Grow Youth Sailing..... Try Again

Damn Pat! You've got too much time on your hands. Get a job.

Matt, sent you a PM. Back to work Tuesday.
Bumming I didn't get in the bus to Tradewinds.

Solution <img src=

alt=

/> waterproof playstations <img src=

alt=

/>

I have canvassed some consultants.
They are 11 year old girls. My daughter has sailed at sail camps on opti's, sunfish and lasers.
She has been with me on a H16 a lot and we have a H14.
She has also sailed on a wave.
I asked what her favorite boat was and she said the Wave.
I asked what is fun to do while sailing?
She said: They played dodge ball at sail camp on the boats. They had games where they sailed up to a marks and had to tie knots.
They flipped boats and did righting drills, also man overboard rescues.
I asked if she would want to sail by herself or with someone.
She said she would rather have another kid on the boat with her. (that social thing again)
I asked about a smaller boat like a 12 footer.
She said it would be fun to sail by herself if it didn't flip.
If she had someone with her that flipping would then be fun as long as they could right it easy.

If you have kids in the age range, maybe you could ask them similiar questions and let us know.

Pat,
Your cheating.

Asking an expert is as bad as buying something and then reading the instructions.

BTW: out of interest- how much does your daughter amd her friends weigh.

Regards,
Phill

They are in the 80-100lb range.
Sarah is on the small end at 80.(36kg),but very athletic.

Pat,
Thanks.
I would have guessed around 40kg.
So not too far off.

We used to put two on 12 ft cats until they became very confident and then they could sail by themselves if they wanted.
Same experience this end.
They always had a great time playing dodge ball and they got to learn boat handling skills trying to manouvre their boats in the game.
I think I enjoyed watching them as much as they enjoyed the game.

Pat, I hope to see this discussion continue. I have a contribution to make, but we're eyeball deep in Tradewinds. I processed the registration for 35 boats tonight and I think we're going to see another 25-30 register in the a.m.

Chip and I are running a 10 Hobie Wave sailing program at Founders Park. Last summer was the first summer youth sailing program. We run 2-3 kids per boat, depending on age, size, and experience, and they are loving it.

The biggest thing is the empowerment the kids have to command their own boats and just be kids, especially in the age bracket you wish to discuss. Kids these days have a zillion structured and over-organized activities. The freedom they enjoy while sailing is huge.

I'll jump back into this discussion after the regatta is over.

Pat, in our program at Sail Sand Point in Seattle, www.sailsandpoint.org, we have five Hobie Waves. The Waves are used in

Cruising Camp

This is a five day, 9:00 AM to 4:00PM. The age in this class is 10 to 18. After the mandatory first day drill, where all the students are required to turn over, then right the boat it is a fun program. This is a US SAILING Program, with level 1 Instructors, so it also includes swimming with and without PFD's and other safety training. The number of students on each Wave varies, but can be from one to four. The social aspect dictates, and they are encouraged to rotate crews. This not a strict learn to sail program. They do learn how to sail the Waves, and all take turns at the tiller, but the emphasis is on having fun. Each day, they sail to a different beach, and have lunch at that location. The safety boat carries the lunches, and drinks they bring. On one day, they go to Kirkland, or Ivar's in the U of W district and buy lunch. They bring $8.00 on this day to cover the cost. Depending on the wind, they sail as much as possible, but often are towed back, or to the beach. All five Waves are equipped with righting/tow lines, and can easily be towed with the safety boat. We have 13ft Whalers, and similar RIB's for safety boats. Each day is a different adventure with the distance from SSP between 2 and 8 miles, all on Lake Washington. This is a low key fun program. My grandson Dan, now 11, has done this program for three years. He has also raced the Wave in our local Hobie Cat Regattas the past two years.

The Wave is also our most popular boat in the

Open Sailing

program. This is when the boats are available on weekends, and evenings when the boats are not in use in classes.

Last year we had our first Hobie 16 Class. We now have five Hobie 16's that will be used in our classes, and Open Sailing. The student must be checked out on any boat before they can sail it in Open sailing. We also have Opt's, Lasers, 420's and FJ's in the Program.

Two of our instructors, Chris Fuller and Callie Wade, are now in training to race in the US SAILING Youth Multihull Champ. in CA this spring. Local Hobie Sailors are training this team on both Hobie 16's and a Tiger to get them ready.

All information on this and other programs is on the webpage, along with lots of pictures. We encourage all young sailors to first learn to sail on the Opti. Their ability to sail the Wave is much improved by going through the Opti first.

Caleb Tarleton

Caleb,
In your program, at what age are kids allowed to learn on the Optis?
Never mind, I found it on the web site. Sounds like they can start at age 6. That's amazing and wonderful. Most programs don't have any option before 8 years old.

Bless you Pat! Matt, don't you try to discourage him! I can't wait to hear Barb's contribution! I also can't believe she even posted here considering how busy she is with Tradewinds! Caleb, You guys are the gold standard! Anyone else that's interested, show these folks some respect. They have been remarkably successful already! I'm just a cheerleader here <img src=

alt=

/>

Couple of more notes. In case you did not see this on the website under

Open Sailing

Cost PER YEAR for sailors up to 16 for the Opti is $1.00. For sailors 17 and under, sailing all boats in Open sailing, cost is $25.00 per year. This eliminates the cost factor. This also covers their use of the boats in the Monday Night Races that are held weekly.

Caleb

So who covers the costs of the programs and of the facility, and the boats, and all that?

Mary, the class fee's cover most of the cost. The boat storage provides about one third of the income. As to the boats, all five Waves, and six Hobie 16's were donated, or purchased with donated money. Some of our seven safety boats were donated. The rest of the Opti's, Laser's, 420's, Hunter 140's and FJ's were capital expenditure, and some donations.

As I have mentioned before, the real success of this or any program is the people. This includes all parents, students, Board Members, and everyone that volunteers, youth thru seniors. All under direction of our Executive Director, the only full time employee.

Caleb

Okay, but how do you get so many people to take the classes? Is it because you have a water location adjacent to a major city? Lots of people. And how do you let those people know about the sailing program and attract them to it? And how do you get people to donate boats?

The Sailing Center has to pay the instructors, which can't be a lot of money, so they are probably kids themselves. But somebody has to pay their expenses to take the US Sailing certification programs. And instructors have to keep turning over regularly as they go to college or get out of college and get

real

jobs.

I think all of us would like to know how to create a program as successful as the one you people enjoy in Seattle.

Guys/Mary:

Just get them on the boats. My grand daughter Ashleigh has been sailing and racing with me since she was 7, she is 13 now and even races on big boats with me. She is the official spinnaker snuffer below deck. We can't keep her off the boat. If it is in them, one ride should do it. If not NOTHING will make them go.

Doug Snell
Hobie 17

Stress Free

#007

Heres a curly one for ya. When our lake recovers from the drought, and we are able to sail again (might be next year, might not). How should we go about getting both kids and adults alike back into again, its been quite a few years since we've been able to sail.

I sometimes think it will never get back up again (the club) and those many kids we had back then, will have moved on to other sports and activities.

Its hard to keep the ball rolling so to speak, as time goes by. We have probably five or six club boats, 125's, flying ants and a cherub, which is quite good for such a small area. But we are going to basically have to start from scratch if and when we do get going again.

Regards

How about a celebration barbi when the lakes filled enough and the fires are out to get every one down there <img src=

alt=

/>
regards

Mary, some answers for you: These programs take a lot of time and effort. Our Founders, Jonathan and Marcy Edwards started a Learn to Sail program in 1993 at Corinthian Yacht Club at Leschi on Lake Washington. In 1998 they formed a 501(c)3 not for profit Corp named Sail Sand Point, and donated all their Opti's and safety boats, floats, etc to this new Corp. In 1999 an agreement was signed with the City of Seattle to have a trial concession agreement at the North Shore of Magnuson Park, which was the Sand Point Naval Air Station. For more info see the website www.sailsandpoint.org. Under

About Us

check Vision and history. Under

Community

check Sponsors & Friends, and Hobie Wave Donations, typical of donated boats. Check

Voluteers and Outreach

for more details. Part of the outreach is the

Fast and Fun

free sailing programs. see http://www.ussailing.org/multihull/fast&fun.htm US SAILING no longer has this program, but we continue this program with our five Waves.

Our instructors come up from the ranks of first taking classes, become volunteer instructors, take Level 1 US SAILING Training, then administrative roles at SSP and finally become Board Members. Most have paid for their own Level 1 classes, but we now are getting sponsors, such as the Northwest Yacht Brokers to offer scholarships to cover this cost.

On the Catamaran Programs and donations, support is from our local Hobie Cat dealer, Hobie Cats Northwest, and the local Hobie Cat sailors and fleet members. All new Waves were pasted thru at cost by Hobie Cats Northwest. They have also just moved into our Building 11 at Sail Sand Point from their prior location in Kirkland. We will be in their booth at the Seattle Boat Show, Jan.25 to Feb.4. All six of our used Hobie 16's have been donated, then fixed up by our Hobie sailors.

Again, it is the people that make it happen.

Caleb Tarleton

Caleb,
You are very fortunate to be able to have a location and a facility that is so close to a major city, with lots of people to draw from, both as helpers and as participants in the program.

G'day thought I would share my change of heart our annual sail training is in its second week we have 3 kids plus an instructor in each 420 and it doesn't matter the weather the kids somedays are out in 20 knots in the afternoon and they are still learning, the older kids on the cat are just hanging on while the instructor does the work. So my new thoughts are encourage the kids into the monos to learn how to sail and then when the excitement starts to fade swing them onto the cats. If theyre still excited on the monos I would now leave them there as they are still sailing. My kids have been the only 420 out each saturday now 3 parents say they are looking for a boat for them and their kids to come out on a Saturday, so we'll see what happens. <img src=

alt=

/>
Just my thoughts
regards

What kind of cat are you using?

Its a 14ft New Zealand built

Ta Mania

I think no centreboard with jib. The kids that have learnt to sail have a great time on it, but I can see the novices are now happily tipping the 420's and righting them doing 720's etc.
regards

Why is it that this thread disappeared off the radar, just as it always seems to do when discussions start about youth sailing? <img src=

alt=

/>

My guess....
Because it requires a LOT of Work from the organizers of programs and Commitment from the rank and file sailors to make programs work.

I dont' think there are any magic bullets here (like the type of boat used).

That's for sure.

ok, finally getting around to throwing our experiences with youth sailing into the mix. Framework: We have 10 Hobie Waves, have completed one summer of summer sailing camp, and currently have a contract with a Montessori school to take their kids out on the water as part of their PE requirements.

We've had lots of wonderful experiences and success with the 8-13 age group you mentioned. We find keeping it simple and fun is where it's at.

We spend very little time talking about sailing and focus on getting the kids on the water. If they have never sailed before we spend a few minutes teaching them to be

remote controlled

by us from the power boat. We make sure they understand the commands push (tiller), pull (tiller), in (sheet in), out (sheet out) and what the cleat is and how it works.

We put 2-4 kids on a boat depending on size, experience, and weather conditions. Then Chip and I play pitch and catch off the beach. I get them ready to go and help them off the beach. Chip hangs nearby with the skiff and coaches them out of the small harbor and to the open water, fending them off docks, boats, jetty or towing as necessary.

It's amazing to me how much kids will figure out on their own, but once they are on the water we work our way through the boats that are struggling or sitting in irons and coach them through getting the boat moving, turning, etc.

During the summer camp the kids had the most fun and joy when allowed to simply sail around. They spent hours on end coming up with ways to capsize their boats. They learned a lot about teamwork that way.

Once the boats were flipped over they created their own games splashing, swimming, sliding, and diving. I think the most creative use of a capsized Wave they came up with was the water slide. One kid climbs up on the upper hull and sits toward the stern facing the bow. The other kids get on the hull below and together they run forward, depressing the bow. Up top the kid slides down the hull and goes for a big splash into the water off the bow.

We found that letting kids be kids is one of the best ways for a love of sailing to take root. Over teaching and too much structure is a sure way to kill the joy. Providing a safe environment for them to simply explore at their own pace is a key ingredient.

And everybody loves to see themselves in pictures and videos. Take lots of both and give them out and post them (be sure to get image releases if posting in a public forum).

So our camp format is very relaxed and laid back. Kids can come for a single session or come and sail every day (if they sign up far enough ahead to get a slot). Last summer's sessions were 9am-noon and 1:30PM-4:30PM. Haven't decided about this summer's schedule yet.

And you have to go sailing even if just one kid shows up. I know lots of folks who have offered a sailing class and then cancelled because only one or 2 people signed up. There was a carwash place where we used to live and their slogan was

keeping Pinellas clean, one car at a time.

Same goes for sailing. keeping sailing going, one new sailor at a time.

Let's see, sailing games/activities. Kids love silly prizes (so do adults, by the way). Get some bathtub/pool toys that float and are big enough to be seen at a distance. You can use beachballs (not in windy conditions), rubber duckies, whatever. Get enough so you can toss at least one in the water for every boat. Write 1, 2, or 3 (points) on them. Go upwind of them and toss them out. Go further upwind but not so far that you can't see the objects in the water yourself. Have them retrieve and bring their objects to you. They keep their own score. Play several rounds. They practice many different sailing skills and don't even realize it. Back at the beach I give away one plastic lei to the team for each point scored.

Because plastic leis are cheap and seem to be perennially popular I put a boatload of them in an inflatable boat/raft. I set 3 marks in the water on a reaching slalom, but you could simply throw a single mark in the water. I motored pretty far away on the reach and tied the floating raft off to the skiff. Their goal was to start at the far end, sail the slalom and sail over to me to claim their prize, which was that they could pick one lei out of the float for each crew member each time they completed the slalom. They'd sail straight back to the begining and do it again. They either wore their leis or decorated their boats with them.

On another ocassion i inflated a bunch of goofy blow-up animal toys and tied about a 3-4 ft piece of line to each. I used 3 for each boat and we did a relay. I half-hitched each one to a line, you can use fence, tree, bush, other boat, whatever, just something well up the beach/launch area. i put a mark in the water for each boat a couple hundred yards out, not too far. The teams made up their own team names and theme and had to all be ready to go at their boats and touching it. On signal one team member could dash to get a float, they then had to sail it out to their mark and tie it to it (knot-tying practice), sail back and get their next float, and back out. First one back to the beach with all their floats tied on with a proper knot wins and skipper had to change on each trip out to the mark. Winning boat crew each got to pick their blow-up prize to keep, then second place, and so forth and everybody took home a prize.

And I never cease to be amazed by the ever popular peanut treats. Chip came up with this one by accident. We had a big bag of them (roasted in the shell) on board to snack on. There was no wind, it was hot and the natives were very restless drifting around on the water and swimming off their boats. He checked for peanut allergies and started putting a handful of the peanuts on each boat for them to share. To this day they shout from their boats for peanuts. The deal now is that to get peanuts they have to sail to us and not hit the power boat, so they get a lot of work on their boat handling skills. If there is contact they have to come back around and approach again.

And all on their own some of the kids decided one day to bring their snorkel kits with them. It was the opening of lobster season and darned if one boat didn't take home several nice lobster they had for lunch! One boat located a ghost trap, hauled it all the way up onto the boat, placed it in a different location and would sail to it and check it since only they knew where they had put it. Snorkeling and swimming off the boats is fun for the kids. And sometimes they do nothing but raft up and play games and role play among themselves. Playing pirates was very popular last summer with all the movies that were out. I heard lots of

ahoy mateys

every day. We just hover at a distance where we can keep an eye on them and take headcounts every few minutes to make sure nobody goes missing. Kids spontaneously make up games constantly, our job is to make sure they stay safe.

Hope something in this rambling sparks something with others. Let's keep chatting on this thread.

It's been in the background, people that dont want to offend the more technical members have been chatting behind the scenes.
Ive really looked at our youth sailing training these last two weeks and my thoughts changed nearly daily.
It looks to me that we need a series of boats to step up to so there is an obtainable target within their attention span. Take our windsurfing training the sails booms and boards change to suit the rider. My kids did a week of it and loved it, now I've got one on my cars roof today I will be making a smaller boom and cutting down a sail . This will still teach them sailing.
Has anybody tried cutting down an old dacron sail on an older

A

for kids, does it still tack because Im thinking an older marine ply one is easy to fix, cheap simple to rig, light, stable with an endless supply of old sails that can gradually get bigger and you can pile people on it. <img src=

alt=

/>
regards

Barb you posted that great info as I was busy writing. I will be using some of that in coming weeks . Do you find the Hobie Waves suitable in higher winds? Our day generally starts off calm and ends with a brisk sea breeze.