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="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" 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="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif" 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="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" 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.

Yes, the Waves have been fine for us up to 20kts if it's not their first sail. With plenty of kid-weight on the boats they can generally keep them bob up, but gybe-splats are inevitable. After it happens once or twice they usually get it figured out. They typically have to work together to sheet it in when the wind is up unless they are especially strong kids.

Thanks Barb how big do the kids have to be to right them
regards

Barb,

that really was a good post. Letting the kids play and have fun, while learning to sail trough games must be the best way.

I hope it was the older kids who handled the lobsters, those critters are fast with their claws compared to crabs <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

"Thanks Barb how big do the kids have to be to right them"

About 90-95 pounds of total kid-weight. If they struggle and can't seem to pop it up (rarely) we have them to continue in the righting position and we give the bob a little flip to get it started.

"I hope it was the older kids who handled the lobsters, those critters are fast with their claws compared to crabs"

These kids were giving me lobstering lessons. They know all the rules and regs on what you can catch and when. How to clean the tail to take it home and more. The kids here practically have gills!

Here's a question to the fleets

Our goal is sailors who are older. (we want sailors who race sooner then latter).

We are working under the notion that if they sail a cat once... they will be hooked... and they will return to the class down the road when they want to go racing again.

We have about 3 or 4 junior teams 14 and older in the area that will be racing Hobie 16's.

We have 2 regattas (One Catamaran and one Dinghy).
We provide Free loaner Hobie 16's for teams under 21 for the weekend.
NAHCA, CRAC, and Hobie 54 have teamed up to make this happen with insurance through US Sailing's Burgee program, Hobie 16's to use and our initiative.

Last year.. my marketing was a complete miss... only got TWO phone calls to borrow the 4 boats that I had lined up.... and they bailed at the last minute. (memo to file... kids don't read regatta books)

So this year I tried to approach the junior sailing directors at the CBYRA Junior Scheduling meeting.

The problem is...Junior sailing program directors did not seem interested in supporting this program. Later, I was told by folks involved in Junior sailing for years and years.

"What do you expect... the parents are paying these coaches LOTS of money and they have as a goal... a spiffy college admission .... Sailing Hobie 16's is not something they will get behind.

So... New plan... directly market to High school or College kids.

So, my question is... which should I target the High School Sailing Teams in the area to find my sailors... or do I go after the college sailing teams,

My preference right now is the High school kids because they will be around the area all summer.

Suggestions?

I don't understand what the goal is? Is it to hold a regatta for monohull sailors to try out catamarans? Is it to hold a regatta and provide youth without their own boats a boat to sail for the regatta?

If the goal is to put on a regatta with as much local participation as possible then advertise in all the local sailing newsletters, magazines, public sailing centers, West Marine, any place you can advertise. Get out some public service announcements in the local media. Send out press releases to the newspapers. Find out if/how you can distribute a flyer through the schools. Build the hype for the event.

Yes... those under 21 of age who have a decent amount of experience on a 420 so they can trapeeze on the boat and are not intimidated by a Hobie 16.

The question is... High school or college age... which would be most impressionable and catch the multihull bug!

Mark,
I'm sorry, but I did not understand your whole post (prior post and most current). What are you asking?

All ages tend to remember their first ride on a catamaran. Your mission is to guarantee it's a good memory. Offer a little free clinic on the H16 before the regatta (same day or other day) so they aren't stepping onto a completely foreign platform without any instruction.

Why accept an arbitrary age boundary (high school/college) as a limitation? Unless there's some restriction to the event organization that forces a choice just keep it open to all those teens. See which groups the event is more attractive to this year and hone it for next year.

Also, I'd be very careful about stepping on toes. Make sure the various teams and clubs understand you are not trying to muscle in on their turf. Keep everybody happy and smiling.

If you are trying to get teenagers involved, contact all the ones in your area and let them know that there is NOT, and I repeat, NOT a waiting list to race in the U.S. Sailing Youth Multihull Championship at the end of March in California on the new SL 16's. (It is the qualifier to go to the ISAF World Youth Championships.)

10 brand new boats are being supplied by Performance Catamarans, and they need 20 two-person teams.

As of yesterday they finally got the NOR posted at US Sailing's web site. But you can get more information at www.sl16.org/.
US Sailing does not have the pre-registration thing going yet, but you can contact Dan Delave, Regatta Chairman, at ddelave at aol dot com. First ones to pre-register are in, regardless of qualifications.

This is an awesome opportunity for youth sailors, no matter what they normally sail. It's just a matter of letting them know about it. Who wouldn't want to try to win a U.S. championship and go to the ISAF Worlds, no matter on what kind of boat?

Wish I were 50 years younger. When I was a teenager, opportunity to sail a major youth championship on a multihull was not even on the radar. So some progress has been made.

We have the boats, we have the event, we have the venue, all we have to do is find the kids to sail in it.