sailing with Year 7B and 10

Year 7B and 10 showed an interest in sailing along the Bartley Lake. All of the pupils and staff got themselves kitted up with a wet suit, waterproof coat and a life jacket. When they were ready all of the pupils gathered together as a class and watched as the teacher demonstrated the techniques they would need to use to steer the boat left, right and straight ahead, control the sail by pulling the string in tight or loosening it and which way they thought the wind was coming with one of the pupils identifying what way the ripples in the water were travelling. After the pupils made their way to the shore as they prepared their boats by undoing the sail and placing them into the water. 

When we got to the shore all of the pupils were paired up with two in a boat. After the pupils  gathered around their boats and listened as the teacher explained that the next step was for them to work together to set the sail and place the rudder down into the water. The pupils took it in turns to climb onto their boats as the staff gave them a little push along the water to start them off. The pupils enjoyed working in their pairs by travelling in between the balls and around the edge of the lake. 

While they were sailing a couple of the pairs demonstrated how to do a capsize as they began to lost control of their sail boat. The teacher explained step by step the safety instructions of how to roll their boat back up by pushing the udder back into the middle of the boat for them to swim to the other side and climb themselves back on.