Newark Highfields School pupils complete dinghy sailing course at Girton Sailing Club

Future sailors pushed the boat out learning how to manoeuvre a dinghy.

On Friday, 23 pupils from Newark’s Highfields School completed their Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Level 1 dinghy sailing course at Girton Sailing Club, and all of them achieved the required standard to pass.

The course, which introduces beginners to the basics of dinghy sailing, was held over several weeks over the summer and included the correct technique to rig various boats, and sailing carefully around a designated course.

The pupils also had to demonstrate their abilities to control the boat in windy conditions as well as launching and recovering the boat.

The course finished off with a capsize drill, where the students had to bring the boat back up and get aboard safely and bring it back under control.

This, being on a very warm day, was said to be enthusiastically welcomed by the young sailors, who thoroughly enjoyed the cool dip before thanking the training team of volunteer club members for giving them such a fantastic experience during their time at the club.

Bob Warriner, spokesman for the sailing club said: “Many of the students were keen to carry on developing their sailing skills and plans are in the pipeline for them to return to Girton for more fun on the water later in the year.”