Junior Sailing

Program

This course is designed for novice sailors ages 8-12. The Green Fleet will be sailing aboard our Optimist fleet and includes the basics of rigging, basic boat handling, seamanship (knots, weather, etc.), sportsmanship, and water safety. Building confidence, ensuring safety, demonstrating respect, courtesy to others, and good teamwork are primary goals. Novice sailors learn basic nomenclature, seamanship, sportsmanship, and sailing skills, including sailing on all points of sail, tacking, and gybing.

This course is designed for intermediate sailors ages 9-13 who understand the basics and are seeking to master more advanced concepts and sail more efficiently. The Blue Fleet will be aboard the Open Bic Skiffs and is great for sailors who already have a concept of sailing. Building confidence, ensuring safety, demonstrating respect, courtesy to others, and good teamwork are primary goals. Participants will further their skills in boat nomenclature, seamanship, sportsmanship, sailing all points of sail, tacking/gybing, and will be introduced to sailing around a course.

This course is for racing sailors, ages 13-18 seeking to learn 420 sailboat racing techniques, tactics, and rules in preparation for participation in regattas. This class focuses on 420 sailing techniques- from steering and trimming, to roll tacking, roll gybing, sportsmanship conduct, and sailing a racecourse. Seamanship topics of current, docking, care of equipment and weather will be covered in depth. Basic racing rules and racing drills are introduced on the water, while sail theory and concepts are covered in classroom sessions. DIYC Junior Sailing staff will foster a fun environment where sailors with a varying range of previous experience are challenged.