Sarah the Sailor visits Virtual Sailing

Sarah Blanck and the young sailors from Laverton Plains Primary School pose in front of the VSail-Trainer at the Boat Shed Photograph:John Mooney

Recently Virtual Sailing conducted a trial using the VSail-Trainer simulator to teach primary school children to sail by using simulator alone and then transferring to the water to assess by how much the simulator had acelerated their learning. Unfortunately there was a long delay between the simulator lessons and the first time going afloat. To add to the frustration when the first available sailing day finally came the weather was not playing the game. It was definitely too windy for first timers to take to the water, even though the children had learnt to hike in the simulator. The Virtual Sailing coaching team decided to switch boats from Optimists to Pacers crewed with a coach to ensure their first experience of  "actual sailing" was a pleasant experience. Given that the conditions were quite cold and the wind extremely gusty it was a tall order. "Children having fun whilst learning to sail is paramount and we certainly ticked that box" quipped Virtual Sailing coach John Mooney. To add to the children's fun they had a visit from Sarah Blanck, recently returned from the 2008 Olympic Games. It was fantastic to see a two time Olympian, three time World Champion sitting on the floor and chatting with a few lucky primary school children.