ANTIGUANICE YACHTING INSIDER NEWSLETTER

The Jolly Harbour Yacht Club Youth Sailing Programme became a separate and independent entity after the Yacht Club Members decided unanimously to let us become a solo outfit.

We immediately set about becoming a junior club and our new logo was designed for the youth of the area.

Finance has been secured to bring all of our dinghies into use. Holed boats are now all serviceable and broken and deficient equipment is now being replaced.

Our Saturday programme has never been so popular with nine or ten boats on the water every week now and we peaked at 21 children for one session three weeks ago. Three instructors and a beach safety officer, with me filling any role needed is barely enough for the training I am trying to give each individual student.

Relief has occurred the last two weeks, and hopefully will continue in the future. We have instituted a dedicated race training session for interested kids on Wednesday afternoon after school. No playing in this two hour session. One instructor and myself will keep the kids that take part busy learning race rules and tactics.

If we can  get the new equipment in time, and the number of interested racers increased, we will try to run a two day regatta around Easter. Two classes, Optimists and Lasers, a closed regatta for Jolly Harbour kids on the Saturday and an open regatta on the Sunday.

The club isn’t officially formed at present but we hope, when it is, to raise more money for training with membership fees and club merchandise.

We still have scholarship funds available for disadvantaged kids and I will be renewing my efforts to increase the money donated and the number of kids in the programme.

The NSA Dinghy Park behind the Crows Nest is still a distant dream, but we have the piles for the ramp driven, so perhaps the dream is not quite as unreal as it appeared last year.

The future looks bright for the youth of St. Marys and Jolly Harbour particularly.

Chris Chitty
Director of Youth Sailing