‘Lakers at Sea’ draws to a close at Bray Sailing Club
LAST week, Bray Sailing Club concluded a programme aimed at making sailing inclusive for everyone regardless of ability or experience.
The Lakers at Sea (LAS) initiative involved the club working with the local Lakers organisation, which is a sports and recreation club for people with intellectual disabilities, bringing Lakers members sailing every fortnight. In addition, the club also hosted two Try Sailing courses.
The Lakers were given guidance by a team of volunteer instructors from the club who, earlier this year, took part in an Inclusion Sailing Training Day at which they received tuition from Irish Sailing’s Inclusion Officer, Ciarán Murphy. A spokesperson for the club told this newspaper that the training helped the instructors acquire the necessary skills for the inclusive season.
The fact it was a great summer meant the programme ran smoothly and allowed the participants to try a wide range of boats including training dinghies and cruisers.
During the year 29 Lakers members participated in the programme and the final outing saw them being joined on the water by their parents. The programme concluded with a social evening and barbecue at which certificates were presented.
In addition to the LAS programme the sailing club organised a number of other initiatives throughout the year including developing a personalised training programme for a novice sailor who was born without arms but who has acquired a specially adapted Hansa Liberty boat with customised foot controls.
Highlighting the club’s focus on inclusiveness this year, its entire team of instructors took part in the Watersport Inclusion Games at the end of last month.
Speaking about this year’s events the Commodore of the club, Declan Lavelle, said everyone involved within the organisation is proud of the volunteer team of instructors.
‘ The enormous voluntary commitment they put in this year has set a great example to the membership as a whole and showed how we can really welcome all newcomers to the sport,’ he said.
The club’s senior instructor Jack Hannon reiterated Mr Lavelle’s comments and said all of the instructor team at the club is deserving of praise especially with regard to developing the inclusion programme.
‘After a long day’s work on our Junior Training Programme to come down and give their time freely in the evenings with such enthusiasm and professionalism is something to be credited,’ he said.
‘I speak on behalf of the whole team when I say that we loved every minute of our sessions with our new trainees and our time spent working at the Watersport Inclusion Games in Galway,’ he said.
Mr Hannon also said the club plans to further promote inclusiveness in the sport going forward.