Onboard Festival at Lochore Meadows

OnBoard Festival at Lochore Meadows © Claire Caffrey

Olympic spirit was in the air when Lochore Meadows hosted a fantastic OnBoard festival of sailing at the weekend (8th September). Youngsters gathered from both the Lochore Meadows and Lowport Centre OnBoard clubs with some 30 young sailors taking part in lots of fun sailing activities both on and off the water on the day with the help of RYA Scotland.

The festival was given a London 2012 theme after the recent success of the British Olympic and Paralympic sailors in London. The children were split into four teams for the day and named their team after one of the Olympic and Paralympic sailing classes.

The children took to the water in Topper and Taz dinghies and enjoyed four different activities, including basketball and games such a 'buy a boat', 'fox, chicken and grain' as well as 'milk delivery'. The games and activities are a fun way to test not only the sailing skills of the young sailors but also their team working and problem solving skills. The 'buy a boat' game is all about the kids getting from one point to another starting with a bare hull and buying different parts for their boat at end point. The winners are those who buy the parts in an order that will see them move quicker between points than the other teams.

"Thanks to all of the crew for such a well run event. Our two kids really enjoyed themselves and the event has gone a long way to reenergise an interest in sailing for them" said Robert Wilkinson father of Emma and Adam who were taking part. Emma took home the individual gold medal prize.

Duncan Hepplewhite from Sailing Fast brought along a 29er which is a much faster, performance type of boat for the young sailors to try out. At lunchtime 20 of the 27 youngsters lined up to try it out and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge.

Ali Dreyer, Outdoor Learning Manager at Lochore Meadows, said "The 29er was a great addition to the event with lots of sailors showing an interest in racing".

Angie Sword, Development Officer at RYA Scotland, did a great job of ensuring that all the kids had a great time out on the water and even added a bit of a party atmosphere by bringing along a very large celebration cake! With a good steady breeze all day and a few sunny spells the conditions were perfect.

Run by the RYA, OnBoard is a grass roots programme which introduces sailing and windsurfing to young people aged 8 to 18, through schools, youth groups and training centres.

Over a ten year period OnBoard aims to introduce a minimum of 500,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting over 10% of them into regular participants. So far it's nicely on track.

For more information about how to get involved in sailing visit the RYA's website www.rya.org.uk or the OnBoard website www.ruob.co.uk