Sport Unlimited Case Study - Ely Sailing Club - Funding - LIVING SPORT

Sport Unlimited Case Study - Ely Sailing Club

Set Sail with Ely Sailing Club

Ely Sailing Club recently worked in partnership with the Harbour School, based in Wilburton, and LIVING SPORT to organise and run a Sport Unlimited project through the summer term.

Ely Sailing Club is an established club situated at Roswell Pits in Ely. The club is a recognised RYA training centre and also boasts an impressive Volvo Champion Club status making the venue an excellent learning environment for young people.

With a Sport Unlimited grant the club was able to provide ten one hour sailing sessions on a Friday afternoon. The Harbour School takes boys who have social, emotional and behavioral problems. The group of 14 boys were aged between 8 and 15 and all of them were beginners.

From the outset most of the group began in the single handed Toppers or laser Picos. There was one or two who were not so confident and sailed in the Wayfarer initially but their confidence quickly improved and they moved into a single handed boat towards the end of the project.

The young people worked as a team to rig the boats at the start of each session and quickly got themselves onto the water. A number of different tasks were set and successfully completed by the boys and it quickly became obvious the group needed more of a challenge and they were soon gybing and working upwind and downwind on all points of sail.

During the project the group worked towards achieving their RYA Stage 1 qualification. The young people had to learn some theory aspects, including knots, parts of the boat and sail, how to fit a buoyancy aid correctly, find the wind direction and what to do if they capsized. Some of the group initially loved capsizing but soon learnt they got very cold!

Those that attended regularly were well on their way to achieving RYA Stage 1 qualification and those who attended at least six sessions received their certificates at the final assembly on the last day of term.

At the end of the project the lead instructor from Ely Sailing Club, Clare Christine, was very pleased with the group’s progress. Visible improvements in confidence and behavioral change were a satisfying sight for the teachers from the Harbour School and the instructors at Ely Sailing Club.

Please email Ross Hayward for more information on Sport Unlimited.

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