Is RYA Junior Sailing barking up the wrong tree?

Last week I had the pleasure of racing a Mirror dinghy, which I bought for a few hundred pound, with my 7 year old grandson and did up.  We had a great time.  I was amazed at how many people came up to us saying that they learnt to sail in Mirrors.  In fact this week I am sailing in a Salcombe Yawl, and most of the people that I am racing against learnt to sail in Mirrors or Cadets 40 years ago.  My conclusion is that if you want kids to enjoy a lifetime of sailing, then start them off in a 2 person boat.  

Mirror owner and fan. Problem is a lot of organisations have been infiltrated by Salesmen, they need there commission. 

Yes the RYA junior/ youth system is barking up the wrong tree. Agree two person boats are the way to go for juniors, with crews learning from helms. Junior sailors are cooked far too fast, if instead of being pressure cooked at squads they gradually learned/ simmered, they would be far more likely to learn to enjoy the sport, and would then be more likely to become lifelong sailors. Current system pressure cooks kids for a few years, demands ridiculous commitment/ cost/ inconvenience from squaddie parents, and produces practically no life long sailors. Meanwhile the participation side of RYA demands high volumes of profitable certificates, and teaches kids/ parents that getting certificates like Scout badges, is an end in itself.
The kids don't put the time in to get good at sailing. Some however progress to getting instructor tickets, spend time getting their first aid, RIB, Safety boat, radio etc etc qualifications. They don't have time to get good at sailing, but do find jobs as paid instructors. And they get into the habit of seeing sailing as a way of making money, not as a sport to enjoy/ volunteer within. So both sides of the RYA are failing.
One pressure cooks and spits out. The other values paper certs and doesn't encourage kids to get good at sailing and progress to racing. Neither produce life long sailors.
Now let's look at the effects on clubs who follow the RYA participation model. They breed young Instructors with paper qualifications, who teach more kids to gain more paper, then become instructors themselves. They don't become racers or club volunteers. The club may turn itself into a charity so it can then make big grant applications to buy lots more rotamoulds or Toppers, and neglects other club activities. So the two arms of the RYA are not only failing to produce lifelong sailors, they are also in danger of undermining the club base. The RYA preference is of course for the greater good of RYA training establishments, not the greater good of clubs. It prefers to give large numbers of kids a slim, paper based, training, and believes that adults should simply act as volunteers to support this kids' activity. It doesn't encourage or support adults as sportsmen and women. There's a wealth of skills and experience among the Baby Boomers which will soon be lost to the sport; meanwhile RYA policies act to prevent young sailors becoming lifelong sailors and volunteers who can take their clubs forward in their turn in the future.

What ever we would like to happen we are not going back to the 60s and70s where  a parent sails with one of their children as a gate way to sailing. These days most parents don’t want to sail with their children and more importantly vice versa , children don’t want to sail with their parents.

Edited by Dakota - 12 Aug 23 at 11:02pm

Originally posted by andy h I agree that Oppie / Tera / Topper / ILCA may not be a pathway that encourages long-term participation.  Not sure whether the Mirror or Cadet is recognised as an RYA youth class anymore, but they certainly do back the 420s and 29ers.  Fevas still seem very popular too, and they're quite cheap to own with reasonable residuals.  I learned to sail and race in a Mirror, then taught my children in one before moving up to an N12 for club racing, with no thought of the squad system.  Maybe it's the pressure of the squad system that causes youth burnout rather than whether the boats are single- or double-handed?

I emboldened  possibly the most important  line in that whole post 

Have we now created a situation where if you don't 'make it' by 16 / 18  whatever people think there is no point continuing (especially if  the dedicated fleet racer goes to uni and finds uni sailing is  full of Rah!/ Sloane types who only team race and have sh*t skills otherwise ,and can't  explain or teach team racing ) 

there is/was a  mindset in other sports and activities that if you  didn;t make it to the elite level by 16 / 18  you stopped