Years ago I attended a sailing summer camp and found no interest in the sport.

After that I never sailed, and forgot most of what I had been taught while I took part in the camp. Consider me hardly knowing anything about sailing except for words such as bow, or stern and other simple vocabulary.

At the beginning of the school year I was told that every Year 7 was going to participate in a sailing programme named AC Endeavour.

On a simple basis AC Endeavour was a well-organised, interesting, and fun-filled experience. At first I was very worried I knew nothing about the sport, and had no idea what to bring or wear!

All the Year 7 classes went to a certain Endeavour base in St George’s, or Dockyard. When it was my week to sail with the programme we got the option, and I, loving Dockyard, chose to have my experience there.

I took the ferry every morning to Dockyard and then walked to the Endeavour base close to the Clock Tower Mall. Each wonderful day was packed with so many important and extremely interesting topics with a connection to sailing.

We did some sort of hands-on activity and of course we sailed. I got the chance to sail a Hobie, a large boat for four people which hardly ever capsizes. I also got to sail a Feva, it is a much harder boat that has a tiller extension, capsizes easily and only fits two people.

Most people said they enjoyed sailing the Hobie more, but for me the Feva was much more exciting and taught me tons of new concepts not used in the Hobie.

I started by learning on the Hobie; there were a couple of kids in my class who were skilled sailors. The coaches taught us the basics, and the skilled sailors told us what to do when we were in problems while sailing.

The coaches would drive around in their boats, helping us and giving us tips so we could sail more smoothly and quickly.

When I first began sailing the Hobie I felt full of excitement and I wasn’t worried anymore because I knew I could rely on my team-mates, my coaches, and my boat to help me sail.

Throughout my time sailing the Hobie I felt that I was becoming more in control of the boats, and understanding the sailing concepts. We were taught sailing angles, buoyancy, and many other important sailing ideas we would need to know in order to sail our boat correctly, and without any problems.

We learnt lots of cool things while being in the classroom, and it was fun to put our knowledge into action while we sailed. The skilled sailors sailed the Fevas together, and other sailors who were learning got to sail with a teacher and learn as they went. I did exactly that.

I sailed with one of my coaches, she was strict, but I was able to get down all the sailing manoeuvres which I was having trouble with.

While in the boat I felt able to sail without worrying about capsizing because I knew since I understood what to do if I capsized I would be able to fix the situation. My coach assured me we wouldn’t capsize, but I was ready if we did.

I felt more alive when I was sailing the Feva, and it made me feel like I was in my own world, sailing carelessly. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

On Friday we went to see the Oracle Team USA base, and I was so amazed by the boats, and how hard the people work to make sailing for these men a pleasure.

I saw lots of sailors and I even got to see the AC50s which are the real boats going to be sailed in the 2017 America’s Cup.

The base was amazing, and visiting it made me feel honoured to be one of only 500 people who get to visit the base. We also met with the America’s Cup sailors’ nutritionist, and he taught us about how much of each category of food we should be eating in order to stay healthy.

He taught us about what lots of foods contain, and where they fall in a food pyramid. I found it interesting to hear the diet of a sailor, and I had no idea they had salad with breakfast!

We also trained with the sailors’ trainer, and we were able to feel and do just a little bit of what they do to prepare for races.

We ran around the area with a 10lbs weight, and then did sit-ups, burpees, and squats still holding the weight. It was tiring!

We also used a machine were you do a bicycle motion with your arms to strengthen them, and practice it because the sailors do that in the boats.

I want to thank America’s Cup for creating the Endeavour programme. This programme has inspired and persuaded me to continue to sail, and for all the kids who get the chance to participate in this programme enjoy it and don’t take it for granted!