My Coaching Experience

I am Evelyn Osborne, and I am a woman sailing coach.

I have been coaching sailing for the past 30 years at all levels. My sailing career has been continuous from a young age up until today I have been sailing in Nationals events and International events in GP14 and Laser.
My first experience in sailing was at Victoria Lake Club (VLC) on Dabchicks then Sprogs. Even at the age of 16 years, I was already helping coach children on holiday camps.

I started coaching at Benoni Sailing Club now held at VLC. I have coached many children for the annual inter-schools regatta, re-instated. In 1993 I started my first sailing school and coached from there until 2006. I coached mainly school children, and many have achieved in World Sailing events, World Championships, and Olympics. Stefano Marcia is one of the young people I thought how to sail and now he's a top achiever. Another project that i have  worked on, was to coached disabled children from Murial Brand school, 10 children per lesson, an entire morning, with teachers and nurses present for 3 years, every week at Benoni. This project was mainly to give the children a sense of achievement, and independence.

From 1998-2006 I worked on another project to coach previously disadvantaged children, which was a great success. All the children were able to sail and compete in the inter-school events, Gypsys, Dabchicks, and Optimists. This project at the St Francis school was the main source of sailors, where there were 10 girls who all achieved well. In late 2006 I moved to George Lakes Yacht Club., I started my sailing school called Super Sail, at the George Lakes Yacht Club. This has improved, and become more active.

I currently run over the season, Private sailing lessons for Adults. Ladies that Launch lessons include the mothers of children undergoing the coaching. One on one, who normally join the club and sail at the club. There is a Disadvantaged Primary school program, where they attend lessons for 6 months of the year, from January to April, and September to November. The most recent group has been half girls. I also run a High School program, where disadvantaged learners join all George high school learners. Many top sailors in this group have achieved at Nationals events and world Championships. The second primary school group is a high-performance group, on Optimists, where most of these children sail at Nationals. I normally take 20 sailors to the Youth Nationals every year, in their various classes, Lasers, Optimists, Dabchicks, Teras, and Mirrors. Lessons are held 4 days every week, in 6 separate groups. Sunday’s Club racing for all.

The most recent course was 3 months of intensive coaching for 11 top optimist sailors, who were placed on Teras and coached at the high-performance level for the Tera Worlds, to be held at Pine Lake Marina in the Southern Cape. This training prepared the sailors for the best world event of their careers. They were all top sailors who all competed overseas in various events. Unfortunately, we lost this opportunity. One week before the event, there was Covid-19 lockdown. They were ready to lift the trophies. Development sailors who have also sailed for South Africa in China, Euros Horne, Kyle Koeries, Thomas Lawa, and Jean Paul Buys. Sean Vonk was also in one of these teams.

The most exciting program is the current acceptance of three GLYC sailors, Ashley Layland, James Vonk, and Kyle Koeries, who are now in the Sports Academy, running from Oudtshoorn. Together with the Academy and biokinetics, they are training for the coming season. All three are on Lasers, Kyle and Ashley on 4.7, and James on Radial. A very important aspect of coaching at GLYC involves the training of instructors, coaches, assistant coaches, Level 1 instructors, level 2 instructors and the development of High-performance coaches is a priority for our sailing school.

The powerboat and safety boat courses are also run regularly. Sailors are trained before they go for the CoC, to ensure a high quality of sailors going for their certificates. This is to ensure the continuance of a regular flow of qualified coaches to keep the sailing school a good option for careers. A large number of sailors (10) have also qualified in the past 2 years for keelboat licenses, to enhance knowledge on a broader base. This will help the sailing school to continue with qualified and knowledgeable coaches. The young sailors also gain experience on the international scene, and many of them have been around the world, literally, in sailing boats.

I hope this background will help you to understand the high ethics, enthusiasm, quality coaching, and fun, created by the George Lakes Sailing School, Super Sail Wilderness.