The NSSA Executive Committee is pleased to announce it has concluded the recruitment for this role and have appointed Stuart Jones to fill this role. Stuart will also continue in his role of Chair of the Sailing Committee.

As Development Officer, Stuart reports to the Executive Committee and will be responsible for helping to source funding for both the NSSA and local associations, helping build links with class associations and other youth organisations to promote the NSSA and increase participation at our events and help lead interactions with the national governing bodies to ensure the NSSA remains at the forefront of national developments.

As a starting point, the Executive Committee have asked Stuart to explore funding opportunities for both a 6 set of toppers, to help with the demand needed for the SHTR and provide counties with a readily available set of matched boats for training, and small rib which could be used at NSSA events and would also be available to counties as required. He will also be leading a consultation, to be run at the NYR, which will seek to source views from competitors, volunteers and team managers on both what the NSSA is doing well today and where the NSSA can improve to ensure it remains popular in the future.

Please join the Executive Committee in congratulating Stuart in his new role.

 

This year, the NSSA is once again pleased to be able to offer a set of grants for local associations to allow them to run accessible "All-Girls Training". “All-Girls Training”, or “Girls-Only Training” is a scheme to encourage young girls to get into sailing at a county or local association level. In this scheme, relaxed, informal training events, aimed at girls who have not yet attended an NSSA event, are run by local associations or county teams. The aim of this training is to allow these girls to gain confidence, meet other like-minded girls, and to allow the local association to form a relationship with these girls and their parents or guardians.

This project builds on research done in 2011 by Ellie Gaddes, and supported by the NSSA, into the relationship between sailing and female identity amongst young girls. This research proposed that female coaching staff could offer positive role models to young girls. Sailing as a sport is still dominated - particularly in the older age bands - by men. This means that while many young boys are frequently exposed to positive role models in the sailing world, young girls are less likely to see successful, competent, older female sailors that they can relate and look up to. Providing at least one female coach at “All-Girls Training”, particularly in a leadership or authoritative role, can offer the young girls involved a chance to see a strong, confident, female sailor. However, there is a relative scarcity of female coaches in some areas, and those that are available may be expensive to buy in for training.

As the manager of your team, we are inviting you to submit an application for a grant to offset some of the costs of running "All-Girls Training". It is intended that this money be used to keep the costs of the training as low as possible, thus ensuring it remains accessible to all. In particular, these grants will be awarded to local associations who can demonstrate that they will be using the money to offset the costs of hiring a female member of coaching staff to lead the event. Grants of between £50 and £100 will be awarded, depending on the needs of each local association.

Please note that if you are successful in receiving this grant, you will need to present evidence of its usage and information on the gender composition of your team in 2017 and 2018 to the General Committee in July 2018.

Click here for the application form!

 

The NSSA will be holding a review meeting on Tuesday evening of the National Regatta at Grafham Water.

This meeting is a chance for all members to come down and discuss what the NSSA has been up to over the last year, and what we're thinking about doing next. It's also a great opportunity to tell us what you feel we need to work on and improve, or what you think we do well! We value all feedback from members, so please come along and give us your thoughts.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday 25th July, 8pm, in the top bar of Grafham Sailing Club.

Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

 

The NSSA is pleased to announce that this summer we are sending three teams to the Merlin Rocket National Championships. 6 young sailors, from Cumbria, West Sussex, and Derbyshire, will be heading out to Pwllheli this August, to experience racing this challenging boat at a world-class venue.

The Merlin Rocket Owners Association (MROA) are providing the boats for this opportunity, and are also making sure the young people get some top coaching from Andy Davis of HD Sails. As well as this, all the sailors will have some help and assistance from 3 mentors - Chris Gould (Creation Covers), Tom Lonsdale (North Sails) and Caroline Croft (V-Rigger Sail Team). 

As well as the MROA, we would also like to thank the three sponsors who are covering the cost of the event entry for our 6 young sailors - Dinghytec, HD Sails, and Rooster.

We hope all the young people involved in this opportunity have an amazing time and some great experiences! We're looking forward to a full report from them when they return!

 

The 2017 NSSA Inland Championships will take place on the 27th and 28th May and will be hosted by Draycote Water Sailing Club.

  1. 2017 National Youth Regatta
  2. Opportunities to Represent the NSSA at the Merlin Rocket Nationals
  3. Double Handed Team Racing
  4. NSSA Development Officer Role