The club has an exceptionally large and active junior section sailing every Friday evening from April to September when children are encouraged to get afloat and enjoy the river under the watchful eyes of volunteer club members in our fleet of safety boats. Our main aim is to teach children how to be safe on the water so they can discover the fun to be had messing about in boats. Depending on inclination, age and ability our juniors can simply start out by having rides in a motor launch before learning to sail an Optimist and then progressing to RS Teras, Toppers, Lasers, RS Fevas , 29ers ……….. Some of them go on to compete both nationally and internationally.
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| Name | Age Group | Level | Syllabus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter Group | 6-7 | No experience | Introduction to the water and boats, learning of boating terms, children are taken afloat in motor launches and sailing boats with adults. |
| Oppie Juniors (Pond) | 6-8 | No experience | Introduction to sailing, basic teaching of sailing starting with helming a course (steering), wind awareness, holding the main sheet,(Sail in) and positions in the boat. Righting a capsized boat. This is very basic and often requires one to one teaching in order to give the child confidence. Training Optimists are used at the pond for teaching these basic skills on a Friday evening. |
| Oppie Intermediate | 8-10 | Basic Sailing Skills | Basic sailing in Optimist dinghies around a course which in involves sailing on all points of the wind. Boat handling. Tacking and Gybing, Balance, Trim, Sailing setting, Course to steer and made good. Basic right of way rules. Righting a capsized boat. |
| Oppie Racing | 10-15 | Race Training | Sailing Optimists dinghies competitively, Racing rules. Starting procedures and techniques. Boat tuning. Boat handling. Sailing in windy conditions. |
| Seniors(Handicap Group) | 10-18 | Basic to good | This group is for all other types of boat, e.g. Tera’s, Lasers, Fevas, Toppers etc. This is a mixture of single-handed and two handed boats. Due to the diversity of the group, the time is split into race training, fun and games, and general sailing. |