The sailing was in warm tropical conditions and Alan’s coach boat had been given to local fishermen by Oxfam after the 2004 Tsunami.

The most challenging part of the week was the 175 mile 7 hour journey crossing Sri Lanka on the main but busy and bumpy road!

The training programe was an Engagement Gateway project funded through the European Social Fund (ESF), aimed at giving local people the opportunity to develop their outdoor skills and experience as well as gaining National Governing Body (NGB) Awards, essential for working in the outdoor sector. It has been developed by the Outdoor Partnership and run by the National Centres, Plas Menai and Plas y Brenin.

Plas Menai has been developing water-based skills while students at Plas y Brenin have been developing land-based skills. By the end of the six week programme the students will have successfully gained an instructor qualification providing them with a gateway into the outdoor industry.

To be eligible for the programme the successful participants needed to fulfill certain requirements; Live in the counties of Gwynedd or Anglesey; be 18 years of age or older; be economically inactive (unemployed or working 16 hours or less) and not claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA).  They all had to apply for the programme and be interviewed for a place on the scheme.

Tracey Evans, CEO, ‘This has been a wonderful opportunity for the people of Gwynedd and Anglesey. We have two fantastic national centres which have the expertise and experience to advise and instruct the participants and we are delighted in getting such a wide variety of people to successfully apply for the scheme.’

Our free Watersports Career Training Open Days are designed to provide useful information for anybody considering a career in the watersports or yachting industries.

During the day staff will be on hand to answer questions and provide advice on working in the outdoors, as well as looking at the training programmes most suitable for you. You will also get the opportunity to get out on the water and see some of the training areas we use.

If you cannot make any of the open day dates but would like to visit the centre and discuss your training needs please contact us and a suitable date can be arranged.

During the weekend the delegates attended a variety of workshops and talks, with the talk on the Psychology of Coaching by our very own Alan Williams proving hugely popular.Training Manager at the RYA, Richard Faulk attended the event and was able to provide the gathered ensemble, with an update on relevant changes and activities within the RYA training department.

The WYA Annual Awards dinner was held on the Saturday evening, before the weekend was rounded off on Sunday with some keelboat match racing using the Centre’s four J80’s. Steve Morgan, Chief Executive of the WYA said, ‘The Big Weekend has been a great success and we are delighted at the number of people who attended. We plan to build on this momentum and next year hope to make the event even bigger. It is a great way to set up the upcoming year.”

Guest Speakers will include:-

• Richard Faulk, RYA Training Manager
• Gus Lewis– RYA Legal and Government Affairs
• Chris Watts– RYA Race Officials Education Officer
• Alan Williams, GBR Optimist Coach and Plas Menai Centre Manager
• Trade inc. RYA Publications
• WYA Staff + Loads More

 For more information please visit http://www.welshsailing.org

A temporary reception will be set up opposite the current reception and a temporary bar will be set up in the recreation room.

We apologise  to all our customers and visitors for any disruption or inconvienience this may cause and your co-operation is greatly appreciated during this time.

Plas Menai

Darren Brame congratulating Malcolm Pitts on swimming 500 miles

On Tuesday 6 December 2011 a local man from Llanrug swam his 500^th mile in the swimming pool at Plas Menai National Watersports Centre, supported and cheered on by swimming coach Darren Brame.

 Malcolm Pitts from Llanrug completed his 500^th mile during his lunchtime swim. Malcolm first started on his long journey on 25^th Janaury 2000, when Plas Menai swimming coach Darren Brame gave him a Swim Fit card to record the lengths he swam. He started off swimming 60 lengths a session, which has gradually increased over the years and he now swims up to 180 lengths per session.

 500 miles is the equivalent to 805km and equates to 48,300 lengths, roughly seven and a bit time around Anglesey.

Darren Brame said, “This is a fanastic achievement by Malcolm. He has worked extremely hard and has concientiously kept a record of every length he has swam. To reach five hundred miles is a truly remarkable achievement and I look forward to seeing him back in the pool soon.”

“All the staff at Plas Menai would like to congratulate Malcolm on his achievement and we very much look forward to celebrating his 1000 miles”said Alan Williams, Centre Manager.

The BookingLive system is now up and running and you can book and pay for any of our programmed 2012 watersports courses online.

The website has been revamped and we have now included more detailed infomation about individual courses on the site to help you with the booking process. There are also new video and photo galleries amongst other features.

This year we are introducing a new Outdoor Adventure section. Within this section there will be a number of different week and weekend courses which are not focussed on achieving a certificate but to provide you with the oportunity to get active outdoors and to take advantage of the magnificent location in which we are based.

Our Family Fun weeks and weekends proved hugely popular in 2011 so these will be on offer again in 2012 within the Outdoor Adventure section. Other options include, Cycling around Snowdonia and north west Wales, Sit on top kayak fishing on our Kayak Coastcraft weekend and a keelboat adventure along the Menai Strait. Full details of these courses will be available on the website soon and you will also be able to book these online.

For those of you who do not want to book online and would prefer to book over the telephone you can still do so by contacting our bookings team directly on 01248 673943 and they will be happy to take your booking.

This course has been started this year at Coleg Meirion Dwyfor in partnership with Plas Menai and Clwb Hwylio Pwllheli. This is the start of the implementation of the  vocational courses that will be implemented at the Welsh National Sailing and Events Centre which is planned to open its doors in Spring 2013 at Pwllheli.

The students on this course will gain an insight into working in a watersports centre and will hopefully inspire some to follow a career in watersports and gain valuable skills such as self reliance , self motivation which watersports give students.

“There is a demand for Welsh speaking watersports instructors in Wales and hopefully this course will be the first steps of encouragement that these students need to follow this career path” said Eifion Owen Marine Curriculum leader for Marine at Coleg Llandrillo Cymru . The instructor for the first cohort will be Leah Collis the OnBoard development officer for North Wales

The course started in September after the college invested in buying a fleet of training dinghies over the summer and by working in close partnership with Plas Menai and Sports Wales , and is the first steps in making sure the Sailing Academy at Pwllheli has watersports courses available to all members of the community. This course was only previously available at Weymouth College on the site of The London Olympics 2012 sailing venue in Portland, and following a series of meetings with Weymouth College that model is now being offered at Pwllheli.