#sailathon – Had you been walking the East or West Pier of Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Saturday morning around 9pm you would have seen an INSC 1720 rigged as a committee boat make its way out into Dun Laoghaire Harbour's training area. This was to be the committee and mother ship for the Irish National Sailing Schools annual charity Sail-A-Thon, this year in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Approximately an hour later at 10am 75 young sailors aged from as young as 7years took to the waters of Dun Laoghaire Harbour and made their way up to the main harbour. Some INSS instructors took to the piers both East and West with collection buckets to show why so many young sailors were out on the waters of Dun Laoghaire Harbour.
To break up the day there were various games and races throughout the day as the strong easterly winds built up during the day. Our keen sailors took a short break for lunch as many needed to re-energise before heading back out for the afternoon stint.
To wrap up the day, members of the Dun Laoghaire lifeboat unit called in to allow the children to ask them questions and also to be presented with the cheque for the amount raised on the day. There was a BBQ in full swing with many parents of the children also coming down to meet the lifeboat crew.
The presented cheque was €1,855 for the day with many more sponsorship forms and money still to be collected.