Next step after Blue Fleet
It’s only a small transition from blue to green fleet, where your sailor is ready to take on bigger courses against children of similar ability. They can start racing in regattas around the country and start meeting sailors from other Yacht Clubs. The programme for Green Fleet includes both coaching and racing in an environment that nurtures and encourages the children to be the best sailors possible. Sailors generally stay in the Green fleet until they gain a top placing in a regatta, or when their skill level pushes them to compete at a higher level amongst the Open fleet. However this is not a given, and we will ensure that your child is competent, confident and happy to move to the Open fleet, rather than automatically pushing them through. Sometimes, a child’s progress may slow due to a term of bad weather or lengthy absence from the program. Similarly, some sailors progress extremely fast through the sailing programme. It is better to let the sailor and coaches guide the timing of their progression
Next step after Green is our Open Fleet (Tiri Group). Please click here for info on Open Fleet
WHO IS YOUR CLASS REPRESENTATIVE?
Tim Hurley or Paula Turner
Email: mbscgreen@gmail.com
Your class rep will send you information you need to know through the season. They are the person to contact if you have any questions at any time.
WHAT’S NEW IN THIS FLEET?
- Club Racing on a Sundays afternoon
Sunday – Briefing 12.45pm. First Race 1.30pm. Green Fleet is always the first race to start. They do a simple course with just 1 lap. They do 2-3 races. It takes about 2 hours all up. We have a support boat for Green Fleet that help coach the the tail end of the fleet around the course.
- Wednesday Sprints (Post Christmas ONLY)
Rigged and ready 4.30pm. The Open Optimist Fleet does sprint racing on a Wednesday evening. Green fleet are welcome to join in. Normally we see some of the more experienced green fleet who are close to transitioning to open joining in.
- Your first Regatta
While in Green Fleet you can start to attend regattas. You will race in the Green Fleet. As a first regatta we normally recommend the Sir Peter Blake Regatta at Torbay. It’s the first weekend of December every year. We put on a coaching team to guide you through the regatta and make it a super fun experience.
There are other opportunities to attend events throughout the year. The events will be on the club calendar and your class rep will send out information beforehand. Not everyone wants to attend a regatta and it’s totally optional.
- Winter Training
For the green fleet we run the option for winter training sessions once a month to keep their hand sailing through the winter. The sessions are user pays. Winter sailing isnt for everyone
If you do attend events the MBSC sailors work together to help each other out. We will have a meeting point where we all set up our boats together. There will be the option to hire a coach to look after the group. The class rep will communicate important information to the sailors throughout the event.
WHAT AGE AND SIZE SHOULD THE SAILOR BE?
The sailor should be between 8-13 years old and 25-50 kgs.
THE SAILORS ABILITY
Sailors are ready to move from Blue to Green once they have built confidence in their boat handling, are comfortable with the points of sailing and understand the basics of how to go around a race course.
WHAT ARE THE TRAINING DAYS/TIMES?
Tuesday 4pm – 7pm (Rigged and changed for a briefing at 4.20pm)
Sundays 9am – Noon (Rigged and changed for a briefing at 9.20am)
Sessions run in term time through term 1 and 4. Please see the club calendar for exact dates. (link to calendar)
Club Racing Sundays 1.30pm – 4pm
A Briefing for all sailors is at 12.45pm and the first race is at1.30pm
HOW LONG DOES THE SAILOR STAY IN GREEN FLEET?
How long a sailor stays in the Green fleet can vary. It’s normally around 1 – 2 seasons.
HOW DO I STORE THE BOAT?
You can request a boat storage spot at the club when you join or at any time by emailing Susannah Pyatt mbsc.manager@gmail.com. Please click here to see pricing. There are not always spots available so if this is the case you will be added to our boat storage waitlist.
I’m sure you will have seen our Optimist storage in the bunker while you have been at the club. You are able to leave your sails rigged in the racks.
HOW CAN PARENTS HELP?
Sailing is a family sport and requires a lot of involvement from parents. The club has a roster to allocate the tasks for Sunday afternoons when we have club points racing. Parents are asked to volunteer for a task that may include, Beach duty for safety, organizing launching and retrieving, kitchen duty, or perhaps helping to record finishes on the Race Committee boat. If you are unable to do your rostered day please arrange to swap with another parent and let one of the Green fleet convenors know.
Each parent is also responsible for launching and retrieving their own child. So please come prepared each time your sailor goes sailing to get wet. We realise, that non-rostered parents sometimes leave the beach with their child out on the water. Life is very busy and often we have many children requiring assistance. This is okay as long as you have arranged for someone else to take care of your child should they return to shore earlier than expected. In rough seas or easterly winds we would expect all parents to remain at the beach and be available at all times. Please check the forecast before coming to sail.
For club points racing and interclub regattas if your child is racing you will need to help out. Green fleet is a good time to get involved in the wider club duties while you can learn from the old hands! So please help out on kitchen duty, tractor duty, course setting etc where possible.
MORE INFORMATION ON THE OPTIMIST CLASS
Click here for information on NZIODA the Optimist Class association for New Zealand.