RYA Regional Development Officer Steve Mitchell says: “I’m delighted to see Kat Banks, Ross Malloy and Freddie Cardew-Smith receive appointments to Dinghy Trainer which provides three more Trainers in London and South East to help facilitate instructor training and increase our voluntary and commercial centre workforce. They will mostly be supporting instructor development in the areas they are based but also have every intention of travelling throughout the region. They will also be supporting our instructor development days.”
Here Kat, Ross and Freddie tell us more about themselves:
Kat Banks from Reading (photo above):
I started sailing through Guides and loved the sense of adventure! I was the one who would spend a whole day just jumping off the boat or capsizing on purpose. But sailing gave me so much more. I grew in confidence, found my voice, and realised anything is possible if you try hard enough!
I became an Assistant Instructor and started transferring my skills to others. I loved sharing my excitement for sailing, being outdoors, and on (or in!) water. Having made it through university, a year abroad, and a few temp jobs I realised that all I wanted to do was teach sailing.
I’ve picked up a few other qualifications along the way and been in a full time Chief Instructor, and now Centre Manager, role for seven years. Throughout this time I have worked with some great people and the most rewarding part for me has been instructor development. I’ve seen people who learnt to sail with me become Dinghy Instructors and develop into crucial members of the instructing team.
I wanted to become a RYA Dinghy Trainer so that I can run instructor courses myself. It’s not been an easy process and I have faced some personal challenges in my journey to becoming a Trainer, but I hope that my experiences will help others realise their goal of becoming an Instructor.
Ross Malloy from London:
I started sailing with my school just north of London on a very small reservoir.
Working as an instructor has taken me to sailing venues in Minorca, Germany, Dubai, Edinburgh and various centres in London. I am currently Sailing Principal at Queen Mary Sailing Club and have been there for four years.
I particularly enjoy foiling, team racing and keelboat racing.
Throughout my career as an Instructor, I have received lots of personal development from Senior Instructors and Trainers. I particularly enjoy working with Instructors to improve their skills and I am looking forward to beginning this process from day one of an instructor course and seeing new instructors develop their skills and passion for instructing.
I would like to work on instructor development at Queen Mary Sailing Club and upskill the staff there, but also travel around the London and South East region to help other clubs and centres with instructor training.
Freddie Cardew-Smith from Guildford:
I’ve been sailing for as long as I can remember. I did my first sailing course at six years old and had been sailing with my family on yachts and dinghies, mainly on the south coast of the UK and south west coast of Ireland. After doing a lot of dinghy sailing I got into offshore racing and completed three Royal Ocean Racing Club campaigns including the Fastnet Race. That was great fun and I really enjoyed the challenge.
I decided to embark on my journey towards being an RYA Trainer a few years ago, with various things getting in the way (life and pandemics). I’ve always really enjoyed passing my knowledge on to new instructors, inspiring and training the next generation of instructors is an incredibly rewarding process.
Now I am an RYA Trainer I plan to use my appointment to run instructor courses, get involved with the regional training program and used my skills to help grow participation in our wonderful sport.
Congratulations and best wishes for their careers go to Kat, Ross and Freddie.
Find out more about regional instructor development.
