HISC Assisted Sailing Sessions

The aim of these sessions is to help members who find it hard to sail alone, providing a calm, friendly & supportive environment.  

You may recall from the last Commodore’s Chat that we are looking to take part in an initiative from the RYA called See Sailing Your Way – which is basically giving an opportunity for blind sailors to take part in our sport at HISC. Plans for this are underway and thank you to all those members who have volunteered to help. 

This initiative made us think about whether we can help more of our members either stay sailing once they have become a little less mobile or even members who may have a disability of some sort and not had the opportunity to get involved in our sport in the same way their family members have. 

A few examples:  

Some of our older sailors may find that the process of rigging, changing and dragging their boat to the water’s edge uses all the available energy. What about just getting changed and using a step to get into a Venture, then being launched by tool track and off you go! On board will be a slightly nimbler sailor to do any leaping around, you won’t even need to get your feet wet! 

Or perhaps ill health has prevented a member from committing to keeping their boat, or joining in the club racing is a bit out of reach.  Perhaps going for a sail in a Laser 2000 with a family member or a volunteer, knowing that there is a rescue boat close by watching out for you may enable that member to stay on the water. 

The Session Plan 

• The Plan: To run “Blocks” e.g., a May block, a June block etc. on Thursday afternoons. Participants can sign up for a block which helps with the planning. 

• The activity:  Either 'Sailaways' where all boats stay together and go on a trip within the harbour, or Racing.  Sailing for 1 – 11/2 hours.  

• The cost: £20 per session to contribute to hire of boats and rib cover. 

• The Social: As we are planning this on a Thursday, the kitchen and bar will be open, so you could even start the session with a nice lunch! 

We Need Your Help! 

To make this work we will need some help from other members - roles will include: 

• Rescue Cover 

• Sailors (to assist in boats) 

• Shore Support 

• Admin / organiser 

Next stages:  Info gathering.  I apologise for the impersonality of a form, but just to help me keep all the information in one place I am going to direct you to two forms 

• If you are interested in participating, please follow this link:  Participants Form 

• If you are interested in volunteering to help, please follow this form:  Volunteering Form 

If you have any other queries or don’t get on with the forms, please email me: vicecommsailing@hisc.co.uk 

Thank you, and all the best 

Sarah Mitchell