Bala sailors are to be rewarded for their great work when they receive an award as a Volvo Champion Club.
Bala sailing club have officially become an RYA OnBoard training centre, showing they have the facilities and safety standards in place to encourage youngsters in the area age 8-16, to enjoy the benefits of sailing and windsurfing.
The award presentation will be made by Slaters Volvo from Abergele on April 11 at Bala Sailing Club, while the OnBoard status will be given at the same time. The club is also organising a CYRC (Club Youth Racing Circuit) event that day which is aimed at giving opportunities to less experienced sailors.
It is a big step forward and recognition of the work which has been going on at Bala for more than 50 years, providing an opportunity to experience, learn and develop the skills under the umbrella of Welsh Sailing.
The combination of OnBoard and the Volvo Champion Club status shows that the Bala club is helping to run a new scheme to encourage young members of the community to try sailing and continue on a regular basis, along with a race training programme to encourage that development.
"We are a strong local club with a large Welsh speaking element, but the attraction of the area for sailing is shown by the fact that around half our members come from outside Wales as well," explained club commodore Ken Hull.
"We have been running learn-to-sail courses at Bala for many years, but very few local children seem to be interested in sailing.
"We are hoping that the OnBoard scheme, will encourage more local youngsters to take up sailing.
"Bala is such a beautiful lake but very few locals take advantage of it other than fishing. We are hoping that the onboard scheme will encourage local children to start sailing & to become involved with the club.
"The OnBoard scheme is a great way for us to become more involved with the local community and local schools.
"We run an 'Introduction to Sailing' course for local secondary schools, Scout groups, Guide groups, families and youth clubs.
"We also provide training as part of the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme."
There is an active and growing junior fleet from people who go to school in the area, but these moves are aimed at growing the popularity of sailing.
"Bala are an excellent club with a superb lake setting for sailing at all levels," explained Welsh sailing North Wales development officer Ruth Iliffe.
"The joint award of the Volvo Champion club and OnBoard status is a well earned reward for their efforts.
"They have a fully qualified volunteer base of instructors along with support from Welsh Sailing which provides a safe and sustainable programme of events for both club members and other lake users."
The OnBoard scheme is intended to develop social sailors as well as trying to find the next Ben Ainslie or Ellen MacArthur.
If you want to find out more about OnBoard then visit www.ruob.co.uk for more details about how you can get involved.
Image information:
James Guinan sailing at Bala. Credit Kevin Guinan
For further media information:
Hamish Stuart,
RYA Wales regional communicator
Tel: 07914 873451
Email: Hamish@score-media.co.uk
www.rya.org.uk