Enjoying the great outdoors at Leeds Sailing and Activity Centre at Yeadon Tarn

National World - LocalTV

We check out some of the activities available at the Leeds Sailing and Activity Centre in Yeadon for some inspiration on how to enjoy the great outdoors.

Transcript

00:00Leeds Sailing and Activity Centre is part of Active Leeds.

00:03We run a variety of water sports. We've got paddle sport, we've got the big bell boat helm,

00:10which is a good group activity. We do canoeing, Canadian canoeing,

00:17kayaking, where you might be able to sit on top or sit in kayaking.

00:20And on the kind of sailing side we have little dinghies. We've got dinghies that'll take three

00:24or four people and we've got dinghies that take one person and some very small dinghies for very

00:30small children. So we've got something for everybody on the sailing front. We also do windsurfing.

00:35The introduction of paddle boarding really took off. A massive boom several years back,

00:43sort of instrumental with helping bring that on board and get qualified, training staff up to help

00:49provide paddle boarding. The kind of off-water activities that we have here include bushcraft.

00:55So you learn how to make a little campfire and they do marshmallows and hot chocolate and they

01:00people love that. Good party event that isn't it. We have an indoor cave, again very good for

01:06children's parties. They love that. The off-road biking. I think one of our biggest barriers is

01:13even the local residents don't realise we are open to members of the public

01:17and we are available you know 50 weeks of the year. When we get a school in and we've got 40 minutes

01:24in which to teach them to sail a little boat that's about three metres long and they do it,

01:30that is just great. One of the things that I think we do really well is accessible sailing

01:36where we get wheelchair users and we hoist them into a boat and take them out and we get them to

01:43hold the tiller and do the steering. So they effectively are physically sailing that boat with us.

01:50There is nothing like this at Yeetan Tarn really. It's a small little bit of water. A lot of it's only

01:55three foot deep kind of thing so you can stand on the bottom in a lot of it. So it's quite a safe

02:01small water. It's quite flat most of the time. It's not like going to the sea or up to Grimwith

02:07reservoir but yeah and we have had some customers especially like the school groups you know the

02:11younger children not confident on water whatsoever. Once they're out there they totally forget what you

02:17know the fun that they're having they're showing the smile on their faces at the end of the day.

02:22That's all you need. We do little taster hours or taster two hours. A couple of children I have

02:29taught. I've gone on to represent GB in paddle sports. One has gone to represent GB in rowing

02:40and you know just people have carried on and become my next generation of instructors.

02:46Not only is it just for fun it's also for it can help with your mental health, your well-being

02:52and it's fitness and fresh air. Get out of the open air. It's wonderful.

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