Bairns are back!

At last, after two years, we’ve been able to host junior sailing again – and demand is high

- Marsali Taylor

Marsali Taylor sails an Offshore 8M, Karima S. She’s a dinghy instructor and author of The Shetland Sailing Mysteries starring liveaboard sleuth, Cass Lynch.

This summer’s first session of getting the bairns back again, also known as Junior Sailing, produced a sea of small people in wetsuits.

Twenty-eight in total! Did we have enough boats and instructors...? Well, yes; two former trainees had returned as assistant Dinghy Instructors, and we had two Senior Instructors and a Dinghy Instructor, plus enough people with their powerboat certificate to run three guard boats, and experienced parents who would keep them company as they zoomed round the voe.

As for boats, well, two instructors took three total beginners each in two of the Sport 14s, the most experienced sailors took a sailed-two-years-ago beginner out in a Pico, and the medium-experienced went out in pairs in the remaining Picos. The rest of the total beginners went out in the guard boats and were swapped into the Sports. By the end of the first session, everyone had tried steering, and the older ones demonstrated a capsize before the traditional jumping off the pier.