A Man. A Plan. A VAN!
Thomas Chaix has been the ISA Optimist National Coach for many, many years.
You may be aware that recently Thomas’s mini-van and road trailer were written off in a serious road accident. We are all very grateful that nobody was injured in the accident however his livelihood was written off.
As we all know, Thomas is an amazing asset for sailing (and perhaps cycling!) in Ireland. No one on the island works harder for our young sailors. A typical weekend for Thomas is to drive a packed trailer of boats across the country, take a ferry to the UK, drop off the boats, run a couple of coaching sessions, cycle at high-speed for 2 hours, sleep in the back of his van for a couple hours, and then return home to pick up a load of sailors. And then rinse, repeat. And he does it with a warmth of spirit and sets a wonderful example for our kids.
Over the years literally hundreds of families in Ireland (and abroad) have had the benefit of Thomas looking after their kids, whether just a simple word of encouragement to their young sailor, a lift for their laser or optimist to some event, or a training session if their child has ever been on one of the teams e.g. the U12 squad, IDT, European or Worlds teams.
Thomas is a coach loved by all and especially by all those sailors who have ever been on the B Academy as he taught them how to do their own laundry!!
As part of the community of sailing, we are getting together to help raise money for a new van for Thomas Chaix because Thomas needs our help now.
We hope parents and sailors will dig deep at the various fundraisers been held over the next 10 weeks around the country to help Thomas get back on his feet. No donation is too small and if kids can also be encouraged to empty their moneybox or refrain from buying an ice-cream or two over the coming weeks it will help contribute to the warm ethos of our sailing community.
Thanking you in advance for your generosity.
100% of all funds raised on this page with the exception of the fees taken by GoFundMe (http://www.gofundme.com/pricing)
will go directly to the purchase of a new van for Thomas Chaix.
