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The Ponsonby Primary kids all had an amazing day last Friday 14th, September 2012. This from parent, and sailor, Lanee Beashel…
The Yachting New Zealand's Sailing…Have a Go! program showed up with two Optimist dinghies for the kids to use. They put one on the shore and one in the school pool along with two kayaks and one windsurfer.
My son, Trent is in Year 2 at Ponsonby Primary and I decided to utilise the 'Sailing…Have a Go' program that Yachting New Zealand offers. It is a wonderful outlet for kids to get involved and introduced to sailing. My husband is a professional sailor on Emirates Team New Zealand and I was a past Olympic Windsurfer competing for the USA in 1992, '96, 2000 and 2004.
During the Olympic fever last month over in England, I asked the principal if I could arrange to get Bruce Kendall to come to the school and talk to the kids about Olympic dreams and show his medals. I thought I would also try to give the kids a chance to try a few of the Olympic watersports, windsurfing, sailing and canoe/kayak. Since New Zealand did so well in England winning a Gold and Silver in sailing, a Gold in women’s flatwater canoe/kayak and since windsurfing is such a huge Kiwi sport (and my favourite) get all three out on the school pool.
I called Stuart at YNZ and told him what I thought about doing and he thought it was a great idea. Kim and Hamish, from 'Sailing… Have a Go' arranged the Optimist dinghies and thought it would be better to have one boat on land in a simulator and one in the pool. Their help and support on the day was first class. They supplied life jackets for the kids, instruction on the Optimist on the land before they tried out sailing in the other Optimist in the pool. Hamish even supplied a water squirter to show the kids what the spray would be like if they were out in the ocean (I think he had more fun than the kids spraying and making them laugh).
Ponsonby Primary is a Year 0-6 school and Kim and Hamish had the younger kids sail in the Optimist 2-up and they each got a chance to steer and control the mainsheet. The older kids in Year 5-6 could sail by themselves and Hamish even let them experience capsizing the boat.
All in all it was a very successful day and I'm sure all the kids went home asking their parents when they can try sailing again.
The school is located very close to Westhaven Marina and maybe there will be a chance to get the 'Sailing… Have a Go' program affiliated with Ponsonby Primary and Ponsonby Middle School in the future. Both schools could be down at the dock within minutes sailing in the little bay... It's a perfect place. Ponsonby Primary's Principal, Anne Malcolm, is even considering having the program for the Year 1 and Year 2 kids held in the pool in the future, to start introducing sailing at a younger age.
I can't thank both Kim and Hamish for all their help and support on the day and Stuart with Yachting New Zealand's 'Sailing… Have a Go!' program for sponsoring the event and supplying the equipment.
I highly recommend the 'Sailing… Have a Go!' program to get involved with any school around the country. Even in the small space of a pool, sailing can be highly effective and realistic to teach kids to learn how to sail by themselves.
Sincerely,
Lanee Beashel
