Instead of writing a cheque to a local charity employees at the Bermuda office of Guy Carpenter decided to come together and build sail boat simulators to help Government school children appreciate Bermuda's natural resources.

The company often assists local charities but Ben Nicholls, head of GCFac at Guy Carpenter, said they were looking to do something more hands on this year.

Several staff at the reinsurance brokerage are avid boaters so the company decided to help the WaterWise Programme, which teaches students from the public education system how to sail.

The programme begins with dry land sessions using Opti Simulators, where students from five public middle schools across the island hone their boating skills.

The Guy Carpenter team built six new simulators over the last year to ensure more students could take part. Opti Simulators are sailboats with wheels that mimic the actions of being in water so the user can experience how it might feel to operate the boat on the water.

"It was definitely harder than we thought," Mr. Nicholls said. "With each one we perfected it a bit more. Over the last months several of us have spent time after work or on the weekends building the simulators from older parts. We needed to strengthen different parts so they would work on land.

"The whole process has really been rewarding. We've worked together as a team and to see the students' enjoyment using the boats was great. Bermuda has amazing natural resources and we think it's important to help students take advantage of them, particularly students who otherwise might not have had the chance."

The simulators enable the children to spend time learning the basics of water safety and sailing before they venture out onto the water. Once the students go through this process, they will graduate from Opti Simulators and begin to practise on the water.

The programme is now in its sixth year, with nearly 150 public school students involved. The Guy Carpenter team used both recycled and new pieces of sailing equipment from the Bermuda Sailing Association and the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (RHADC) to construct the Opti Simulators to the design of Bermuda Opti Coach Paul Doughty.

Kevin Fisher, head of Guy Carpenter's Bermuda office, said: "The WaterWise Programme is a springboard to sailing that provides children with the opportunity to compete in Bermuda or internationally, representing Bermuda at the highest level."