Weir Wood Sailing Club has a long tradition of introducing children and young people to sailing. Our aim is to introduce children and young people to the sport of sailing in a safe, controlled but fun environment.
As an RYA Accredited Champion Club, we have a mission to nurture talented young sailors and help them progress towards the higher levels of the sport. Our courses are available to all but we do expect participants to take up membership of the club. This can be either as a Cadet member, which is a nominal fee or preferably as part of a family membership with their parents.
We pride ourselves on helping our youngsters develop their life skills with many becoming instructors.
Learning to Sail
The club runs two groups that cater for youth entry into the sport for those with no (or very limited) previous sailing experience. These are:
- Optimist Beginners – This group as part of the Saturday Optimist Club and is ideally suited to smaller children aged between 7 and 11 and will provide a highly supported introduction to sailing in the clubs Optibat training dinghies, leading to entry into the main Optimist Club. It runs on Saturday afternoons between 1:30pm and 4:30pm.
- Getting Started – This group is for children and youngsters aged between the ages of 8 and 17. It is run by RYA instructors and focuses around the RYA youth training scheme (up to Stage 2). Session runs on Sunday afternoons between 1:30pm and 4:30pm. The sailor will get the opportunity to sail either singly or in pairs in a range of clubs Topper or Pico dinghies.
The club provides the use of a dinghy, safety helmet and buoyancy aid; however the sailors will need to provide clothing suitable for the conditions. Both groups are targeted at developing basic sailing skills that can facilitate entry into the other youth groups run by the club which are detailed below.
Racing Development
Weir Wood is an RYA Champion Club in recognition of this work. Our members attend championships and open events around the country, often travelling as a group to ease the logistics and to add to the social side. For competent sailors wanting to develop racing skill we have a Saturday Optimist Club for the younger sailor and Saturday Youth for older youth sailors.
Skill Development
Finally for those who want to develop general sailing skills through the RYA youth programme we have a very popular Youth Group sailing on Sunday afternoons.
If you want to find out more about any aspects of the youth programme