A week of training for novice sailors was organised by John Cooper, Chris Halfknight, Richard John and others from 17-21st August. Most of this used the club's fleet of 6 laser Bugs but theese were joined by junior member Jacob on his Topper. The first three days provided fantastic weather - warm and sunny with gently winds - ideal for novices and children to get on the water. Thursday was completely blown out and Friday more or less the same which was a pity (but this is Worthing).

The training team worked on making this a fun event for all participants, introducing games on the water to encourage boat handling and capsize practice without making these too onerous. Richard managed to capsize and cut his head open on the first day (on the rudder apparently - isn't that usually at the back of the boat, Richard?) making himself something of a star amongst the kids. He then advised juniors Lily and Florence what not to do if they wanted to avoid capsize- which they promptly did and fell out the boat in a fit of giggles.

There clearly was some good sailing skills picked up during the 3 days on the water and all particiapnts were able to tack and gybe around a simple course, rig the boats and right them when required. Richard organised a BBQ on the Tuesday for some added fun

The high winds on Thursday made this a more challenging day for the organisers (John had gone back to work and Richard was golfing - did they know something in advance?) Jill joined Chris to organise some games around rigging the boats, knot practise, learning flags and the mysteries of the race box. Jill reckons most fun was had when they rigged some "trapeze lines" indoors and the kids used these to demonstrate their gymnastic skills as much as anything else.

Chris was faced with another windy day on the Friday but managed to get three brave souls out for about half an hour before the wind made safe sailing uncertain. The kids finished the day with a bit more theory and a little written test (ya boo, Chris, it isn't school time yet, you know! Test! pshaw!) He presented the kids with little medals to celebrate their acheivement. The kids I spoke to had a great time (mostly) and thought they would continue sailing. Well done training team!