Last year some of the Lasers and a couple of Enterprises had a few Friday Night sessions of about an hour where we went out and did a few sailing exercises. The general response was that people found these enjoyable and useful : The same response we have had to previous Saturday training exercises. We also had a few Sunday mornings where we held some sessions for Toppers. They were enjoyed but trying to fit them in before racing started at 11.00 was a challenge too far.
Through the RYA we know that many sailors do initial courses and then find the leap to taking part in racing intimidating. Up until now there has been no intermediate step to practice and improve boat handling skills to become confident on the water and then race or “potter”. Those of you who came to an evening meeting last autumn will know that a number of clubs have successfully developed initiatives similar to our Friday Nights for both adults and children with some success. The RYA have placed these sorts of activity into the context of a sailing “Participation Pathway” and called them “Skills Clinics”. The “Go Sailing” group of sessions will be something like:
- Sheeting in and out. (including start and stop)
- Sitting out / hiking
- Tacking
- Sailing close to the wind
- Gybeing
- Running
- Reaching
- Kicker and Outhaul
- Using the tide
- Using waves
The order and content of the sessions can and will be adapted according to weather conditions and things those sailing want to learn. After that we can do “Start Racing” which also has 10 sessions. We cannot accommodate everyone , children, teenagers or adults on Friday Night especially if they need to use club boats. We have decided for that and other reasons to start Sunday racing in conjunction with S Shields at 14.00 so the mornings will be free for these sessions.
The plan is to run 10 “Go Sailing” sessions on Sundays from March 30th to June 8th (excluding April13th) and 10 “Go Sailing” sessions on Friday Nights beginning April 25th followed by “Start Racing” from June 22nd to August 31st.
The thought is also to run a further 10 “Go Sailing” sessions on Sundays from July 27th to September 28th to pick up those people who have just finished RYA 2 and a further set of “Start Racing” sessions from October 5th to the end of the season. Depending on support we can review whether we extend the season as we did 2 years ago if the weather is good.
Sunday “Go Sailing” sessions will start with a 10 minute briefing at 10.30 to be followed by immediate launching and a start of exercise at 11 lasting to about 12 or a little later. That then allows beaching by 12.30 and an hour break before relaunching for those who want to race in the afternoon. Each session will be stand alone ; you don’t have to do a series. ( Although the order is vaguely progressive.) And they will be free. (Except for hire of club boats.)
This is pretty ambitious. Although Mike will do many of the sessions he won’t be around all the time and some will be taken by other instructors or experienced members. And we may do two groups on Sundays if numbers demand it and we have instructor availability. Mike will also need some rescue help and will be asking any regular participants to occasionally assist with that. There will not be a pre season instructor / rescue rota for Sundays; there will be an “ad hoc” element. ( We cannot expect the Sunday rescue crew to do a 9 to 5 day : they will cover afternoon racing.) with Mike checking the forecast on a Thursday to check & advise with an email/facebook update “this is what it looks like.”
So dig out your gear! Our first Sunday is only just over 4 weeks away! And the Blaydon race from Newburn to the Tyne Bridges and is the week before!
