22 / 06 / 2021

Sentinel Ocean Alliance visits The Little Optimist

“This is the best day of my life. I want to become a captain of a boat and save all the animals I find” – Charles, 12 years old.

On Saturday the 19th of June 10 kids from SOA  joined The Little Optimist Team at their prime location in the V & A Waterfront for a day of Sailing Therapy.

Greg and his team were fantastic! The kids were met with enthusiastic coaches, goodie bags, hats and an educational booklet. The excitement grew from then on out.

The day kicked off with a talk on Ocean Threats and how their actions can impact ocean health, an informative ocean safety briefing and some tea time treats.

After a few in depth discussion we were given a demonstration on how to operate a Little Optimist sailing boat. The room was dead silent as they watched the coaches in ore. The questions were flowing keeping the coaches on their toes and as the demonstration came to an end the kids were bursting with eagerness to try it out for themselves.

We made our way down to the V&A canals where the kids saw the boats sitting on the dock – ready to be taken for a spin. One by one they put their life jackets on and off they went.

As a person who has been working with these kids for over 6 weeks I had never seen them as proud of themselves as I did, watching them sail their own boats. 9/10 kids had never set foot on a boat. After this experience they all walked away with the skills to not only be on a boat, but sail one single handily. This is a skill that will inspire them to further their curiosity of their role in the ocean economy. This experience has shown them that they are capable of anything they put their mind to. It has shown them how much joy water activities can bring into their daily lives and how we, as lovers for our oceans, should protect it so that we, in turn, can enjoy it.

After a scrumptious lunch we headed off to the Two Oceans Aquarium for an educational talk led by the Aquarium foundation. They learnt about all the animals living along our rocky shorelines and were able to identify them while exploring the Aquariums Kelp forests and rockpools. For most of them, they had never set foot in an Aquarium. It was a mind blowing experience for most and cries of joy could be heard from across the room.

A Big thank you to Greg and The Little Optimist Team for an unforgettable day. The skills and information taken away from this experience is invaluable.

Calah Couzins
Operations Manager
Sentinel Ocean Alliance