🌴 Junior Week 2024 Round Up
We knew when we decided on ‘Tropical’ for this year’s theme that we were tempting fate! Luckily, it turned out to be absolutely wonderful sunny weather for the whole week, we could hardly have named it better. Suncream was a must!
Unfortunately (would it be Britain if we didn’t moan about the weather?!) this meant there wasn’t a lot of wind for the first few days, which limited sailing opportunities, but there was still plenty of activity and fun to be had, with Pink, Yellow, and Blue teams battling it out beside, in, on, and sometimes under the water to see who would eventually be the champions!
The week is led by two Senior Instructors, Sam & Ellen, ably assisted by a team of coaches, all of whom are themselves Junior Week veterans. It’s a testament to the huge amount of fun that they come back each year to volunteer to do it again! We began with teams decorating leaves for their palm tree scoreboards.
Let me hand over to Ellen to tell you more:
“All the classic Junior Week games made appearances this year, as requested by the juniors; such as Boat BOV, Mast Climbing, Junk Boat Modelling and Capture The Flag, with some new games for 2024.
The ever-popular Boat BOV
The wind may have been absent for the first half of the week, but we made up for it by cooling off with lots of paddling, splashing, and jumping in.
Wednesday was great fun with everyone dressed up in ‘Tropical’ outfits, with a squid, some mermaids, lots of flower garlands, Hawaiian shirts, and Mexican hats!
A new tropical themed treasure hunt was devised that involved the juniors following clues to collect different parts of a tropical outfit to dress their instructors.
Junk boat modelling reached new levels with each team building on a topper with large containers and cardboard to make a strong (and beautifully decorated) tropical battleship.
The teams put their creations to the test the next day when flanked by two supporting boats and lots of sponges, the teams attacked each other on the water to see whose creation was the most robust!
With points awarded for first, second and third place in each activity, the lead changed often, but once all the scores were totted up, Yellow Team proved the eventual victors, with so many points they barely fitted in their palm tree scoreboard!
As is tradition, the week finished with mast climbing and a group jump off the jetty.”
The Peter Crowley trophy, awarded to the junior who isn’t necessarily the best sailor, but who most embodied the spirit of Junior Week (as voted by the coaches) was Bea – pictured here with Peter’s Dad, Mike, who presented the award.
Thanks Ellen! You, Sam and the other instructors did an amazing job! We know you have just as much (maybe more?) fun than the juniors, but your energy and enthusiasm is a key part of what makes Junior Week so joyful, so thank you!!
Thank you to everyone who helped across the week – to all the parent (and grandparent!) ‘volunteers’ who stepped up to do galley or safety boat duty, and provided the cakes that powered everyone through the week. To those who helped with the marquee, went on fuel runs, and those who saw that things needed doing and just mucked in and helped without being asked. Thank you all. Junior Week couldn’t run, and wouldn’t be the amazing event it is without your support.
Finally, thank you to Diana Hemming for running Junior Week for so many years before me, and for such a great handover, and to my planning team for supporting me in organising my first one – Ellen Brooks, Sam Callen, Sarah Lavis and Callum Pearce – as someone who doesn’t know the first thing about boats, or sailing, your support and guidance was invaluable!
See you next Junior Week!
Amber Marshall
Junior Week Co-ordinator