Wednesday Watersports & Building community

A story about building a community on the water.

I pondered for a brief moment, I imagined that this is how the Egrets feel.... Wings spread wide, gliding and slicing through the air, the tips of their wings mirroring the delicate fingertips of a ballerina. Tension rising and falling between the water surface and their aerodynamic bodies with every slight shift of the wind. I hiked out, attached to a precarious trapeze wire on the side of a cumbersome plastic catamaran harnessed by the afternoon sea breeze. I hiked out enough so the tip of my ponytail trailed like a minnow in the water. I allow the tips of my fingers to touch the unbroken water surface. Behind each finger a small wake emerged, shimmering in the setting sun. My abs burn as Bex, my helm, speaks over the lapping water and the slightly flapping sail, “ready about”. This is the closest feeling to flying free I have ever felt. I have been envious of the Egret I pass each morning ever since (I named him Horatio).

The time on the water that June evening went too fast. The sun disappeared behind the horizon of Fawley power station too early. I peeled off my wetsuit and warmed my exposed extremities in the limp, staff shower that I had grown quite attached to. My head remained full of that weightless feeling, pining for my next outing on the water. I wanted everyone to experience this feeling.

One of the proudest moments of my career so far was towards the end of the 2025 summer season. I was a fresh Dinghy Instructor (DI) (passing the RYA qualification in May of the same year). I was looking out at 7 sailors that were my colleagues. The sun glistened against the white horses galloping at their bows, their sails pulled in on a close hauled course, racing. They eagerly progressed toward their up-wind marker. I sat bobbing in a bright orange power boat, looking out at the vista. A few colleagues were taking pictures from the shore. They gave their best encouragement as the dinghys sailed past. For the first time in weeks I was silent, just watching as the sail boats progressed up-wind, adjusting sails and boards as they prepared to tac. I held my breath as they all seamlessly taced around the marker buoy. I had spent the past 9 weeks teaching sailing, safety boating and hosting rigging races hoping to give as many opportunities as I could. I was exhausted, but for this view it has been worth it.

Building community within a team can feel impossible, especially bigger teams. This team was just under 30 instructors strong… Big teams can incorporate a wide range of ages, abilities, personal lives and energy levels. From my own experience, the smaller teams I have worked for have been tighter knit. The sense that we were all in it together was empowering. In larger teams I have felt purposeless, lonely and unable to break through inevitable cliques. In the outdoor industry the hours are long, usually seasonal and the work is physically and mentally taxing. When you are sun, wind and rain beaten (in the UK, likely all in one day!) it can be hard to have the energy to say hello, let alone attempt to develop connection and comradely with in the team. We all have a part to play. Having some infrastructure in place for team development and community is paramount. There was no blueprint for that where I worked, so we had to build it!

Watersports Wednesday took this mission on almost by accident. After qualifying as a Dinghy Instructor I wanted to give anyone who wanted to learn to sail, the chance to try so, I pitched the idea; Every Wednesday, after work, I would host a sailing lesson in my own time. We would start at the beginning of the RYA syllabus and work our way up throughout the weeks. If there wasn’t the tide I would find a member of staff willing to give a talk about a sailing topic, if there wasn’t the weather we would do theory or rigging races. I received an unsure “yeah” from the centre manager and lead instructor, the implication being that it may not work… I thought I would try anyway.

The first evening for Watersports Wednesday rolled around a week later. I slowly walked to the boat park, planning notebook in hand, braced to see a briefing of empty seats. I couldn’t have predicted what would happen next… I had so many members of staff show up that we could host, not only dinghy lessons, but windsurf lessons too. I managed to find some windsurf instructors willing to occasionally volunteer. In the following weeks staff came over from our sister centre too. The water on a Wednesday became a hive activity. I was invested in teaching everyone who attended WW to the best of my ability. Once WW had become established each week, sail racing Tuesdays was started.

Most staff members that attended completed their RYA Assistant Dinghy Instructor award by the end of the season. Many of these AIs have been put forward for their RYA dinghy instructor for the 2026 season which is an exceptional achievement by them!

What WW taught me was that building opportunities can come from anyone. I am not a lead or senior instructor. I had only been at that centre for 1 season and yet I saw an area that I was willing to invest time into. Community is built one small step at a time and it usually starts from just showing up. Showing up for others is an important and key way to lead a group towards success, in other words you are leading by example. Showing up doesn’t mean showing up perfect, WW was far from that. I learned from mishaps and mistakes and in a round about way it was showing those DI aspirants that making safe mistakes is ok and is often where we grow.

Building a safe learning environment with appropriate parameters enables people to prove to themselves that they can do it. I noticed the group will began to empower themselves and inspire each other to keep learning, to keep showing up and to keep progressing. Anyone can stand at the front of the group and preach about a passion until the cows come home, but it may not keep people engaged or inspire people to keep showing up.

By the end of the season I had been appointed social secretary for the staff team. On Mondays I held climbing workshops and socials. We even held the first staff climbing comp! All of this climbing meant more folks were naturally accumulating the ‘all important ‘ D-log entries for CWI and many went on to achieve the award at the start of this year (2026). Tuesdays became sail racing Tuesdays where we saw our centre manager almost sweep the floor until Sophie, a competitive sailor and all round legend brought it home! Watersports Wednesdays were a hit, and more staff became sailing and windsurfing confident. I even think a few folks really love sailing now!

Overall I was pretty exhausted, 3 evenings a week plus the height of an outdoor season did make me think twice… but it worked. I have passed the baton to a new social sec as I have decided to embark on a new challenge somewhere new., and a tad more sunny.

The last walk past Horatio the Egret was an emotional one, but I think he wished me luck.

Jazzy