Dinghy Sailing Training Opportunities for 2025

The Club will be providing a range of opportunities for those who are considering dinghy sailing at Sidmouth: 

These will allow you to get on the water with an experienced sailor to help you decide if dinghy sailing is for you. These sessions will take place on Saturday mornings and will include an onshore briefing before you go on the water, as well as a debrief afterwards. There will be no charge for the taster sessions, and participants will need to sign up as temporary club members for the day for insurance purposes. However, we kindly ask that you consider a contribution to the Sidmouth Watersports Hub crowdfunding appeal for an internal lift and a disability toilet. For more detail click here. These sessions are for adults or young people aged 10 years or older. Ours is a family focused Club and young people taking part must have a parent with them who can help out during the session. Refreshments will be available at the end of the morning.

These will also take place on Saturday mornings. They are designed for people who either have no previous experience of dinghy sailing or who have done some sailing in the past but need some re-fresher coaching. The coaching will focus on the core dinghy sailing skills as set out in the Royal Yachting Association training schemes, adapted for the particular conditions at Sidmouth. The coaching will take place in small groups of 3-5 boats and be led by coaches with extensive experi-ence of sailing at Sidmouth. We aim to provide 5 sessions, weather permitting. As with the taster sessions, we are keen to encourage younger participants whose parent(s) will be available to help out. Participants will need to take up temporary membership of the Club at a cost of £60.

The Club’s coaching dinghies will be available for hire on a sessional basis during the Club’s regular sailing sessions on Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons to give you an opportunity to practice what you have learnt. Our coaches will agree with you when you are ready to sail inde-pendently and this will obviously depend on the wind strength and sea state on any given day.

Details of dates and other aspects of the programme , which will start in May, will be available shortly. In the meantime if, you wish to sign up for either the taster or coaching sessions, or get more information about them, then please email Miles at hannafordonline@hotmail.com and one of our team will get back to you. Alternatively, you can see us at the Club on Saturday afternoons or Wednesday evenings from mid April onwards.