KSSA with Downs SC All-Girl Coaching Event
On Saturday the 7th of May the KSSA with Downs Sailing Club hosted a free, All-Girls training event. The aim of the event was to challenge any bias in the sport and involve more girls in dingy sailing; allow girls who love sailing to meet others with the same passion and show all the young girls what they can achieve, in a friendly environment.
The event was run by women from both the KSSA and Downs (with the help of some gentlemen) with a long background of sailing. We had 24 girls attend the event (KSSA events usually attracts a less than 5 girls at any of their events) from different parts of Kent, a variety of ages and sailing ability.
The day started with a free breakfast where the girls were encouraged to mix and talk about their interests and sailing. All girls were given a free event hoodie to build their group identity and to wear at future events. Following a briefing about the day we were sorted into our sailing groups. We only sailed double handers which meant that everyone could talk and make friends on the water. The boats sailed were Hartleys, Fevas, Laser 2000s and 200’s for the more advanced sailors. After rigging we launched in quite light winds, however it was good to familiarise the less confident sailors with the boats. We also swapped between boats to meet new people.
After a good morning’s sailing we went ashore for some lunch, followed by a team building activity- ‘the pasta polo race’- it felt quite chaotic but was a lot of fun! We then went on the water for the afternoon. The wind had picked up a little bit in the afternoon, so we ran 3 fun races.
I was really impressed by the group of girls I was on the boat with as they hadn’t had a lot of spinnaker experience however, as the wind picked up, they were still confident at putting it up and down, as well as gybing and tacking and working as a team, especially when one of the younger girls was putting down the spinnaker and it got stuck, they all helped each other.
At the end of the day we had a debrief, where everyone talked about their day, and KSSA talked about future events that can be found on the website. We were also lucky enough to have a prize draw from the RYA, as well as freebees accompanies by teas.
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.
Enya Gibbs
KSSA Youth Captain