Last week saw Bray Sailing Club’s partnership with Lakers return for the 2023 season.
Lakers is a local sports and activities club for children and adults with intellectual disabilities.
Blue skies, sunshine, and perfect wind conditions greeted the volunteer Instructors and sailors for their first session of the 2023 season, which will see Lakers members take to the water for six sessions over the course of the next few months.
Lakers and Bray Sailing Club have had a close partnership since the summer of 2017, with close to 40 different Lakers members taking to the water. The programme has run each year since then, except for a Covid-interrupted year in 2020, and sees regular “Lakers at Sea” participants and new “Lakers Try Sailing” members enjoying the thrills and spills of sailing!
The partnership began when the BSC Instructor team invited Lakers along to a Try Sailing session and has grown from strength to strength since.
The Bray SC Senior Instructor at the time and now volunteer Inclusion Officer, Jack Hannon, explained that “we, as an Instructor team, get so much fun and enjoyment out of sailing that we want to help as many people enjoy it as possible and remove any barriers that we can”.
While the Lakers' Partnership with Bray SC may be the most obvious aspect of the club’s Inclusion in Sport programme, it is only one part of it. The Club regularly opens its doors to participants of varying ability levels as part of its Junior Training programme, which takes eleven weeks from the middle of June to the end of August. The Club also welcomes adult members of all ability levels to partake in weekly training and racing activities. Try Sailing courses in conjunction with Wicklow Sports and Recreation Partnership have also been run over the last couple of years, which have seen some participants join as club members following their course.
Bray SC has invested much time and resources into its evolving and expanding Inclusion in Sport programme over the last number of years. The Club has two volunteer Inclusion Officers in place to organise, oversee, and plan the activities for the season, and the club now owns two Hansa 303s, as well as having four members with their own personal Hansa boats. A number of these members have gone on to represent the Club at national competitions, and one has even flown the Irish flag on the international stage.
Bray SC is currently looking for a Hawk 20 keelboat to expand its inclusion fleet further.
