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Jon Sweet
Jon Sweet, OnBoard Development Officer (Northants & S Warwickshire); email

Harriet Baldock
Harriet Baldock, OnBoard Development Officer (Nottingham & S Derbyshire); email

OnBoard

OnBoard, www.ruob.co.uk, is the RYA's grassroots initiative to introduce more young people to sailing and windsurfing and encourage them to stay in the sport.

There are nine OnBoard clubs across the East Midlands all run with the same goal – to have lots of fun while learning new sailing skills. Most OnBoard clubs meet weekly between April/May to September/October.

Every season each region hosts a number of OnBoard Festivals where all the OnBoard clubs in a particular area come together for a day of games and fun races giving the children the chance to meet like-minded youngsters from other clubs and test out their new sailing skills.

Becoming an OnBoard club

Maintaining or growing club membership is a challenge faced by most clubs. Providing a strong base for ongoing junior activity in order to generate increased family membership is a tried and tested strategy for growth. OnBoard provides clubs with the opportunity to adopt local schools or youth organisations and run activity to integrate young people into the club.

Clubs and centres interested in becoming OnBoard clubs must be RYA Training Centres. OnBoard clubs will receive access to grants for volunteer development and training, an allocation of Henri-Lloyd clothing for volunteers running OB youth activities and local expert advice on junior activities, club facilities and equipment.

OnBoard Development Officers (ODO)

The OnBoard Development Officers, Harriet Baldock & Jon Sweet, promote the aims of OnBoard within an area. They develop links between schools, community organisations and youth groups to OnBoard clubs to help increase the number of sailing and windsurfing sessions available for kids and young people.

Remote OnBoard club

Lincoln & District Sailing Association (LDSA) Sailing Development Officer Mick Parsons - michael.parsons@l-dsa.org.uk

Clubs in the partnership:

2010 OnBoard Festivals

Thursday 15 July, The Mill Adventure Base, Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire

Saturday 18 September, Hollowell SC, Hollowell Reservoir, Northants