Norfolk Young Carers ride the waves
Young Adult Carers Sailing 12-14th April 2019
On the 12th April 2019 a group of 6 Young Adult Carers (YACs) aged between 16 & 23 from across Norfolk and 2 staff members went on a sailing weekend with Adventures Offshore. Initially 2 others young adult cares also taking part but unfortunately due to their home circumstances they were unable to join us. Our young Adult carers provide unpaid care to a family member and because of this have limited opportunities both educationally and socially, this results in feelings of low self-esteem and a lack of confidence.
We met in Norwich on Friday evening and travelled by minibus to Ipswich on arrival at Haven Marina we were greeted by the crew and shown the boat that would be our home for the weekend. Once we had been shown around the boat and had a safety briefing we left the marina and motored to our mooring point for the night. One of our YAC helmed the boat out of the marina as she was very enthusiastic to learn.
On Saturday morning we all got up and after breakfast started our days sailing, all the young people were able to take turns in being on the helm, tacking and other sailing skills.
At one point the weather was very windy and the water choppy which resulted in some of the young people feeling seasick, because of this we returned to calmer waters to make the sailing enjoyable for all. Saturday night was spent in Shotley Marina which gave us an opportunity to get off the boat for a while and take advantage of hot showers.
Sunday was Charlies 17th birthday so the day began with a banner, balloons and singing ‘Happy Birthday’, Adventures Offshore had thoughtfully provided these along with a card and a birthday cake, this made the day extra special for him. We then went sailing for the day before returning to Ipswich in time for our transport home.
The YACS who came on this trip had never met each other before or had any experience of sailing. 3 of them had never spent a night away from home and this was a big step for them to take. We watched friendships be formed between them which they are planning to maintain themselves now that they are home.
The voyage has helped to increase their confidence and self-esteem and has raised their aspirations, all of them were able to take part in another residential trip 3 weeks later with our Transitions service and they renewed their friendships as well as meeting other YACS to enlarge their peer support network. They all reported feeling better about their caring role now that they had had the opportunity to have a break for a weekend and were looking forward to going home to tell their families about the trip.
We would like to thank The Norfolk Boat for making this trip possible without your help we would not have been able to give our young adult carers the opportunity. I have attached some photos which were taken by Bethany who was able to take photos towards he ‘A level’ in photography during the trip.
