Team Grafham
Team Grafham is the Club’s initiative to engage our young members. It caters for all levels of experience: from those who have perhaps sailed once or twice before, but who want to come along to meet other young sailors of a similar age and have fun on the water, right through to race training for those who are more experienced. On some Saturdays during the season, we will join forces with the OnBoard Flyers from Grafham Water Centre and have one big session, giving Team Grafham members the opportunity to meet and sail with others.
Team Grafham has two constituent groups: ‘Youth Squad’ and ‘Pirates’.
The Pirates
This group will focus on learning how to sail efficiently round a triangular course, understanding what the wind is doing and how to set the boat up accordingly. They will take part in a mixture of fun activities and training exercises to develop essential skills.
When the Pirates have become more advanced, they will be able to take the ‘Commodore’s test’ to see if they are ready to move up into the elite Youth Squad group! This group will focus on the individual skills required to race well, such as starting, rules, manoeuvres, tactics and boat speed. The idea is that children in this group will take part in some local events to develop their racing skills further.
Youth Squad
The ‘Youth Squad’ is for those who are interested in developing their racing skills – and who can sail at a level that allows them to do this. We will be encouraging Youth Squad mem to take part in the Cambridgeshire Youth League regatta at Grafham on Saturday 3rd June – and, perhaps, to travel to events in the league, hosted by clubs elsewhere in Cambridgeshire. These are days of friendly, relaxed racing where several ribs are on hand to offer advice and coaching as the children sail around the course.
Later in the summer, Youth Squad members will be encouraged to enter the Cambridgeshire Schools & Youth Sailing Association team to contest the National Schools Sailing Association Summer Regatta at Grafham from 23rd to 28th July.
Come and join us. We start each session in the café at 14:30 with a short briefing. The charge for each session is £10 per boat but, if you book in advance for ten sessions, you’ll get two free! Note that there’s an additional hire fee of £10 if you want to use Club boats. Boats need to be booked and paid for at the Office before going on the water.