January 2011 Newsletter

2010 was another great year for the Trust.  Most junior and secondary schools on the island sent groups down to sail either on the Model Yacht Pond or on the water. As usual our Summer RYA Courses were very popular, and fully subscribed.  All those that attended had a great time and were well looked after by our dedicated team of young instructors.  This year we are introducing a Wednesday after school sailing club from 1600 – 1800 at a cost of £5 per session, and will be held from 4 May until July and will recommence in September. In total during the year we had over 1900 students pass through the Trust, either Sailing, Windsurfing or Power boating.  We had a huge increase in interest in Adult sailing and Powerboat courses, and in 2011 we plan to run more courses to fill the void.

Last year saw the retirement of our Topper Sport 14’s, which we replaced by generous donations from various sponsors, with RS Visions and Fevas. They have proved to be excellent dinghies, and have been very popular with all of our students and have been a worthwhile addition to the Trusts fleet.

In June of last year Rich and his wife Elisabeth had another baby, a girl called “Jody”, this made for an even busier year for him. I think he is going slightly balder and greyer, but don’t tell him!

It was another successful year for the Trust’s Windsurfing programme in which we started our new Team 15 Windsurfing Club. Team 15 is a nationwide network of windsurfing clubs where young people aged 15 and under can get together every week to learn new windsurfing skills and have a laugh with their mates on the water. In 2010 the club ran from May till September which made the most of the fine weather. It proved to be very popular especially through the summer holidays.  For more information on Team 15 look at the following link http://www.rya.org.uk/programmes/team15

For 2011 we are looking for sponsorship for a new Bombard safety boat, 12 new Pico Sails and for a new fleet of windsurf boards and sails.

We will be having our open day on 30 April and the windsurf open day on the 21 May, for more details please see our website www.sailingtrust.org.gg

The Trust is looking forward to another exciting season afloat and we look forward to seeing you out on the water!  Happy Sailing for 2011, and thank you for your ongoing support.

Don’t forget if you are a Friend of the Guernsey Sailing Trust you are entitled to a 10% discount on any of our courses.

Adam