Chipstead SC sailor wins an RYA Coaching Bursary

Holly MacAskill, a member of Chipstead Sailing Club, has been awarded a Coaching Bursary from the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) Youth Training Fund. The Coaching Bursary, for young sailors up to the age of 23, funds attendance at an RYA Race Coach Level 2 course and is intended to develop the skills of accomplished young racers towards coaching others.

Holly learned to sail at Chipstead Sailing Club, enjoying a number of the Chipmates Summer Camps, and progressed into dinghy sailing team racing with Sevenoaks School and Cambridge University. In 2017, Holly captained the winning team in the Youth category of the RYA and British Universities Sailing Association (BUSA) Ladies Team Racing National Championship and as breaking news, Holly’s team were runners up in the RYA / BUSA Ladies Team Racing National Championship this year – sailed last weekend.

Holly has also developed her instructor skills, becoming an Assistant Instructor and then a Dinghy Instructor at Chipstead Sailing Club. She instructed in the Club's training activities, including RYA courses and schools' sailing, over a four year period before going to university. She has since become a Senior Instructor, has spent two summers instructing in Italy and Greece, and is now the Training Officer at her university sailing club where she organises and delivers RYA dinghy sailing courses.

In 2018, Holly had her first experience in keelboat racing and hopes to develop this further over the coming years.

We'd like to congratulate Holly on the award of her RYA Coaching Bursary and wish her all the best for all her sailing ventures in the future.

The photo below shows Holly being presented with her RYA certificate by Steve McCann, Chipstead SC Commodore.