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It is our last Buchan Badge nautical session this afternoon and the kids are in for a treat. They are going to meet this guy, who some of you might remember, Donald the Port St Mary Dolphin. This dolphin lived in Port st Mary in the 70s, my Dad and Uncles used to swim with him. I have been lucky enough to get a collection of photos from my Dad and the Buchan Badge students will be seeing them and hearing some stories about Donald this afternoon 🙂

I have just finished making a Christmas tree from driftwood and fishing net found on the beaches, it’s for the Port Erin Christmas Tree Festival which starts this evening – the big switch on it a 7pm and the retailers are open for late night shopping too. Despite the storm force winds!!!

Our shop windows have been dressed with handmade Xmas bunting from ‘Jo three legs crafts‘. It is starting to feel like Christmas here 🙂

Also on this evening is the Rushen Silver Band, Father Christmas and the Rushen Primary School Choir near the Railway Station from 7pm…..

We now have Speedo Bubble Caps available. They are specifically designed to keep the head warm for cold water swimming. They are 100% silicone and come in two colours, black or white, they are priced at £6.00.

Our shop open Tuesday to Saturday 10am – 5pm.

Over 100 entries are expected at the Laser Radial Inland Championship this weekend, including three members of the Manx Youth Sailing Squad. Hannah Howitt, Izzy Sharpe and James Kelly compete at a national Laser championship for the first time.

All three young sailors have four years experience sailing in the Tera class. James was crowned RS Tera World Champion in 2010. They all moved into the Laser Radial class at the beginning of this season, having outgrown the Tera.

This is taking their sailing to the next level, they are now competing against the big boys, including current Olympic sailors and National Youth Squad members. This will be their first taste of senior racing and I’m sure it will be an exciting and inspiring experience for them all.

Veteran Laser sailor Mike Pridham will also compete at the Inlands, which are being held at Grafham Water, starting tomorrow. Mike has been assisting the younger sailors since they made the transition into the class.

All three youngsters are recipients of Sports Aid Foundation and the IOM Steam Packet are also providing assistance for the team to travel to the necessary training and events in the UK.

I wish them all the very best of luck and I hope they enjoy the exciting weekend ahead of them.

Today is officially the end of our sailing season at 7th Wave, all the boats are now packed up and turned over for the winter. A huge thank you goes to the team of young sailors who showed up with wellies and raincoats this morning to help with the packing up.

A day’s worth of work done in an hour!

We are now taking bookings for our 2012 Youth Sailing Weeks and already the courses are starting to fill.

There will be three courses at Easter. 2nd – 6th April is a Race Training week for anyone who has completed Stage 3 and is keen to have a go at racing. Last Easter the race training week was very well attended and a lot of fun. We strongly recommend this course to anyone who would like to be considered for the Manx Youth Sailing Squad in the future, it is also a great way of really refining sailing skills and building confidence.

9th – 12th April and 16th – 19th April will both be our usual Youth Sailing Weeks covering RYA Stages 1 to 4.

TT Week is 4th – 8th June. Please note that KWC, Buchan, state schools and English schools are all on half term this week as it is the Queen’s Jubilee. I expect this to be a very busy week so please, please book nice and early for places during TT Week.

Summer Youth Sailing Weeks start on 9th July and run each week until the schools go back in September. Last summer these courses were over-subscribed, so again please book early to guarantee your places.

The course fee is £270 which is inclusive of VAT. At this stage we ask for either a deposit of £70 at the time of booking or you can choose to pay by standing order with six payments of £45 from November to April.

To reserve your places for next summer please contact me. For sailors that have completed Stage 4 we will be offering the RYA advanced dinghy sailing courses which include Sailing with Spinnakers, Seamanship Skills, Day Sailing and Racing. If you need some advice about which course or level would be most suitable then give me a call on 836366.