The Programme, led by Omari Scott and modeled along the lines of Royal Yacht Associations beginner courses, originally had space for ten, but from the list of sixteen interested youths just the nine met Saturday’s deadline. Photo: KATS/RBVIYC

The RBVIYC has committed National Sailing Coach, Omari Scott, to the programme and will be ensuring its success. Photo: supplied

KATS (Kids and the Sea) Executive Director, Chris Ghiorse. Photo: VINO/File

The Programme,  led by Omari Scott and modeled along the lines of Royal Yacht Associations beginner courses, originally had space for ten but from the list of sixteen interested youths just nine met Saturday’s deadline.

As KATS (Kids and the Sea) Executive Director, Chris Ghiorse, said “We had slots for 10 kids and there are currently 9 signed up, we closed on Saturday as we want to ensure continuity/progress for those signed up.”

Ghiorse also added that “I wanted to offer it for free but KATS does not have the funds. We offered two scholarships and although in the end no one was turned away I think a few got cold feet due to cost ($100) and the need to be able to swim with a life jacket on in deep water.”

Although both organizations are actively seeking funding to ensure the programmes’ success and continuation, the 10 week programme will go for the year because the RBVIYC has committed Scott to this time frame and as Brian Duff, the Director of Sailing Development at the RBVIYC commented “The Programme will not cease due to a lack of funding as long as I am still Director.”

By the end of the ten weeks the youths will have completed the 'Optimist 1' RBIVYC Youth Programme checklist in order to move on to optimist 2 and as Duff noted “The goal is confidence and competence, not certification”

The target age group for this specific programme is 9-11 yrs old but they “will take kids of other ages for this programme should it not be full of age qualified candidates.”

Ghiorse and Duff have been planning for about 6 months as to how they could introduce more youth to sailing. “We wanted to create a programme that could reach out and find students interested in learning to sail while, at the same time, providing a very economical solution to enable students to participate” said Ghiorse.

KATS is an organization that can locate children who normally would have little or no opportunity to try sports like sailing.  The infrastructure the RBVIYC provides makes an introductory programme like this sustainable and the plan to offer this programme at the start of each school trimester.

“Our hope is to enable students to maintain their interest beyond this first step in sailing.  The RBVIYC can provide the necessary skills needed to progress to the highest levels, including competitive sailing”, Noted Duff

There are many reasons that teaching children to sail is important for our community.  The BVI is often marketed as “the sailing capital of the world” the job opportunities are endless, Sailing is an Olympic sport and there are hidden talents that are yet to be discovered.

“Finally and the most important one to KATS is to provide children with a wider range of safe experiences in or on the sea at little to no cost”, Ghiorse concluded.