The end of June saw the boat and crew going through final preparations for the Round the Island race – held in the first week of July.  Safety is paramount.  The crew completed  the RYA Sea Survival, the RYA Ocean Safety Course and the RYA first-aid course.   Training finished when round the world yachtsman and Olympic legend Lawrie Smith joined the team aboard Scaramouche and spent an inspirational day sharing his own experience and yachting expertise with our young sailors.   Once again the support of the yachting community has been amazing  and as the crew embark on a series of summer races they are surely in the best state of mind and certainly the best equipped that we could possibly imagine.

In addition to  the sailing and safety training we have continued to “spread the word” and different groups of our students have delivered over 50 presentations to audiences large and small.  We hope that these talks have been able to raise the profile, not just of our own project, but of the positive benefits that sailing as a sport can have for young people.  We think that we have also been able to generate enough funding to keep the project going for another year but we are always looking for more sponsors – large and small – to keep  us going!  The project is self-funding and entirely dependent on donations  – money and goods and  direct sponsorship.  If you think you could help us – do get in touch!