Seychelles Women Urged to Participate in Water-sports
The Seychelles Yachting Association (SYA) hosted its annual Sailing Festival over the weekend with the theme "Women on Water - Fun in Sailing" to encourage more women to take up sailing.
Sail's Training Scheme at Roche Caiman, the SYA's headquarters, hosted the event on Sunday as part of World Sailing's global goal to boost the number of women in sailing.
"We have a lot of men and young boys in sailing, which is why we want to bring in more women to sailing," said Lucy Athanasius, the vice-chairperson of the SYA.
The event, funded in part by the IOC development fund, aims to attract women and girls to sail around the world and to promote alternative career paths for those currently involved in sailing, such as coaching and officiating.
The festival spans ten days and two events, one in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere. Participants come from all walks of life and all countries.
"Today we want women to experience sailing and learn the fundamentals of the sport, in the hopes that they can eventually register with the association and hopefully create future women champions in the future," Athanasius further added.
Sailing and canoeing were among the activities available to participants throughout the day, and SYA expressed optimism that more women would be inspired to try them out due to the day's events.
After learning how to tie various knots, participants set sail from Mahe, the most populous island in Seychelles. The attendees were not only educated on the significance of this in sailing but also shown how to prepare their vessels for a day on the water properly.
Athanasius asserts that sailing is more than just a sport; it teaches important life lessons like discipline and how to take charge of any situation because you're on your own boat.
She said that because wind plays such a crucial role in sailing, kids can learn about weather patterns and other aspects of science through the sport.
Most of the men in Seychelles have achieved great success at the national and international levels of water sports. In fact, sailor Allan Julie holds the record for most victories in Seychelles' most prestigious individual award, the sportsman of the year trophy, with six wins. As the only Seychellois who qualified five times for the Olympics, Julie's best finish was 20th place at the 2004 Games in Athens.