Yesterday our Year 5 and 6 students walked to Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club to have a go at sailing. Everyone had a fabulous time learning from our wonderful instructors Steph and Ali and we are so grateful for the opportunity that Yachting NZ have given us.
Here’s what Marii had to say about the day…
“Yesterday we went sailing with the year six and five to the Panmure Lagoon Sailing Club. It was a long walk that we took.We had to pack some lunch and water bottle,a towel and of course a swimming tog. We left school at 8.25 and arrived at 8.45. There were three people there to teach us. There names were Steph, Allie and Blair. They showed us what the rudder does and how to work the sail. They then let us have a go on land how to move the rudder and sail. After that they said that the year sixes could go in the water and sail and I was excited because I was a year six.
They gave us our life jackets and it took a while to put them on but we did eventually. We hopped in the water and it was really cold.My partner that was with me was screaming “its cold” and also very muddy. We hopped on our boats and started sailing like pros. We were following Steph because we were playing follow the leader and then we were racing with the others to grab the toys Steph was throwing out. She then told us to stop and capsize our boats which was so scary. Me and my partner were the last ones to do it because we were so scared.
Blair came and told us that the easiest way is to go to the front of the boat and rock it. It was really hard and took a long time. Then Steph came and said just hold on to the bar and lean back. I stood up, held the bar and leaned back. It was falling and as it was going to hit the water I jumped off so as my partner and then”SLASH”. It was so fun. We hopped out of the water and then got back on our boats and sailed back to shore.It was then the year fives turn. While we waited we learnt how to do knots and pulleys. Then sooner did we know it was finished and we were sitting down saying thank you to them. We walked back to school and in my mind I wanted to do it again. It was such a great sailing experience.”