After School Club
Yarmouth Sailing Club is a recognised RYA Dinghy Sailing Training Centre.
Location of After School Club training - River Yar.
We run our ever popular and usually over-subscribed After School Club (ASC) for young YSC members on Thursdays during the summer when the tide is right.
ASC is open to any YSC junior members in education from aged 8 (before 1st January 2026) to aged 17.Children can do the physical section of their Duke of Edinburgh Award in After School Club. Some very nervous beginners have been nurtured through and it is very rewarding to see these youngsters now sailing independently and confidently.
Times: All sailing sessions run from 17.00 to 19.30.
Qualifying Age: Children must be 8 before 1st January 2026.
Introductory Session Date: April 24, 17.00 - Introductory Session (tea party, information session, second hand clothing sale, meet the instructors, kit checks, etc.).
Sailing Sessions: May 8, 22, June 5, 19, July 3, 17, 31. On water fun and prizegiving (no sailing) - 4 September.
Teaching Groups: Sailing is taught by qualified RYA Dinghy Sailing Instructors, overseen by a RYA Senior Instructor. The groups are small (maximum of 6 boats per instructor).
Cost: £8 per session. Reduction to £50 for all sessions if paid when applying. (Financial assistance is available for those who need it. There are places available for two children in 2025 whose family would benefit from a free place for their child at ASC due to financial hardship. The families receiving a free place would still need to be club members and fulfill their duties like everybody else but would be exempt from paying the charge for ASC in 2025. The free places could well continue for future years but must be applied for each year. They will be allocated on a first come first served basis and anyone interested in applying should email Joy (joymowle60@gmail.com).
Equipment: Children must be dressed appropriately (see kit list below). This is very important and children without the correct clothing may not be able to sail.
Boats: Club boats are available to use, including Optimists, Teras, Feva, and Picos. Children may also use their own boats if available. Beginners are not expected to own their own boats but by the time a child moves up a group they will need one.
Applications: The application form is downloadable from here when published (before the end of January), together with a kit list (see below). It should be returned to Melinda Measor (Park Cottage, Tennyson Close, Yarmouth, PO41 0PU; sailingsecretary@yarmouthsc.org, 01983 760462).
Course Materials included in cost of course: Certificates of achievement.
Bad Weather Plan: If sailing is not possible due to strong winds, we will run a reduced session (17.30 - 18.30) on that day.
Some changes to the format were made in 2024 so members need to take note of the following.
- -The awarding of RYA Stage certificates at ASC comes with the need to follow a fairly strict syllabus which includes a set number of hours per Stage. It has been difficult meeting all the requirements in the time that ASC runs for and this has impacted on the fun side of ASC that the instructors wish to include. In future ASC will issue its own YSC certificates of achievement that will indicate if children have attained a level that will enable them to pass, hopefully quite easily, an RYA Stage in one of the summer training weeks.
- -As all parents and grandparents are hopefully aware, there is the need for able bodied YSC members to complete at least two recognised duties per year. Parental help on ASC evenings keeps the course costs extremely low and has always been part and parcel of gaining a space on ASC. ASC parental help therefore is not categorised as a duty and therefore does not appear on the club's duty roster. The only exception is if a parent drives a RIB during ASC evenings. The Management Committee has decided that to help alleviate the problem of club duties not being filled, any application for any training will require the applicant (the adult in the case of adult training courses or both of the parents/grandparents of a child applicant if they are both eligible to do duties) to have selected their minimum of two duties each from the duty roster before the applicant is accepted on to the training course.
- -The ASC Instructors are paid for their time. At the end of the 2022 season the instructors were asked if they would be willing to donate their pay towards an ASC ring fenced fund. Purely on a voluntary basis the fund has risen to around £300. This money will be used to purchase provisions for use by ASC in 2024. This spirit of donation reflects how much the instructors enjoy helping the children learn to sail - it is as simple as that really.
- - April 24 2025. This was a meet and greet tea party afternoon for parents and children where the ASC instructors gave kit advice and offered to check over any boats that parents brought along.
- -ASC places are allocated on a first come first served basis so applications need to be made once the application form goes live. An email will be sent to all YSC family members letting them know when the form is available. Information will also be posted on WhatsApp and on the website.
- -A parent is required to be within 10 minutes of YSC during the time their child is attending ASC. A parent can nominate another parent as a substitute but this must be made known to one of the instructors/organisers on the day.
For further information, see notes in Application Form. More information from Melinda (sailingsecretary@yarmouthsc.org, 01983 760462) or Joy (joymowle60@gmail.com).
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Last updated 11:14 on 21 November 2024