Mayor Alderman Deborah Girvan of Ards and North Down Borough Council attended the first night of 'Dolphin & Sharks' at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough last Friday night writes Mark Mackey. The visit is to encourage the next generation of young sailors. Over 50 children aged from six–years–old enjoyed an evening of swimming with their friends off the slipways and playing with body surf boards.

The Mayor was down to see the launch of the new training fleet of six SailQube dinghies, the purchase of which has been supported by the Borough Council. The SailQube is a polyethylene–built Optimist dinghy – the very popular youth dinghy aimed at younger sailors, and will be used to encourage the smaller "Dolphin" sailors to sail by themselves. The Mayor also had a try in the new Training rib also supported by the Council which will help grow the numbers able to be looked after.

Ballyholme offer adult and youth courses throughout the summer – next Saturday is the annual RYA Push the Boat Out Free Trysail event running all day from 9:30. Everyone is very welcome to come down and try sailing for the first time on a variety of different boats depending on what you may fancy – singlehanded or double handed dinghies, catamarans, keelboats. You just need to enrol online at ballyholme.com.