[July 01, 2009]

School Sailing Regatta set to start next year

Jul 01, 2009 (Cayman Net News - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- The Director of the Schools Sailing Programme, Michael Weber has announced the start of the School Sailing Regatta in November of next year. Mr Weber called on schools to select students who will make the teams in a programme that is going to start in September this year.

To set the ball rolling students from North Side Primary School are learning to sail with the generous help of Red Sail Sports and instructors and support from the Cayman Islands Sailing Club (CISC).

In May and June 2009, Red Sail Sports donated the use of its beach and security at Rum Point where the Cayman Islands Sailing Club set up a small sailing school. This allowed the children at North Side Primary School to partake in sailing lessons without having to drive the 45 minutes to the CISC in Red Bay.

So far the CISC coaches are impressed with the students' ability. "We are delighted to work with the children from North Side. They are very well behaved and most show confidence and some natural talent on the water," said head instructor, Garth Griffiths.

This was also confirmed by Mike Weber who said that most of the kids displayed above average level of confidence and balance on boats. "This has helped greatly in understanding about how to manage the wind which is a key skill in sailing," said Mr Weber.

The sailing lessons are part of a much larger school programme offered by the CISC. In the 2008/09 school year, the CISC has taught sailing to over 600 young children, some as young as 5 years old, from eight schools.

Mr Weber, stressed the importance of the schools programme as well as appreciation to Red Sail Sports. "We will continue to try to ensure that every child in the Cayman Islands learns sailing. It is a healthy, environmentally friendly, and culturally relevant activity. I sincerely thank Red Sail Sports for helping us introduce sailing to the children of North Side Primary School." Currently the Cayman Islands Sailing Club is working with Alternative Education, Red Bay Primary, Prospect Primary, George Town Primary, Bodden Town Primary, John Gray High School, Savannah Primary, St. Ignatius Catholic School, George Hicks High School, Cayman Prep and High School as well as with the Scouts and Cadets.

"Eventually the Sailing Club would like to see sailing as part of the school curriculum in every Cayman Islands school", according to another Director at the Sailing Club Andrew Moon.

At some point in the future the Club would like to include the Sister Islands within the programme on a regular basis rather than the current irregular basis.

Over the last 12 months the Cayman Islands Sailing Club has sent junior sailors to a number of international regattas including the Canadian Olympic Training Regatta, the Byte North American Championships, the UK Hobie Junior Nationals, Texas Youth Race Week, the Feva World Championships (Sweden), the Florida Orange Bowl and the Chief Minister's Cup in the BVI , and aims in the future to send junior sailors to the ISAF Youth World Sailing Championships, the Youth Olympics, the Caribbean Sailing Championships and the Central American and Caribbean Games.

"One Caymanian youth has been identified by one of our top visiting coaches as having the potential to represent the Cayman Islands at the 2012 London Olympics," said Mr Moon in an earlier interview.

Mr Moon said that sailing is the sport, which is symbolic of Cayman's seafaring heritage, noting that the court of arms confirms this.

"Taken from the Cayman Islands' Coat of Arms, this declaration reflects the sea faring heritage of the Islands, and as such, illuminates the very reason why the Cayman Islands should encourage sailing to be part of all schools curriculum for all children in the Cayman Islands from all walks of life," said Mr Moon.

For more information on sailing training at CISC, please contact Mike Weber at sailing@sailing.ky For more information please contact Mike Weber, CISC Sailing Director Tel: 947 7913, Cell: 926 7913, Email: sailing@sailing.ky, Web: www.sailing.ky To see more of the Cayman Net News or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.caymannetnews.com/. Copyright (c) 2009, Cayman Net News, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]

Discussions: