RYA Junior Dinghy Sailing Courses

The RYA Junior Dinghy Sailing Scheme runs at our large reservoir and modern sailing centre and club at Queen Mary Reservoir through Queen Mary Sailing Club, Middlesex – just 20 minutes west of London a stones throw from the M3 / M25 / M4. Excellent access for Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Berkshire. The RYA has a syllabus of different stages from beginner dinghy sailing through to dinghy stage 4 and then the advanced sailing modules. From here, many juniors progress into either dinghy racing or become a dinghy instructor.

The RYA Dinghy Sailing Instructor Pathway starts with the Assistant Instructor Course, then RYA Dinghy Instructor, RYA Senior Instructor, RYA Advanced Instructor and then further on to the top echelons of the sport – RYA Trainers or RYA Coaches who train the Instructors

The RYA Racing Pathway starts at RYA Start Racing, and onto Club Youth Squads, RYA Zone Squads, Regional, National and even the Olympic Development Squads!

All RYA Stages are backed up by logbooks, handbooks and certificates. Each course syllabus is broken down into smaller chunks, so that they can be ticked off in the logbook as a child progresses. Once an RYA Stage is completed then a certificate is issued. As juniors progress through the scheme, it does start to take longer to complete each stage. For example, Stages 3 and 4 often take 2 or 3 weeks to complete each, particularly if a youngster hasn’t sailed since their last course. Of course, there’s no excuse for that. That’s exactly why we started our Weekend Progression Sessions!

What courses do we run?

Mixed Watersports – £275 – Probably the best starter week for a youngster new to watersports. These weeks involve a combination of windsurfing and sailing to give kids a taster of the two sports and allow them to gain confidence on the water.

Beginner Sailing (RYA Stage 1) – £275 – For kids that want to learn how to sail! The course will teach the basic skills of sailing; how to rig a simple dinghy, launching & landing, tacking & gybing and much, much more! They’ll be sailing in a boat with another child to give them confidence. Kids will often achieve their RYA Stage 1 Certificate by the end of the week.

Improver Sailing (RYA Stage 2) – £275 – For those who have got their Stage 1, we’ll aim to get them sailing in a boat on their own, and sailing around a triangular course. By the end of the week they may have got to RYA Stage 2.

Intermediate Sailing (RYA Stage 3) – £275 – This course is aimed at kids who have already got their Stage 2 certificate. It will perfect their triangular courses and boat control skills. Reaching Stage 3 can often take a couple of weeks in the Intermediate Sailing group.

Advanced Sailing (RYA Stage 4+) – £275 – For those of Stage 3 and above, this course will introduce the children to different boats, and get them working effectively as helm and crew. We’ll cover manoeuvres such as “coming-alongside”, and “picking-up-a-mooring”. After a few weeks in the advanced group children should have achieved their Stage 4 Certificate and moved on to having a taster of some of the advanced modules such as Seamanship Skills, Start Racing, and Sailing with Spinnakers.

High Performance Sailing – £275 – A small group learning the art of sailing with an asymmetric spinnaker, trapezing and performance sailing skills normally that takes place in the October half–term. This course really creates an all round sailor!