Youth Training Week

Required Experience: A confident sailor with a minimum of RYA Stage 3.

What you will need: Your own Optimist or Tera (club boats are available to book on a first come, first served basis here)
Sailing clothing including close fitting water shoes and a buoyancy aid.

What you will learn: All the skills required to start club racing, including basic start sequences and timing; improved tacking and gybing, using the 5 essentials to best effect and having a basic understanding of the racing rules

Recommended Age: Age 10+
Entry requirements: participants should have RYA Stage 4 before taking this course
What you need: You will need your own boat with a spinnaker for this course. Club boats are available to hire from the website on a first come, first serve basis.

What you will learn: You will follow the RYA Sailing with Spinnakers course and includes, rigging a spinnaker sail, more advanced sailing techniques and manoeuvres as helm and crew using equipment to advantage, hoisting, gybing, dropping, apparent wind along with learning what to do when you capsize with the spinnaker up.

Entry Requirements: Minimum Age : School Year 2 (ie for this course will be 7 before 31/8).
No previous sailing experience required.
What you will need: Your own optimist with a short dagger board for use on the Millpond. You will also need a buoyancy aid and sailing clothing including suitable footwear.

This beginners course is designed to teach youngsters who have not sailed before how to launch and recover, sail across the wind, turn around, steer, know basic parts of the boat and to understand the basic principles of sailing. We will work towards completing the RYA Stage 1 syllabus.

Entry Requirements: Minimum age School Year 2 (7 before 31/08/2025) with sailing ability to a minimum of RYA Stage 1 is required.

The course will be held on the Millpond and own boat is required (with short dagger board). Club boats are available to hire on a first come, first served basis.

This beginner/intermediate course will develop the skills needed to sail effectively and understand the basic principles needed to become a confident sailor. The focus is on developing sailing skills on all points of sail, tacking, gybing, improving boat and speed control, ropework and collision avoidance. We will work towards completing the RYA Stage 2 syllabus.

At the end of the course, successful sailors will be able to launch and sail a dinghy under supervision, both upwind and downwind, have a range of sailing skills and knowledge and be well on the way to becoming a confident and capable sailor.

Entry Requirements: Minimum age School Year 2 with sailing ability to a minimum of RYA Stage 2 is required.

The course will be held on the Harbour and own boat is required, club boats are available to hire on a first come, first served basis.

Entry Requirements: Sailing ability to an absolute minimum of RYA Stage 2 is required. Ideally, students will have gained additional sailing experience and confidence since completing Stage 2. There is a considerable jump in skills and ability from Stage 2 required to successfully complete the Stage 3 course.

This intermediate course will work towards the RYA Stage 3 syllabus.

The course is designed to enhance the skills needed to sail around a course and build self-reliance on the water covering rigging, sailing theory, launching and recovery, efficient sailing at all angles to the wind and boat control manoeuvres, building confidence in a range of sailing techniques on all points of sail and capsize recovery.

At the end of the course, successful sailors will be able to launch and sail a dinghy on all points of sail around a triangle in moderate conditions, and understand the basic principles needed to become a confident sailor.

Recommended Age: Age 10+
Entry requirements: sailing ability to an absolute minimum of RYA Stage 2 with additional sailing experience and confidence since completing Stage 2. There is a considerable jump in skills and ability from Stage 2 required to successfully complete this course. Students who do not have RYA Stage 2 with additional experience should consider our RYA Youth Improvers courses.

This course will work towards the RYA Stage 4 syllabus in double hander boats.
Own Boat is required (Club boats are available to hire from the website on a first come, first served basis).

The course is designed to enhance the skills needed to sail around a course and build self-reliance on the water in double hander dinghies covering rigging, sailing theory, launching and recovery, efficient sailing at all angles to the wind and boat control manoeuvres, building confidence in a range of sailing techniques on all points of sail and capsize recovery. Participants will sail as both helm and crew.

At the end of the course, successful sailors will be able to launch and sail a dinghy on all points of sail around a triangle in moderate conditions. and understand the basic principles needed to become both a confident helm and crew in a double hander dinghy.

Recommended Age: Normally participants will be around 10 years of age.
Entry requirements: sailing ability to an absolute minimum of RYA Stage 3.
Own boat is required (club boats are available to hire through the website on a first come, first served basis)

This course is aimed at improving your technical sailing ability and problem solving afloat.

The emphasis of this course is on increasing the self-reliance and decision-making of the sailor, by spending time developing your boat handling and manoeuvring skills in a seamanlike manner.

During the course you will;

Launching and recovering the boat in different circumstances, stopping, reducing sail, recovering a man overboard, anchoring and sailing without a rudder