact that St Marys Junior Sailing Club had fifty sailors signed up for 2015 and that many of these were brand new to our fantastic sport of sailing. Lets hope they are appear again next spring when the new sailing season will begin.
I told some salty sea dog stories from my Volvo Ocean Race with Team SCA and showed them some cool pictures from the race to help them understand what I had been doing and where I had been.
There are many certificates and prizes to be awarded but one trophy, that I donated to the club, is for the sailor that ‘gives back’ to the club helping with less experienced and novice sailors. For the second year running this trophy was awarded to Abigail Filkins.
As part of the crew of Team SCA we have each been given a bursary to help grass roots sailing or help getting more girls involved in our sport. I have been in the unique position to share my bursary with both St Marys Junior Sailing Club and also Stokes Bay Sailing Club. It feels great to be a local sailor that is able to give back to the community. St Marys Junior Sailing Club teach beginners to sail and grow in confidence on the creek in Alverstoke, so it really is grass roots sailing. When the pupils are too old for this club the idea is that they can graduate to Stoke Bay Sailing Club. This is a big step from the small creek and boats they know to a big club with many people they do not know, many boats they do not know and also to sailing on the sea with the beach descending into the Solent. To help this transition and to keep more children sailing I hope the bursary will make a small difference.