Bray Sailing Club welcomed members of Lakers (a sport and recreation club for children and adults with an intellectual disability) back to the club this week to kick off the “Lakers at Sea” sailing programme. “Lakers at Sea” is a fortnightly sailing course provided by the instructors of Bray Sailing Club to build further on last year’s partnership with Lakers which started with two Try Sailing courses. The objective of the new programme is to provide Lakers members with regular sailing opportunities, where they can continue to build and develop on what they have learned.
The evening began with a shore-based briefing before heading to the beach to play a few games. Lakers members were then put through their paces as they were tasked with rigging their boats before setting sail outside the harbour. Weather conditions were extremely favourable for the evening, with light breezes allowing the novice sailors the perfect opportunity to refresh what they had learned last year and get used to being on the water again. Some of our braver sailors finished up the session with a capsize recovery drill, to prepare them for any possibilities that could lie ahead this season.
Bray SC’s Senior Instructor, Jack Hannon, commented: “We are really excited about building on the relationship we have with Lakers members by having them back down on a more permanent basis this year as part of “Lakers at Sea”. Our team of Instructors absolutely love volunteering for this and are well prepared for the season, having taken an Inclusion Sailing Training Day with Irish Sailing’s Ciaran Murphy in the off season. Hopefully this is just the start of many great evenings to come over the 2018 season with Lakers!”
Lakers at Sea will take place fortnightly in Bray Sailing Club up until early September. There are many sailing activities planned over the course of these weeks, including a cruiser sail and a “Parents on the Water” day where Lakers members will teach their parents the skills that they have learned. In addition to this, Bray SC instructors will also run two introductory “Try Sailing” courses over the summer months for new Lakers members who want to get out on the water for the first time.
