Partnership feature
This was it, our daughter was learning to sail without us! It was day one of her RYA Start Sailing course at the Andrew Simpson Centre Reading and, much like the first day of school, she was about to take an all-important independent leap into the world…
Also like the first day of school, we’d known this day was coming for a while, and great expectation and much emotion hung upon it – well, for me, at least! Girl Afloat of course barely looked back, her face set with characteristic quiet confidence as skipped happily off towards the lake. She might not have been making much noise about it, but I knew she couldn’t wait to get started!
Of course, she has sailed before with us, and has also had a taste of sailing without us on a multi-activity taster course last summer, which she loved. But now she was taking a big first step – being taught to sail an Optimist (an ubiquitous kids dinghy suitable for ages up to 15, usually nicknamed Oppie, or sometimes Opti) by herself on an RYA Start Sailing Stage One course at the Andrew Simpson Centre Reading; one of four centres in the UK run by the Andrew Simpson Foundation.
Although Hubby and I have decades of sailing experience between us (hmm, feel old writing that!) and could easily teach her everything she needs to know ourselves, we also felt it was important to give her the opportunity to learn with her peers, make new friends, and for her to build confidence exploring the sport in a different context.
By the end of the course our just-turned-7-year-old should be able to turn (tack) the boat, steer in a straight line and get underway and back to shore – all in a controlled environment, but nonetheless, under her own steam.
The course is accredited by the RYA (sailing’s governing body, the Royal Yachting Association) and is the first step in the Youth Sailing Scheme. As such, the syllabus also covers basics such as rigging, wind direction, clothing and equipment, one or two basic knots and capsize recovery.
Essentially, she is about to learn the fundamentals techniques of sailing, and we very much viewed this course as the gateway to her accessing the sport on her own terms. In other words, if she likes it, we’ve given in to the fact we will probably at least end up borrowing the sailing club’s Oppies on a regular basis, and perhaps even end up buying her her own at some stage down the line! And she will undoubtedly want to take full captaincy of our 2000 when we are family sailing in future!
It was a big ‘mum’ moment. Sailing has always been such a big part of our lives for Hubby and I that we really want both of our kids to love it – albeit without putting them under any sort of pressure, which meant I was trying hard to not to be too emotional about it… I think I just about succeeded!
Day One, Stage One of the RYA Youth Sailing Scheme
The course we had signed up to is an ‘Oppie Start Group’, run by Andrew Simpson Centre Reading. Although this particular course is specifically put on for members of Burghfield Sailing Club, it covers Stage One of the RYA Youth Sailing Scheme, which is the basic learn to sail certificate course for children you can find at RYA accredited training centres across the UK and overseas.
Our course is being delivered by ASC in three-hour sessions, weekly, over six weeks; other centres may run it as a weekend or a summer holiday course over consecutive mornings, for example; the minimum duration you can expect is 16 hours. The great thing about any sailing course run in short blocks over a longer time period is that it builds and reinforces learning over several weeks, and you’re sure to experience a mixed bag of conditions over that time.
And a mixed bag was certainly what we got on day one! Arriving at the Andrew Simpson Centre at Burghfield Lake, Reading, our bright and breezy welcome by ASC staff came in sharp contrast to the unbelievably flat calm backdrop of the lake.
Learning to sail – in no wind!
Oh no, day one of a sailing course with no wind… While some might worry that would make it impossible to learn anything, fortunately there are still plenty of things to learn about sailing even when it’s not windy!
The two RYA qualified ASC instructors responsible for the Oppie group had plenty of tricks and games up their sleeve to ensure all 11 of the kids learned plenty and had a brilliant time regardless of there being less than no wind to propel the little boats.
The forecast of some light wind potentially appearing later in the morning however did mean they needed to stay on their toes and be ready if and when the wind arrived.
If we’d expected any sort of formal brief-activity-debrief format then that expectation was quickly set aside with the need to keep things not only flexible due to the weather – sailing is after all ultra dependent on the elements – but also fast-paced – essential when teaching young kids with potentially short attention spans! The instructors were right on this and from the start kept everything snappy. At the same time, they encouraged the kids to ask questions and made sure everyone was happy with the theory before anyone stepped afloat.
First up it was time to get changed, making use of the changing rooms in the main sailing club building. Some had their own wetsuits and buoyancy aids, while those who didn’t were able to borrow items from ASC.
Then it was time for a quick welcome and to suss out everyone’s previous sailing experience.
Most were keen to shout up that they’d sailed a little already with family or friends – much like Girl Afloat, who has sailed quite a lot with us in our 2000. This was her first sailing trip of the year though; when I’d asked her that morning if she could remember how to sail after the winter months off, she’d answered with a super confident ‘yep’. We were about to see…!
Parts of a boat
In any case, the RYA Stage One Sailing course is designed for complete beginners with no previous knowledge or experience required.
The first activity was to head down to the shore and take a closer look at the Oppies, while the parents disbanded, most grabbing take-away coffees from the sailing club café before settling down to watch from the picnic benches.
The session was soon underway as the instructors introduced key parts of the boat, such as the mast, boom, sail and rudder, and made sure everyone knew what was what and which was the front and which was the back!
There’s plenty of jargon in sailing and funny names for things, so knowing parts of the boat is a fundamental knowledge. And showing that they can help get the boat ready for sailing and pack up at the end are also key requirements of the course, so it was good that the kids were getting involved in this from the start.
Learning to steer
Next, it was time to learn about using the tiller to steer the boat (via the rudder). Mastering this skill forms a pretty fundamental part of the RYA Stage One Sailing, as the course is chiefly designed to give kids knowledge and confidence in controlling their own boat – sufficient to be able to sail in one direction across the wind (beam reach) and to turn it (tack) safely to head back in the other direction.
In fact, the ASC Oppie Start course goes a bit further and aims to introduce additional elements (see below), but usually in order to achieve an RYA Start Sailing Stage One certificate the requirement is simply to be able to sail across the wind, steer and understand the basic principles of sailing.
The fact there was zero wind made for a super simple first outing, as it meant no need to worry about controlling the sail, they could just focus on learning to steer instead.
With no wind to move the dinghies, the instructors instead used a safety boat to tow them around the lake.
With kids paired up two to a boat, they each had a chance to steer and see how the boat responded to their moving the tiller; in fact, the steering works in exactly the same way under tow as when under sail.
There were some great expressions from the kids as they concentrated hard on working it out for themselves as they snaked about behind the motorboat.
This course is all about maximising time on the water, so it was great to see them quickly getting stuck into fun afloat. And the fact they weren’t exactly ‘sailing’ didn’t matter – not only was this a fun initiation, but steering while being towed actually counts as another tick in the box towards their certificate.
Paddling with the sprit
Next, the instructors challenged the kids to work out how they could propel the Optimists themselves, without the help of the motorboat – or swimming, as several suggested!
Time for a demo from the instructors of two possible techniques – the first being to ‘waggle’ the tiller rapidly from side to side to paddle the boat forwards; the other being using the pole (sprit) from the top of the sail as a rudimentary paddle.
The kids quickly picked these techniques up, racing to the island and back with surprising speed. Again, it was another fun game to them, but also another tick in the box towards their certificates.
It was certainly a new skill for Girl Afloat, and while she’d been little hesitant on the first activity, she was by now getting fully involved, giving it her all to waggle the tiller while her teammate brandished the spirt with determination in the front of the boat. It was great to see her trying something new, and you could see her working it out for herself as she played around with waggling the tiller.
After a quick game of ball-tag, the little fleet waggled and paddled their way back to shore just as the first signs of breeze were starting to show; the flags starting to flutter and little ripples appeared across the water.
Wind at last – time to go sailing!
There wasn’t long now until the end of the session. Nonetheless, determined to get at least some sailing in if at all possible, the instructors quickly rigged up the sails on the Oppies.
After a quick recap on dry land whereby the instructor jumped into an Oppie to demonstrate steering and controlling the speed of the boat using the sail, it was time to launch – much to everyone’s excitement.
Given the choice of sailing individually or in pairs, a couple of the more confident kids were eager to go solo. Girl Afloat was happy staying in a pair, which meant she and her partner could split the jobs of steering and controlling the sail between them.
While launching and getting underway under instruction is something the course covers, the clock was ticking and there was not time for a full briefing and demo, so the instructors did the main part of the launching in order to get everyone underway and get some all-important sailing time in, knowing there will be more opportunity to practise launching later in the course.
In their efficiency, the instructors had also speedily set two marker buoys for the kids to sail backwards and forwards between, at 90 degrees to the wind – the simplest and most basic point of sailing (beam reach).
This meant that as soon as the kids were off the beach, they straight away had a point to aim for. At each end they were encouraged to push the tiller away from them and swap sides to turn (tack) the boat through the wind and then set off in the other direction, all the while keeping the sail pulled in about half-way (so it’s just at the point of not flapping) to keep the boat moving along nicely.
Proud mum moment
It was great to see the Oppies zipping backwards and forwards in the gentle breeze, if only for a few minutes. There were big smiles all round – Girl Afloat included!
In all, the kids were doing amazingly well, with the light breeze just enough to get them going without being in any way overwhelming. And only a small amount of chaos in getting all the boats launched super quickly to make the most of the wind!
Asked afterwards what the highlight had been, Girl Afloat gave a big thumbs up to the paddling race and game of ball-tag. And was she keen to come back for more sailing next week? Absolutely! Let’s hope the wind is as keen!
With session one of this six week RYA Start Sailing course complete, I was left feeling particularly proud and just a little relieved that the first session had been smooth sailing – or rather paddling! In any case, our daughter had definitely acquired some new sailing skills and had had fun in taking her first steps towards independent sailing.
We’re all excited to see what the remainder of the six week course brings.
In the meantime, about saving up for that Oppie…!
ASC Reading Oppie Start – Example Programme – see below…
Burghfield Oppie Start – Example Programme*
Lesson 1
· Clothing & Equipment
· Parts of the boat
· Tacking demo (land & water)
Lesson 2
· Recap lesson 1
· Tacking demo
· Sailing a beam reach course
Lesson 3
· Sailing a beam reach course
· Improved tacking & steering
· Sailing towards/away from the wind
Lesson 4
· Sailing towards/away from the wind
· Improved upwind sailing
Lesson 5
· Gybing (on purpose) land demo and on water
· Sailing a triangular course
Lesson 6
· Sailing on all points of sail
· Round the island race
*Subject to change – depending on weather
