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Easter Junior Training

Published 22:27 on 18 Apr 2019

Junior sailing got off to a great start with three days, 15th to 17th April. It was a smaller number of juniors compared with some that we have run at the club, however after the 18 month break this has been a really good and an encouraging start. We had 12 children on the course with varied experience, from never having sailed before up to starting to race. Three groups of four candidates each, with an instructor and an assistant and help with powerboat driving, meant that it was getting close to individual tuition, so lots of progress was made. Monday gave us really challenging conditions - 16 knots of wind directly onshore - not exactly what we needed. With lots of ingenuity from our trainers we made good use of the day. Tuesday and Wednesday were much calmer, with us needing more wind, and warmed up to lovely sunshine on Wednesday.

Really good progress made by all our trainees.

Three trainees from the group have already joined in with club racing on the Wednesday evening race, in picos and toppers; please give them all assistance as they make this important step into a life of sailing. We also plan to have junior practice times on Sunday mornings again. New sailors are by nature nervous and prone to unexpected changes of course so please give them plenty of room and lots of encouragement when you encounter them on the water.

The new fleet of six SailQube oppies are really lovely for teaching - they sail as fast as a standard oppy, come up dry after a capsize and are self-draining. Bob has made lovely sails for them with high booms to reduce the risk of head bumps and to give instructors room to go "two up" with new learners.

There is no time though to relax as the next Junior Training event is 27th to 29th May.