Appeal Update 2009

by Tom Badham-Thornhill (f), 2007
"I was lucky enough to benefit from the Andrew Yorke Sail Training Fund last year enabling me to do the Powerboat 2, First Aid and Instructors courses, and put something back into Sailing at Sherborne. For the Instructors course, Robbie Edwards (another successful applicant) and I booked ourselves in at Rockley Point in Poole. To save money, we decided to camp for the week in Rockley Park. This seemed to be a perfect plan. We arrived on Monday morning, booked in and loaded our kit, a weeks worth of food and a palatial tent, onto our two battered bicycles and set off to find our site. We quickly pitched the tent and headed off to the Sailing Club.

Each day we would arrive and have a short teaching and briefing session before getting straight on with a task. Gaz and Andy, the two senior instructors, kept us working hard; starting with the basics of teaching and communicating, moving through teaching on the water from dinghies and then powerboats, land drills, seamanship tasks and more exciting learning activities for teaching children. There were a huge variety of people on the course with us from people who had done a six week residential course, basically starting from scratch, to someone who sailed for Great Britain. In the evenings we would get back, cook our supper and do a little bit of homework.

One of my happiest memories of the entire summer is sitting on my camp bed under the stars preparing a presentation on rudderless sailing by candlelight. Since I became an Instructor I have coached other boys at the School, helping young talent to fulfil their true potential. I found the whole experience immensely rewarding and continued teaching over the summer and also hope to teach in the Med. during my gap year."