Girls Training Day at Downs Sailing Club
by Simon Cory 19 May 2022 09:01 BST
7 May 2022
Downs Sailing Club Girls Training Day © Diane Braithwaite
Downs Sailing Club in partnership with Kent Schools Sailing Association held their first Girls Training Day on May 7th.
Back in February following a conversation at Downs Sailing Club, where a new member was asked if his daughter was going to take part in some of the activities at Downs, the reply was ' well yes but she really needs some girl mates to make it more fun' Around the same time KSSA only attracted 2 girls to it's popular winter training session.
This sparked the idea of an all Girls Training Day at Down SC in conjunction with KSSA for girls in Kent. Being a club with a busy calendar, only one date in may was available, so all that was needed was the good weather and enthusiasm.
The event was exceptionally well supported, 24 girls between 7 and 17 attended, some new to sailing and some well practised racer,.and was led and run buy an all female team of coaches and safety boat support teams.
All of the coaches were female members of Downs SC or KSSA, including a few ex superstars from KSSA. The sailing was in doublehanded boats, Fevas, Hartleys, 2000's and for the older girls an opportunity to sail in RS200s.. Helped by the light winds a full day's sailing was achieved with plenty of time for chat and banter in the boats, which is what the day was all about. As the breeze filled in later in the day the kites came out and some great boat handling was seen. A competitive edge was introduced in the afternoon with three short races.
As well as sailing, team building games were played, teams of girls chasing polos down spaghetti at lunchtime provided great spectator sport. This broke down any barriers and created some new friendships. To top it all, all the girls were given a purple Downs / KSSA Girls Team branded hoodie to wear, something that could be seen being proudly worn throughout the day and it is hoped at future KSSA events.
The impact of the day has been seen immediately as two girls teams entered the KSSA Team Racing the following weekend with more planning on entering the New Racers event at the end of May.
The feedback from the girls and parents was that the day was an amazing success and should be repeated next year
Enya Gibbs, KSSA Team Captain said ' It was such a fun event for all ages and I look forward to KSSA hosting more in the future as the day proved that there are lots of girls in Kent who love sailing.'