The San Pedro Sailing Club with the help of the newly formed Belize Sailing Association is starting a sailing training program directed for the school children of San Pedro. Children between the ages of 9 and 15 years old will be invited to participate in the program where they will be trained and taught about sailing.
But in order for the program to commence the San Pedro Sailing Club is in need of purchasing sailing dinghies specifically designed for children between the ages of 7 to 15 year. Six boats are needed for San Pedro and the cost of each boat is $3,000.
Currently the San Pedro Sailing Club has secured three sponsors that have agreed to sponsor a boat each. In return the sponsor will have the boat named after them and 80% of the boat will be covered with their logo. The boats lifetime is estimated to be a minimum of 15 years of which the sponsor will have their logo on the boat for that amount of time.
In speaking with Andrew Milner of the San Pedro Sailing Club he explained to us that the purpose of this program is to have an extracurricular activity for the youths of San Pedro.
“This is a great chance to give the school children of San Pedro back their sailing heritage,” commented Milner. “Back in the days San Pedro was known to be a quaint fishing village and sail boats were the main mode of transportation. Sailing is no longer being practiced and this will really help bring back the heritage of what the island used to be like. We got the best playground to practice in, the beautiful Caribbean Sea.”
The San Pedro Optimist Dinghy Club (ODC) has been offered a space on a series of Belize Sailing Association organized training course that are run by Royal Yacht Association officials at the British Forces Training Centre on St. George’s Caye as a first step toward bringing sailing to an internationally competitive level in Belize.
Anyone interested in knowing more about the club or any business willing to give sponsorship for a dinghy can kindly contact Mr. Andrew Milner at his email address andrew_milner@ymail.com.