Beavers go boating - Dave Nicholls

Towards the end of 1999 Woodbridge model Boat Club was approached by theMartlesham Beaver Pack and asked if we could run a boat building course for about twenty of their Beavers aged between seven and nine. Could they all come along and make a model yacht that actually sailed in under an hour and a half? The answer of course was yes.

Both children and parents were pleasantly surprised to find that all 19 Beavers that came to the pond, managed to finish a twelve inch long model, and get it onto the water within 90 minutes. They were even more surprised to find that despite the light winds and moderate drizzle their yachts would consistently out perform anything bought in a shop of a similar size. Children of this age need to see results quickly and most sessions that you run with them need to last for no more than 90 minutes from start to finish.

You have to guarantee a model that works, that is cheap, that everybody can finish, be proud of and take home. Designed by by Graham Bantock the current world champion, this is an excellent little sailing yacht capable of being made for under 40p. You can make you another bigger one from the plan that you are given and the boat that you make leaves your friend's yachts for dead then that's a big bonus for a seven year old. David Nicholls and Ian Dunmore ran the course and slightly modified the design to enable them to prefabricate it in a form that allowed a successful outcome to be guaranteed by a mixed ability age group.

The Deben River Centre was pressed into service when rain threatened to drown the Beaver Pack. Thanks must also go to the Martlesham Heath branch of Jewsons Builders who kindly sponsored the project by providing us with sails and gave us a discount on the materials that we used.

If any other schools or local groups are interested in this sort of thing and you contact us we will always try to help. If you are another model boat club who wants to know what we did and how we did it then just get in touch.