Member Article

£20k yacht gifted to North East youth charity

Ocean Youth Trust North, the North of England’s leading sail training and youth development charity, has received a major boost after the donation of a 34 foot long yacht worth over £20,000.

The yacht, called Lene Sono (‘gentle sound’ in Latin), is a 1970’s Rival 34 sea class yacht in excellent condition.

Her previous owner, a lifelong sailing enthusiast, wishes to remain anonymous and donated the yacht to OYT North to help its work developing young people through the medium of Adventure under Sail voyages.

Lene Sono was delivered to its new home at Royal Quays Marina, North Shields, by road on a large transporter at the end of last year and is now ready to take its place in OYT North’s fleet.

It will be used as a training vessel for volunteers and adults aiming to earn yachting qualifications.

Steve Lennon, general manager of OYT North, said: “We simply could not believe our luck when we heard that a fellow sailor wanted to give us an offshore sailing yacht.

Lene Sono is a beautiful boat in great condition and we are so grateful to have her.

Her arrival has enabled us to expand our operations and open a new sea school providing yachting qualifications for the professional development of our volunteers who support our work with young people.

While aimed primarily at our volunteers, members of the sailing public are welcome to join our courses and benefit from our nautical expertise. All course fees go towards supporting our work with young people.“

The new sea school is called OYT North Training and has been recognised by the RYA (Royal Yachting Association). Clients can undertake all practical RYA Yachtmaster (Cruising Scheme), and Shore-based courses up to Yachtmaster Ocean as well as the shorter practical seamanship courses offered by the charity’s sailing staff.

It is run from OYT North’s offices in North Shields and training voyages on Lene Sono will depart from Royal Quays Marina into the North Sea.

Caroline Saunders, chief instructor at OYT North Training, said: “The gift of Lene Sono has made a huge difference to our work as a youth development charity. We can now train our sailing staff and volunteers to a higher standard, raising the quality of their seamanship and ultimately benefiting the young crews who sail with us, week in week out seven months a year.”

Over the past quarter of a century OYT North has welcomed more than 10,000 young people on-board its yacht James Cook, including groups with special educational needs, visual impairment, young offenders, schools, colleges, Scouts and Guides and young people enrolled on the National Citizen Service.

The experience of ‘Adventure under Sail’ promotes the development of team working, communication and leadership skills and equips young people with the tools and belief needed to overcome life’s adversity and challenges.

OYT North Training has published a programme of its first seamanship and yachting courses and is interested to hear from sailing enthusiasts at North yachting and sailing clubs keen to develop their skills and skipper boats in the ocean.

For more about Ocean Youth Trust North and OYT North Training, visit: www.oytnorth.org.uk or contact admin@oytnorth.org.uk

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Matthew Moore .