russh said...
Has anyone looked at the UK T15 concept for kids - I am amazed that they can organise young kids into sailing groups in bloody England where the summer water temp is lucky to reach our winter temps.
Having a couple of kids myself I really want to get them started but am put off by purchasing kids gear which may get used for a summer and thats it. My daughter is 12 and keen and my son is 6 and willing to try anything with water.
The other thing is when you want to sail but are looking after the grommies - gets better if they can sail with you.
I think Divaldo and Susie are right - maybe a resurection of the whole windsurfing scene with some focus on the womens and kids similar to the Micro Groms surfing clubs and include the adults - I would be very keen to get involved at what ever level.
I think it's the NSW association that has a kitty of gear that they donate to groms to get them underway - gear that still has a useful life that crew donate -
MAybe we should start a thread and gain some support and get it happening.
We have a version of T15, called the Junior One, with maybe 15 NSW kids using their own gear and many more using club gear. There are also groups in inland Victoria and a couple in Tassy and the ACT.
Junior One is sailed on Windsurfer One Designs (or Tyronsea Falcons, TC Runners etc) with sails of up to 4.5m. Barracouta make some excellent sails like baby Wally sails that are vastly better than older sails. Older/better kids move onto the standard 6m rig. Little kids (under 10) use sails of 3m or less like the lightweight Hi Fly rig.
The Wally has a reputation as being slow, but it's actually quite quick in most winds and has clocked GPS speeds of over 25 knots in a blow. Obviously its reaching speed in a breeze isn't all that quick, but kids have to be able to sail in light winds as well as strong since they can't just hop in car when it's breezy. The Wally is great for kids to learn on and great for kids to mess around on or race. With the 6m sail on the board is regularly fully competitive with the Raceboards and hybrids like the RSX.
Some of our kids have just transferred temporarily to modern hybrid boards and they say they much prefer the Windsurfer because most days it's faster, it's simpler, and it tacks faster.
We think the success is proven by the numbers - last regatta got 16 sailors under 15 years on the water. We regularly have to drag 9 year olds with 2m sails off the water at the end of the day because they have been out, sailing around the island, racing their mates, doubling each other etc all day. With new sails costing about $280 and boards selling for about $300 second-hand and easy to sell, it's cheap sailing.
