RYA Youth Sailing Scheme Courses for ages 8-15 Inclusive

  • No previous sailing experience necessary.

    Courses run on weekdays during school holidays and over a block of 8 Saturday mornings during late spring. The weekday courses are open for youngsters aged 8 to 15 inclusive, but the Saturday morning course is just for youngsters aged 8 to 10. The weekday courses generally run for 5 days and include a practice/consolidation day. See the course schedule for details.

  • Students must have previously completed an RYA stage 2 course. Minimum age for this course is 8 years.

    Successful completion of this course means that you can consider yourself as having moved beyond the beginner stage with single handed sailing. If you haven’t sailed much since doing your Stage 2, choose a week with more practice days. Up to 3 practice/consolidation days are included in the courses - see the course schedule for details.

  • Students must have previously completed an RYA Stage 2 course and have had experience sailing in a “tippy” boat (experience limited to an Optimist dinghy is not sufficient). Minimum age for this course is 11 years.

    This course is intended for students who have sailed a reasonable amount since completing their Stage 2 course. It covers the Stage 3 syllabus in single handers followed by the Stage 4 syllabus in double handers with a practice/consolidation day on most courses. The course covers a lot of theory and practical skills, so if you have not sailed much since doing your Stage 2 it would be far better to choose the Youth Single Hander Improvers course.

  • Students must have previously completed an RYA stage 3 course and have had experience sailing in a “tippy” boat (experience limited to an Optimist dinghy is not sufficient). Minimum age for this course is 11 years.

    This course builds on the skills learnt in single handed dinghies at Stage 3 and enables students to apply them to double handed dinghies and their requirements for teamwork as helm or crew. Up to 3 practice/consolidation days are included in courses - see the course schedule for details.

  • Students must have previously completed an RYA stage 4 course.

    This course is an advanced module which equips the student with the skills to sail with asymmetric spinnakers in a double handed dinghy. This course is available with or without a practice/consolidation day.

Course times:

Midweek courses: 0900 – 1630.

Saturday Courses: 0900 – 1300.

On the first morning of a course registration will start at 08:45.

RYA Youth Sailing Scheme Junior Courses ages 8-15 Inclusive

The RYA Scheme progresses from Stage 1 for beginners through to Stage 4 after which students are capable of sailing independently and unsupervised in light winds.

At Frensham Stages 1, 2 and 3 are taken one student to a boat in single-handed dinghies. This enures students benefit from as much time in control of the boat as possible. We use Optimists (Oppies) 8-10 year olds; Toppers for 10 -15 year olds; or Hartley 10s across the whole age range.

Stage 4 covers more advanced techniques and knowledgfe and requires working as a team in a two-handed dinghy. The Club uses RS Zests or Cadets for this stage.

Each stage is available to book as a course with additional practice days. The Club recommends this approach as its experieince is that it allows students to consolidate thier learning and progress with more confidence to the next stage. Individual Stages can also be booked subject to availability by emailing training@sailfrensham.org.uk