Kids who learn to sail in the holidays

8:47 PM Sun 12 Jul 2009 GMT

'Brockville Yacht Club - kids learning to sail' .

It's healthier than playing Nintendo, it's smarter than watching television, it's certainly better than football. It is not only a sport and possibly a lifestyle, it increases independence and self-reliance. All over the world, during school holidays, kids are learning to sail.

For instance, there's the St Lawrence River in Canada. During school holidays kids are on the St. Lawrence River in droves, in the long-running sailing school that operates out of the Brockville Yacht Club.

Kathleen Scott started at the sailing school when she was nine years old.

Her older sisters went through the school before she did.

Now, at age 21, the fourth-year Queen's University student is in her fifth year of being an instructor at the school.

'It's a lot of fun teaching. There's less pressure. It's great. The pressure we have is to keep the kids safe and try to teach them everything and become good sailors,' said Scott during a sunny Thursday afternoon session on the river.

'We have a good time and it's a great summer job. You're out on the water all day, spending time with some really cool kids,' continued the affable and highly personable Scott.

The sailing school runs in two-week sessions for the entire summer, morning and afternoon.

There's plenty to learn about sailing, but it doesn't feel like school when the classroom is under the blue skies on the wide-open St. Lawrence River.

The school is taught under the Canadian Yachting Association guidelines for anyone over the age of nine.

The first level is whitesail for youngsters ages nine to 12. At that level, Scott and the other six instructors concentrate on the basics, what parts of the boat are called, how to crew, water safety, what it's like to be on the water, skippering skills and steering the boat.

'It's getting them interested, getting them used to having the basic sailing skills, able to get from one place to another,' said Scott.

'We try and make sure they're safe in the boats. That's the first priority.'

The bronze level is more advanced, for sailors between the ages of 12 to 14, and graduates of the whitesail program.

That's where the third sail, or the spinnaker, is added.

They might not ever need it, but the kids are taught backward sailing and rudderless sailing.

'It's a great program. It develops athletes and sailors,' said Scott.

The younger sailors learn in the 420s while the race team sails Lasers.

With the sailing school in Brockville being one of the few around east of Kingston, it attracts students from Toronto, Cornwall and the United States, explained Scott.

The sailing school also makes provisions to take some underprivileged kids as well, giving them the opportunity to learn the sport.

There's a sailing team and race team that is headed off to regattas within the next couple of weeks, noted Scott.

'We have a lot of good, young sailors. We expect to have a great season. There's a lot of talent. We feel they are going to do well in the race season, bring Brockville back into the top 10,' said Scott, who won her division in the Byte class of the Ontario Sailing Association regatta here last summer with four wins in five races.

For more information about this club, click here , but what about your kids? - There's sure to be some sailing lessons being offered somewhere near you...

by Ron Smith, Recorder & Times/Sail-World

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Kids who learn to sail in the holidays

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