Reflections on UKSA
At UKSA I have learned many new life skills. The one that
I believe I will use most and I have benefited most from learning is Dinghy
sailing. Dinghy sailing is great fun as it brings together the scientific part
of sailing to do with the wind (my favourite) and FUN. After dinghy sailing
with Ihsan we were allowed to capsize our boat.
Earlier today I was paddle boarding down the river Medina
with everybody from Latymer here. When we reached a small bay the leaders began
tackling us off our boards. Soon this turned into a chaotic brawl of people
scrambling back to their boards and being thrown overboard. Eventually the
group of paddlers was alerted to a massive jelly fish of diameter 10cm so we decided to return home!
Something to remember as a life skill is to always
unravel the sail before pulling on the ropes.
Frederikos Vassos
I am so glad that I put the UKSA water sports on my
Activities week wish list. My favourite Activities were dinghy and keel boat
sailing. My favourite part about doing both those things were steering and
tightening or loosening the sail. You had to develop a kind of instinct as to
whether to pull or ease out the ropes. Everything I did was so new to me, like
an entirely different world. I learned so much about teamwork, because what you
do at UKSA always between two. I made new friends, and strengthened the bonds
between my existing ones. One of the best parts of the trip were the
instructors and teachers. They were all so kind and knew exactly how to talk to
us kids. Overall, this was a fantastic experience for me.
Ihsan Mithani
The UKSA
trip has been a ton of fun. Before I came I was extremely nervous. I wasn’t
friends with anyone on the trip. In real honesty, I was scared! I worried that
I spend the whole time alone while everyone played. How wrong I was. The staff
were always really kind. All the activities were fun. I made several new
friends. I was lucky and had done sailing in the past but some people had
never done it before. But the teachers quickly taught them the ropes and
in time almost everyone looked like profesionales. Dinghy sailing was the best.
You had the wind all around as your ship bobbed up and down. It was fantastic.
I think every student should go on this trip. Not just for the sailing but to
build up new found confidence.
Alex Xue
