The Kent Schools Sailing Association is affiliated to the National Schools Sailing Association, a body which is recognised by the D.F.E., The Sports council, and the Royal Yachting Association, as the sole authoritative body able to represent school sailing interests.
Founded in 1961, Kent Schools Sailing Association is similarly recognised by the Kent Education Authority and in recent years has been consulted by the K.E.C. on matters relating to the purchase of suitable dinghies for the County Sailing Centres, on safety regulations and the use of approved lifejackets and buoyancy aids, on the implementation of the R.Y.A. Proficiency Training and on syllabuses for teachers' in-service courses.
The K.S.S.A. is itself an R.Y.A. recognised teaching establishment, and as such
is able to train both pupils and teachers, to assess performance and award R.Y.A.
Certificates of Proficiency to successful candidates. To assist training, the
Association publishes its own handbook "DINGHY SAILING" (for the R.Y.A. National
Dinghy Scheme) which has been well received, not only in Kent but all over the
British Isles.
Kent Schools Sailing Association, however, accept a wider responsibility than the simple awards of certificates and considers that it has an obligation to discover, train and encourage promising young helmsmen and women so that thay can be referred to one or other of the National Training Schemes. To this end the Association runs a full programme of racing and training events throughout the season, mostly from established Yacht Clubs, Sailing Clubs and Centres, so that pupils are introduced to the adult world of sailing.
Travel around the country is
encouraged and each year County Teams are selected to compete at the National
School Regatta, the Championship, and Team Racing events. Competitors from Kent
are then able to measure their performance against boys and girls from all over
the Country. Our long record of success in national competition leads us to
believe that we may, in some part, have achieved the first objective of our
Association's constitution in `the promotion and encouragement of sailing,
watermanship and allied activities in schools.'