Today marks a significant day at the National Sailing Academy, where three students are celebrating completing their Multihull instructor endorsement.
Chief Instructor, Sylvester Thomas, is excited about the new development as it sees his long term dream coming to life of having Hobie Cats as part of the fleet. “ I completed my multihull training while working at Sunsail and I know visitors love sailing the boats, but even more importantly many of the hotels around the island have Hobie Cats. We can now offer training for resort employees as well as offer the boats out as rentals. They will be a much needed revenue stream to help offset the costs of delivering the free Sailability and Schools programme.’
The three instructors who are now endorsed to teach Multihull sailing are Joshua Daniels and Xavier Athill, both instructors at the NSA, and Rhone Kirby, instructor at Antigua Yacht Club.
In addition, this morning, ten trainee instructors who all learned to sail as part of the free schools sailing programme at the National Sailing Academy, passed their pre-assessment course yesterday to enable them to begin five days of intensive training to become RYA Instructors. Many of the instructors are still in full time education, but have a love of the ocean, and look forward to developing their skills further.
The training programme has been funded by sponsorship received by the Mill Reef Homeowners Fund, along with support from the Andrew Simpson Foundation. The Andrew Simpson Foundation is a non-profit organisation which gives thousands of young people the opportunity to enjoy and benefit from the life changing challenges of sailing.
The values of the Andrew Simpson Foundation are in line with those of the National Sailing Academy that participating in sailing and watersports builds self-confidence, develops essential life skills, and enhances young people’s wellbeing, that every single young person deserves to feel confident, be healthy, and know their worth and are passionate about making sailing available to every child, teenager, and young adult inclusively because it can do all of this and much more.
Alison Sly-Adams, General Manager of the National Sailing Academy says, ‘This morning, seeing our ten young students waiting to start their training was a big moment for our whole team. Following the challenges of the last 18 months with the openings and closures of the Academy due to COVID, to see that all ten students passed their pre-assessment and can embark on the next five days of training is exciting. This is the beginning of their career in yachting, and we look forward to seeing where it will take them.’
At the end of the course, a further six students will receive two days of training to allow them to teach RYA Keelboat courses. The keelboat and multihull courses are now added to the list of RYA Dinghy and Youth Sailing Scheme courses and casual lessons already on offer, ensuring that anyone looking to develop their dinghy skills will be able to have a wide variety of options to choose from.
The Christmas RYA Training Course Schedule begins on Monday 6th December with RYA courses for all ages and levels taking place 4 days a week at 10am for 4 hours daily. To register visit www.nationalsailingacademy.org/registration
See the whole list of courses here: https://nationalsailingacademy.org/learn-to-sail-courses/
See the list of Watersports Rentals and Passes here: https://nationalsailingacademy.org/rental-rates-at-a-glance/
