DS (9) wants to do some sailing - has anyone any experience of children's sailing activities in Docklands or SE London?

[tigermoth]

Anyone? I know there's a Docklands sailing club and the AHOY centre in Deptford, also the Erith and the Greenwich Yatch Clubs, and some local boating centres - Danson Park and Southmere boating centre, for instance.

But I know of no one in real life who is involved with children's sailing activities and would welcome any recommendations or advice.

Bumping for you.

Thank you, puzzlerocks!

Well our sialing club has it's own children's bit on the website - so I would ave thought if any have a section - that would be a good thing

He will start in an optimist initially then move on to a topper

So look at the club fleets to see if they have Oppys or toppers as club boats & how much they cost to take out

How about bouyancy aids are they avaiable to borrow r does he need his own

are any of them RYA schools or are they clubs

Katymac, not sure what optimists and toppers are, but they sound interesting

I have looked on the websites of most of the organisations in my OP to see what youth activities they have. I know websites can sometimes be out of date, though. I think some of the organisations run RYA courses.

It's all new to me - do you sail much?

A fair amount

Here look at my SS website here

Optimists are small boats made out of the stuff your washing up bowl is made of - they are squareish & totally un-tip-able.

My DD (now 11) has been sailing since 7 last September she took a 4yo & a 2yo out in an optimist sailed them round & then let the 2yo out and let the 4yo steer the boat

Now she is 11, she is moving up to the next size of boat a Topper (her Grandad bought her one - still plastic) & she has classes at Filby about 1 mile from us

about optimists

about Toppers

Tigermoth...Not a big help.But both of my children have been a few times to the AHOY centre with their schools and have had a great time .
I have picked ds up from there and it seems to be very well run .

katymac, thanks for that info. I never realised that there are boats out there specifically designed to teach children the rudiments of sailing.

I can see that ds is not too young to start sailing - I'll wait till this spell of freezing weather is over, I think before we go anywhere. I know it will seem even colder on the water, so I don't want that to put him off.

Marymay, going to the Ahoy centret must have been a fun school trip. I wish our school did that, but my ds goes to school right at the opposite end of the borough - towards Bexley.

we were part of the schools sailing scheme... no idea if it's still running...

what about booking a nice summer hol in greece or somewhere with a kids sailing school?

DD loves sailing but she is a bit of a fair weather sailor

....nice summer holiday in greece - ah if only!
But we will be staying with MIL near Salcombe, so I was thinking of bookng ds on a sailing course for a few days.

Have you tried Sea Scouts? My dd sails every Friday evening all summer - she is well taught and has a ball and all for a couple of quid a week! They have Toppers and Optimists and another one that I can't remember the name of.

mirrors

or a big ole wayfarer,

or those nice zippy lasers for when they are slightly more competent lol.

I like a pico

Sea Scouts

oh he's not too young. my Dd did her RYA level one last summer when she had just turned 8

round our way the courses and clubs don't start til easter

Have looked into sea scouts (none in our area) and sea cadets won't take him till he is 10 years old so that's not till August.

I have seen that many of our local watersports centres start weekend courses in April.

A lovely man from Erith Yatch Club said ds could join the youth group at Millwall Dock for a day's sailing this Sunday. I am thinking about it, but the forecast is for freezing weather.

I really suggest that he has his first sailing experience in nice weather - August and Sea Scouts sounds like a good idea!

There is nothing - and I mean nothing - more miserable than sailing a small boat when you don't know what you're doing, you're scared and feeling a bit incompetent and you are also soaking wet and freezing cold! He may well get put off, which would be a shame.

I would so agree with Seeker - wet & cold & first time = bad

Katymac - do you remember last Easter my brother and his family went to the Norfolk Broads and we were speculating about how long they would last? He hasn't got his children into a boat since!

I hesitate to say...told ya so

If DD had been home we might have gone yesterday - it was cold but sunny