A typical Sailability Day – Dubai Offshore Sailing Club

sailability: A TYPICal day

For volunteers and instructors, The day starts at 8.30am

Volunteers and sailing instructors arrive at DOSC at around 8.30am. After registration, the team springs into action to rig the boats and move them to the pontoon, set up the land-based activities and ensure the necessary safety items are in place.

Students start to arrive for Session 1 at 9.45am

When each group of students arrives at DOSC, they register and change before being fitted with Buoyancy Aids and filling their water bottles.

Briefings take place

Once everyone is ready, the volunteers gather for a briefing so that everyone is aware of the session schedule and which student they will be working with.

STUDENTS PAIR UP WITH THEIR ALLOCATED VOLUNTEERS

Then everyone heads over to the Tentola area for their pre-session warm-up activities. This changes from week to week to keep it fresh for the students, but typically includes yoga, aerobics and/or games.

SAILING INSTRUCTION STARTS

With everyone properly warmed up and ready for action, volunteers and students make their way to the pontoon, beach or Tentola area, depending on what activity they will be doing that day.

instruction on land and sea

For students working on land, activities include knot tying, boat knowledge, puzzles and games, alternating with beach sessions for kayaking and paddleboarding. For more advanced students, there may be the opportunity to practice rigging Access Dinghies.

For students on the water, they may be sailing in an Access Dinghy, where they will be working one to one with an assistant instructor, or on a RS Venture as part of a small group. For more advanced students, independent sailing on an Access Dinghy may be possible.

At the end of the session, students rinse off their buoyancy aids and hang them up to dry. After a re-cap with the instructors, they head home with their families, teachers or carers. Volunteers then attend a debrief.

Students start arriving for Session 2 at 12.45pm

The second session of the day starts with a briefing with students and volunteers at 1pm. This session runs until 3pm. Volunteers are not required to set up or pack away.

Students arrive at around 3.30pm for the last session of the day

Again, the format is largely the same as for the previous sessions, except there is no warm up session and we tend to focus on water based activities.

After the session ends and the students have left, volunteers transfer the boats back to the slip way where they are rinsed, de-rigged and moved back to the boat yard. Volunteers are usually finished before 6pm.