Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club |
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The Youth Sailing season starts on Saturday May 6th 2006 and we’re looking forward to seeing you all for some great sailing action. With our latest fleet of dinghies we now have a wide range of boats available to suit all levels of experience from our traditional Wayfarers right through to the high performance Buzz dinghies. Our action packed programme runs right through to November 5th so you’ll have the opportunity to spend as much time on the water as you like. This season we’ll also be running some Saturday afternoon race sessions for the experienced students. The dates for these are shown in the programme. We didn’t manage to fit in our annual Cruise n’ BBQ last summer so we’ve made sure this is firmly in the programme this year. Over the winter we have been scouring the county to find the very best RYA Instructors for you this year and I promise you won’t be disappointed! Not only will you find many of last year’s team back again you’ll also have some newly qualified Instructors who’s patience will need testing! In addition, we’ll have some new Assistant Instructors to help run the sessions and make sure we all have some fun. We’re really proud of our Instructor team so please come along and see how we work out. This year we’ll be running several different groups again to cater for all levels from Beginner right through to Advanced and we’ll make sure you end up in the right group. With each group having it’s own Lead Instructor you’ll always have someone to help you make the best of the season.As well as the best Instructors, we also have a terrific place to sail from and Felixstowe Ferry is renowned throughout the sailing world as being one of the very best. All our students are given the opportunity to take formal RYA qualifications but there’s certainly no pressure to do so. We’re not a commercial training school (all our helpers and Instructors are unpaid volunteers), and although we do work to the same high standards, we place far more importance on learning by experience and the ‘Qualifications’ are really an extra, albeit an important one. So, if you just want to learn the basics that’s fine with us. Or, if you really want to become an Instructor then we can manage that too.
As usual we will meet inside the Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club in the dining area for registration and briefing (registration closes at 0930hrs) before we split into groups and get out on the water. "Parent Note - it’s very important that all our students arrive on time for each session – if they miss the registration time (0900-0930hrs) they may not be allowed to sail for safety reasons so please don’t be late. Our Instructors will always make sure the club is open by 0900hrs so please arrive early to avoid disappointment" The Saturday afternoon racing sessions are all shown on the programme and are for any of our students who have already obtained their Level 2 RYA certificates. The enclosed programme shows all the key dates for the season, including some special ‘one off’ events, so please keep this handy. Our Wednesday evening ‘fun race’ sessions (open to all students) are always popular and you’ll find the dates for these also in the programme. Our Instructors accompany the less experienced students and we guarantee you’ll have some fun even if you don’t end up winning!
In addition to all our normal sailing, we’ll also find time to fit in a few other activities including Power Boat training, an Instructor course at Easter, a day sail and BBQ event, as well as the end of season RYA Assessments. For our Helper and Instructors we have Monday evening sailing sessions where we get a chance to brush up on our own sailing skills and these are also shown in the programme. There are also opportunities to help the club out with some of the big events that take place and you’ll see these in the programme. At the end of our season, we finish with a special lunch and awards ceremony where our students are presented with their certificates and trophies. Our normal student sessions take place twice a week (see programme for exact details):
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"Parent Note" - the actual time of reaching the shore will often be affected by the wind and tide conditions. Our Instructors will always plan the session to get back at the stated time but this is not always possible so please bear with us! Parents and guardians are very welcome to wait in the clubhouse until their charges have been signed out" Youth Sailing is part of the Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club and we use their premises for all our events. Our students must become members of Felixstowe Ferry Youth Sailing (FFYS), and also a member of the Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club. You can apply to join FFYS by completing the consent form enclosed (this is essential as you cannot go on the water without it) and sending it to our membership secretary (address below). We have an annual membership fee of £1, which we need to collect from you at your first session. You also need to join the Sailing Club and the annual membership fee is £15.00 for 10-15 year olds, and £31.50 for those aged 16 to 21. A cheque for this amount (payable to Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club) should also be sent to our membership secretary, along with the enclosed completed Sailing Club application form. If you have already joined the Sailing Club this year, under a family membership for example, please enter your 2005 membership number on the consent form. "Parent Note - In previous seasons we have reached our maximum number of students in the first week or two of the season, so if you want to join us this year please get your application forms in asap – it’s first come, first served" To cover our running costs we make a charge of £6.00 per student per session for each Saturday morning and Wednesday evening session and this sum will be collected when you arrive and register for each session. (If anyone has difficulty meeting these costs please contact our membership secretary to discuss other options as we don’t wish to prevent anyone from sailing) The success of Youth Sailing depends totally on our Instructors and Helpers and it takes a lot of effort to run our sailing sessions. There are many jobs that can be carried out by parents, including assistance with beach master duties, preparing, launching and repairing the boats, fundraising, or help on the water. So if you’re prepared to help on a regular basis, please contact us on the numbers below. Where bad weather prevents us from our normal sailing, we make good use of the time, either with a reduced programme (including some amazing rides with the Instructors at the helm, power boat rides, etc) or by catching up on some of the theory work involved, so please make sure you attend each session - even if the weather doesn’t look so good. All students who attend our sessions will be trained how to prepare the boats for sailing and how to put them away at the end of sailing. This is a vital part of the session so please don’t slip away before this work is complete – anyone found doing so may well be invited to spend the following session cleaning all the boats out!! Health and Safety Our safety procedures insist that all students sign in at the start of each session (morning and afternoon) providing a telephone number for a parent/guardian so please make sure you know which one to supply. Students must also sign out before leaving and we ask you to do this before changing as failure to sign out may result in a fruitless search being undertaken by the Instructors. Lifejackets and buoyancy aids will be provided for our beginner group where required. Our experienced students should bring their own buoyancy aids. NO YOUNG PERSON OR ADULT WILL BE ALLOWED ON THE WATER WITHOUT A LIFEJACKET OR BUOYANCY AID APPROVED BY THEIR LEAD INSTRUCTOR. Please ensure you have a towel and a change of clothing at each session and please make sure that you’ve got sufficient clothes to keep you warm when you’re on the water. You don’t need the latest and greatest sailing gear, just plenty of layers and even a wetsuit will need layers over the top in all but the warmest conditions. Every season we have students who get very cold out on the water because they don’t realise just how much cooler it is off shore. Any young person who is taking medication must include this information on the consent form and also inform the Instructors when they register at each attendance. All decisions relating to sailing will be made by the senior sailing instructor present and must be adhered to. This is for the safety of all those involved. We look forward to seeing you in April. Best regards Andy Free Felixstowe Ferry Youth Sailing 01394 448058 |