Have a Go Sailing is a programme sponsored by St Johns Rotary and Orakei Marina to enable primary school students from the local schools to gain a new experience and some useful life skills.  In 2022 10 schools took part (with another 3 missing out due to weather conditions on their allocated day).  Over the three weeks 209 students took part with a great deal of enthusiasm from the kids making for a good day out.
 
Many have not been in a boat of any kind before, and so light breezes experienced on most sailing days are actually a bonus as it can take a while for children to grasp the basics of steering and travelling in a specific direction.  It is always satisfying to see a number of children confidently capsizing and righting the Optimists something that would have been a new challenge for all.
 
When especially light breezes made sailing sporadic, a number of other activities are entered into involving a daisy chain of 11 yachts and a game of ‘Simon Says’. The objective of these exercises is to build confidence on the water and, once again, success can be measured by the number of boats that end up upside down and then upright again.
 
If present the parents are involved as much as possible, both heading out on the water and/or assisting with launching and retrieval. Feedback from all was outstanding with a number of requests for yacht club contacts for Learn To Sail programmes.
 
 
A question is asked about participation by disabled students so here is one story as told by Yachting New Zealand in their Report:
 
One of the boys in the class suffers from Spinal Bifida and was, normally, wheelchair bound. We were aware of this ahead of time and had committed to involve this child as much as we could, as long as it was safe to do so. After conversation with the boy’s mother, it was decided that we should treat him the same as all the rest and so he was put in a wetsuit and life jacket, placed in an Optimist and went sailing with the rest, taking an active part in all aspects of the experience including capsizing and righting the yachts. The comment was made at the end of day that this was one of the few times that this child could partake in a class activity on an equal footing with everybody else. The team did a good job.
 
[inclusion of any student is a matter for the school to organise and where a student has challenges these are assessed on an individual basis with safety a primary consideration]
 
Notes from Yachting New Zealand:

Operation this year has presented the team with a couple of challenges an early brush with Covid caused a scrambled reschedule as did two days of severe weather in the middle.
However, the team coped well, and I believe we should collectively be very grateful for the effort put in by Steph Vining and Holly Padfield and for the daily support by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club

Yachting New Zealand values its relationship with the Rotary Club of St Johns very highly. It is a model we would like to both repeat and expand to other Rotary clubs. We look forward to a continued and mutually beneficial relationship with the Rotary Club of St Johns
 
Additional information about this programme and reports from previous years are at https://rotarystjohns.club/13060/Page/have-a-go-sailing-(kokokaha-powered-by-wind)