Fresh ideas

Our Sailing Committee has recently been improved with the arrival of an enthusiastic young lady who would like to motivate the younger sailors of our club. She has started racing about 3 years ago and hasn't known any other club than Lancing, where the games and fun-on-the-water culture is desperately needed. She's trying to get ideas of games suitable for our location and members.

I headed straight to this Sailing Games section, thinking this was the answer, but alas!  Over the last year, there's been one relevant thread, the rest being computer games and drinking challenges

Now, here's what we are:

- Lancing is a coastal club on a shingle beach, with strong tides at times and waves, of course. In an offshore wind, we can't walk or drive round the lake to pick up lost balloons or stray Toppers. Even if the games will take place in fair weather, we can't use small floating items or we'll never find them.

- Younger members are either beginners or of average competence. The youngest person likely to take part single-handed will be 9, a few are in their pre-teens and a 2 or 3 are older teenagers. They would all sail Toppers, unless some kind-hearted and well-insured parent let them play with a 2 man boat.

- I am not sure if the group would have the sole use of a RIB. There will be rescue boats available for the sailing areas, but maybe not one dedicated to the group. 

- Crucial point, we don't want games that point out at any specific manoeuvre (no "Tack-on-the-whistle" training). The idea is to have a Youth group run by young people with no adult interference, where they can have a good time and improve their boat-handling without noticing.

So, taking all these into account, has anyone got any ideas? Most of the active forum members are still in that age range, it shouldn't be a problem

Loads of thanks!

A long time ago, someone here posted a link to a .pdf document of several pages, hosted on the RYA site, old style. I should have kept a copy on my hard drive but didn't and I can't find it in the RYA new site.

I was a compilation of all the games used during training / fun days, some suitable only for lakes and ponds, others easy to adapt to sea sailing. Does it ring a bell? I have contacted the RYA website today to see if I can obtain a copy.

Shorebreak in Lancing can be dramatic, yep, but those fun / games afternoons would only take place at low tide, when the waves are minimal. Coming back ashore wouldn't be a problem, really.

Any game you think has potential is welcome: I'll forward the whole lot to the organiser at a later date. Thnx!

Do you still need some after that link????

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