Junior Learn to Sail

Learning to sail is an amazing and empowering activity for children. As well as being outside in nature and learning the fundaments of how to sail a boat, children learn about boat set up, maintainence and repair. Sailors develop valuable life skills such as independence and resilience, team work and problem solving. The sheltered waters of Charteris Bay make an ideal spot for children to experience sailing for the first time.

Learn to sail programs run after school in term 1. The annual Spring Clinic opens the sailing season and is a great way to get sailing over 2 full days.

The courses cover on-shore theory, rigging, launching, on-water coaching and fun activities, capsizing and retrieving boats. Parents are expected to be actively involved and to stay at the club. It is a great opportunity for adults to learn new skills. We encourage all Green Fleet sailors to participate in club day sailing, every second Sunday during the season as well as their Monday and Tuesday instruction.

Children must be comfortable being in deep water in capsize situations and have basic swimming skills. If they are unable to swim 50m in a lifejacket you must let the course organiser and coach know.

We offer a progression of sailing instruction:

Learn to Sail 1 & 2 follow the Yachting NZ pathways and are taught by qualified coaches in our club 'Plastimists'

2024 Term 1 dates for the after school program for LTS 1 & 2 are 12/13 Feb, 26/27 Feb, 11/12 Mar, 25/26 Mar and 8/9 Apr. 4.30-6.30pm (10 sessions of 2 hours)

Learn to Sail 1 is currently FULL. One Learn to Sail 2 space is currently available - email to enquire.

Expectations: Please note, Learn to Sail at CBYC is a volunteer run program and we need your support to make it happen and to ensure a good experience for all.  

Start time is 4:30pm sharp and sailors should be changed, have suncreen on and be ready to go at this time.

Parents/guardians are required to stay throughout the session and we need a maximum of one adult to two kids. If you are sharing supervision duties, please ensure you have someone available throughout the entire session within this ratio.

Parents need to be suitably dressed and prepared to get wet if required (e.g. retireving or launching boats). 

Greenfleet is sailied in your own Optimist and further develops skills in a variety of conditions and locations and introduces fundamentals of racing Currently FULL​​​​​​​

Open Fleet is our competitive sailing program for Optimists.

For more information please contact the following people, email is preferred:

Learn to sail and Green fleet: cbyccoaching@gmail.com (Subject: LTS or Green fleet)

Open fleet: Ruth Connor 027 344 6282 cbyccoaching@gmail.com (Subject: Open Fleet)