SSC YOTAS

Junior Sailing is Free!

The club’s children’s section, YOTAS (Youth on The Alde Sailing) has consistently encouraged local children to try sailing by providing a system of Sponsored Juniors. Any child aged 10-15 from a non sailing family may join the club at no charge, with a club member acting as a Sponsor, taking responsibility for that child’s safety and welfare while sailing or on club premises. At the same time, the children of club members are the backbone of the YOTAS section.

We have also started an Outreach Programme to offer local children from the towns of Leiston & Saxmundham, who would not otherwise have the opportunity, a safe introduction to the excitement of sailing. 2 pilot sessions for children at Leiston High School & the Guides were popular but showed that we need extra equipment to make them more successful, safe and able to accommodate more children. This was made possible by grants from the Local Network Fund and Awards For All administered through Suffolk ACRE. We were able to equip the junior section of the club with new Toppers (Single handed sailing boats) buoyancy aids and to encourage them further, we provide each child with a personal sailing log book to record their achievements.

Sailing is often seen as elitist & expensive, & many sailing clubs aim to be exclusive, but we have shown this need not be so. We wanted to build upon the success of the sessions we piloted offering opportunities to ordinary local children from non-sailing families. The successful Outreach Programme has helped to raise awareness of the club in the local community by working closely, over the last few years, primarily with the Guides and Leiston Middle School.

Thus building on the club’s fundamental ethos of being open to the local community, young people from Leiston & Saxmundham can experience a new exciting & challenging sport under safe supervision & skilled instruction. After these sessions the club offers chances to continue sailing with the opportunity for those interested to continue sailing as Sponsored Juniors under YOTAS.

Sailing is an exciting & personally challenging outdoor activity which can provide a real sense of achievement, self confidence and co-operation, and a lifelong interest. Recent Sponsored Juniors have used sailing as one of their achievements for their Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

YOTAS meet every Thursday evening during the sailing season under RYA instruction with many club members volunteering their time to help on and off the water. Junior sailors are the life blood of the club and it’s future, YOTAS was founded by club members who had vision. They believed in encouraging their youngest members through fun, safe, learning activities. It is a thriving section of our club.

SSC YOTAS Outreach Work
In 2005, Slaughden Sailing Club (SSC) was able to offer taster sailing sessions to local school children through an outreach scheme. This is a continuation of a project started in 2004 in conjunction with Leiston Middle School.
The project is called “Reaching Out” and twelve places were offered to pupils between the ages of 11 and 13. The aim is to welcome local young people into the sailing club where they can experience the thrill of sailing, accompanied by club members in a safe environment. They can also see the club’s youth section, known as YOTAS (Youth on the Alde Sailing) in full action.
This opportunity gives them and their parents an insight into club activities and will hopefully attract new members.
We will be offering this opportunity to young people again this June, and hope that some youngsters from last year will now be joining us at YOTAS.