Issue date
Over the summer school holidays the Otago Yachting Association (OYA) ran a very successful Breakaway Sailing Programme over a period of four weeks.
The programme ran one week prior to Christmas then recommenced for three weeks in January starting on the 7th January.
The programme is sponsored by and funded through the Ministry of Social Development and run by the OYA under contract to Water Safety New Zealand. Funding was provided for a placement of 60 students aged between 11 and 17, with the majority aged between 11 and 14 years.
The OYA employed two coaches, Scotty Rhodes and Ben Hawker and had one permanent Shore based support person – Ken Hargraves.
The programme provides for a Monday to Friday 9am to 1pm week-long experience. It was felt that this camp-style programme certainly enabled the kids involved to get plenty out of the programme with most having progressed by huge leaps from the Monday to the Friday.
Optimists were borrowed from some member clubs along with rescue craft.
The weather for the four weeks was very favourable for sailing with very few days too rough - but on those days the kids were still out on the water either swimming, having paddle races in just the Optimist hulls and on one day they swam between the two rescue boats while out in the main body of the harbour – a situation that most people would very rarely get to experience.
Since the programme, at least three harbour clubs have benefited from “breakaway” students joining up in club learn to sail programmes, with other clubs likely to benefit as the season progresses.
A great deal of the success of the programme was put down to a few key factors that the organizers believe other areas can easily utilize.
The group must be committed to providing a good fun experience for the kids – even beyond the immediate sailing experience. It is a total enjoying the water with confidence programme.
As well as the plastic Optimists the kids were introduced to the racing fiberglass Optimists so they could readily see that there’s a fast competitive side to this sport that they are having a go at.
Then along with the Racing Optimists, a local racing Optimist sailor – Oliver Hargraves, 14 years– was involved for the entire four weeks. Oliver was able to show the participants how a good Optimist can really fly in the right young hands. Oliver’s involvement was certainly the drive for many of the participants to want to find out how to have more fun in the sport just like him. And from Oliver’s perspective he was happy to actively recruit future club members for him to sail against later in the season.
The Breakaway programme can certainly offer an intensive yet fun yachting experience for kids over the holidays within five days that a once a week club programme could take a few months to achieve. Otago is certainly hoping that MSD & Water Safety NZ will wish to continue this programme on next summer.
