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Sailing Academy News
Paul Bartley
The past season has seen some interesting and even
surprising developments for the Academy. After
a couple of attempts to educate the schools in the
Western Region on the advantages of sailing in the
school curriculum, we have been able to attract new
schools to the Academy on a casual basis and we have
also started a Vocational Education and Training course
with a local school. Further we have begun programs
with some disadvantaged children in the region as
well as running some highly successful school holiday
programs. The adult training program continues.
We have now run two in-service training programs
for school teachers to demonstrate that sailing can
play an important part in the school curriculum and
that they can participate in any training that we give
to students. We have had some interest in providing
casual programs but also from Bayside Secondary
College to provide a Vocational Education and Training
(VET) program. This program is currently underway
and at this stage appears to be quite successful. At
another level we have been providing programs for a
number of disadvantaged young people ranging from
disturbed to mentally handicapped children. Mary
O’Brien, Club Member, has been working with these
people for a number of years through the Travancore
School and has been instrumental in securing funding
for these programs as well as participating directly in
the training. We are currently assisting in the pursuit
of funding for another group of young people at risk
in the supported belief that sailing, as an adventure
activity, can assist other larger programs in normalizing
the lives of these people.
At the other end of the spectrum we have, in what has
become an annual event, run a program for students
from St. Joseph’s College in Sydney. These students
come to Melbourne for a tennis camp during the
Australian Open and throw in some sailing for some
variety. Once again the students had a great time on
the water and in appreciation they presented the
Academy with a book on coaching which will find its
way to the club library as soon as our instructors have
finished with it.
We have ventured into the realm of school holiday
programs with a program last September and one over
the long summer holiday. The September program
had the specific goal of moving Club Juniors from
Extreme dinghies to Cadets. We had a number of other
participants who just wanted to keep up with their
sailing during the vacation. This program was most
successful and encouraged us to run one in January.
This time it was used to provide intensive training to
whoever wanted to attend. Once again we had great
success but in both cases the success was in large part
due to adult volunteers who were very generous with
their time. David Johnson, David Wallace and Peter
Roberts stand out in their contribution. Anybody
who has the time and would like to assist with school
holiday programs would be welcome.
Our adult training program continues but we have
lost the use of a vessel in survey for our Competent
Crew courses. If anybody can assist we would be
happy to enter discussions to see if an arrangement
can agreed upon. We would also like to see more
new, inexperienced members take on the Club Crew
Course. This course is conducted in the Elliott 5.9s and
concentrates on deck work generally but specifically
emphasizes spinnaker work. Your crew could be fast
tracked to race readiness for a modest cost. There are
a number of people on our list who have done the
Introductory Course and are looking to gain a little
experience, hopefully before doing the Club Crew
Course. If you can help out please let me know.
The Sunday Juniors have continued to produce a
number of fine young sailors and this season finishes
with a number ready to move on to Cadets. We have
also been experimenting with the rigs on the Extremes
and believe we have come up with a solution to the
problem of getting the sail to tack in light winds.
The cost of conversion is higher than we would like
but I believe that eventually all of our boats will be
converted. We are indebted to the Scalia Family for
their generous assistance in this regard.