John Merricks Sailing Trust provides Junior Windsurfing Racing equipment at Notts County Sailing Club

Notts County Sailing Club has been awarded a £4,332 grant to purchase Junior Techno boards and sails, along with a DVD video camera for coaching. The award allows Notts County youngsters to progress and improve their racing skills on the One Design windsurfing equipment used to train youngsters up to the Olympic board. The money has come from the youth fund provided to the trust from the Nottingham Sailboard Club’s dissolution.

The boards have already had outings on Wednesday nights, when Team 15 sees fifteen Notts County junior windsurfers take part in windsurfing. They have proved highly popular, being responsive and easy to learn and improve on.

David Eberlin the Team 15 co-ordinator for the club said  “This is a great opportunity for the youngsters at Notts County, the new windsurfers are great for both children and adults to sail and allow the club to progress and encourage more to take up and improve their skills, thanks to the John Merricks Trust and Nottingham Sailboard Club.”

The next stop is the Team 15 regional events and hopefully the National events.

The photo shows the racing boards and a couple of sails with (l to r) Team 15 Windsurfers Lucy, Jack, Emily, Barnby, Russ (Team 15 training), Cameron, Rebecca in front of Notts County’s clubhouse.

The John Merricks Trust set up in memory 1996 Olympic silver medallist John Merricks, the aim being to advance the education and physical and mental development of young people in need (under the age of 25 years) with a view to promoting the achievement of their potential through the sport of sailing.

Team 15 is a Royal Yachting Association (RYA) initiative to encourage youngsters to participate in windsurfing, it is a nationwide network of clubs where the coolest windsurfers aged 15 and under get together every week to have a great time and learn new skills.