‘Its good experience, it’s entertaining and you get to learn new skills and meet new people’ is how Elliot, a young man living in YMCA Norfolk’s accommodation in Great Yarmouth described his recent adventures on a sailing trip. Having previously gone on the sailing trip last year Elliot became an advocate for sailing, encouraging his peers to take part to set sail on a week long voyage from Lowestoft to Ipswich and Shotley.
Meeting up with the Leila Sailing Trust, Elliot joined four other young people accessing the Life Ready project, the group started off with some rowing skills on a small boat. Their cast off was delayed due to bad weather and so the group spent their first night cooking for everyone on-board.
Setting sail he explained the group travelled to Ipswich arriving in the early hours of the morning. A lie in was needed the following day to recover before setting sail once again for Shotley, they then spent another day sailing around the mouth of the river.
Elliott explained that everybody had a great time and enjoyed the experience, with working as a team and helping each other around the boat and they liked having the free time to explore different places and stretch their legs. A highlight for the group was managing to get all the sails up and taking it in turns to steer the boat around. Their final day was spent sailing back to Ipswich, with some free time to explore before helping to clean and tidy the boat, before heading back to Great Yarmouth.
The sailing experience taught the participants not only basic sailing skills, but also teamwork, organisation and cooking – as well as providing them with an opportunity to reflect.
Spurred on by his success Elliot is looking at continuing training, including the Power boat training we are offering in November with the same trust. He explained that he ‘would like to progress higher now I have able crew and get another level 2 certificate’.