Youth Sailing Classes

International Optimist

The International Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy sailed by children up to the age of 15. Nowadays boats are usually made of fiber reinforced plastic, although wooden boats are still built.

The Optimist class is one of the most popular sailing dinghies in the world, sailed in over 100 countries by over 160,000 skippers. It is the only yacht approved by the International Sailing Federation exclusively for sailors under 16 and at the Beijing Olympics, 85% of medal winning skippers were former Optimist dinghy sailors. 

Optis cost around $3,500 new and maintain their value quite well.  They have only recently been introduced in SA and BSYC has the largest fleet of Optis in SA with currently 32 registered sailors.

If you are interested in sailing an Optimist at BSYC... Please contact Brett Yardley on 0438 800 501 or email sailing@bsyc.com.au

International Cadet

The International Cadet is a junior class sailing boat which is sailed by two kids aged from 7 to 17 years. The Cadet is a truly international class sailed in 35 countries across 5 continents. The boat has a mainsail, jib and spinnaker and the helm and the crew must work together as a team to obtain the best results.

The first Cadet was designed by the British boat builder Jack Holt in 1947 and was originally intended for self-assembly. Over the years, the Cadet evolved from the wooden MK I to the modern MK IV, that is made of glass fibre (GRP).

The Cadet is a one-design boat and therefore all  have the same, strictly controlled, measurements. The boat itself is 3.22m long, weighs approximately 61 kg fully rigged and has a sail area of more than 5 square metres.

International 420

The 420 is an established worldwide performance two person trapeze and spinnaker racing dinghy. There are 56,000 worldwide and they are sailed at school, club, open, national and international levels. 

Built in buoyancy tanks make the boat very safe even when inverted. The 420 is the youth development boat in 43 countries around the world and is the ISAF Youth World Championship boat. Despite the emergence of newer commercial driven classes and asymmetrics, the 420 is still the world's top youth training boat. 

The ideal competitive combined crew weight is 17 to 23 stone (110-145Kg).  At BSYC youth sailors graduate to a 420, having probably kicked off their sailing career in an Optimist.

If you are interested in sailing a 420 at BSYC... Please contact Sandy Higgins on 8294 6211

Get Kids in Boats

"Get Kids In Boats" is an initiative by Brighton and Seacliff Yacht Club to increase participation in sailing and aquatics. Our aim is to maximise the number of school age kids regularly involved in sailing, windsurfing, kayaking or other aquatics pursuits. Of course, we'd like that regular participation to take place at BSYC!

The recent increase in youth membership has put pressure on our resources, especially at weekends and so we aim to raise $100,000 over the next few years to maintain and enhance youth paticipation at the club well into the future. Money can be accessed through government grants, donations and sponsorships.

The Australian Sports Foundation allows for tax deductions to be claimed on donations to ASF on behalf of the B&SYC "Get Kids In Boats" project.

Download an ASF donation form here

If you would like to know more about our sponsorship and fundraising, please click here.

For further information please contact the BSYC Office on 8296 7935

Youth Coaching - Saturdays

On Saturday Mornings the Optimist Dinghies are split into a number of fleets. The Green Fleet is for sailors that can sail around a course, tack, gybe and recover from a capsize. The aim is to introduce these kids to racing. The Silver and Gold Fleet sailors will be working on improving their skills, tactics and racing in readyness for state, interclub and national competitions. Generally the younger kids sail from 9am and are back onshore by 11am. The older kids (Cadets and 420s) will have their briefing at 10am and aim to sail between 1030am and 12noon. 

All junior memebrs are entiltled to FREE Saturday morning coaching and regular emails and updates are sent out to the members during the season. Some sessions are missed on weekends when there is a junior or youth regatta and there are also special events like expeditions and fun days. To get involved at the club on a Saturday morning just turn up one week and we'll show you the ropes. Otherwise call the office on 82967935 or our sailing professional, Brett Yardley on 0438 800 501. You can also email Brett at sailing@bsyc.com.au

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Child Safe Environment

Brighton and Seacliff Yacht Club is committed to ensuring the safety of all children and young people at the Club.  To this end we have developed the following documents:

Member Protection Policy including reporting forms (PDF)

Code of Conduct for Children and Young People (PDF)

Code of Conduct for Staff, Volunteers and Parents (PDF)

Child Safe Policy (PDF)

Child Safe Procedure (PDF)

Following the Mulligan Enquiry into the abuse of children in State care, the South Australian Government passes an amendment to the Children's Protection Act of 1993.  As required, BSYC has lodged a Child Safe Environment Compliance Statement with the Department for Families and Communities and has developed a policy to assess all paid and voluntary positions in the Club and to 'prescribe' which positions require suitability for working with children screening check which must include police records check.

Brighton and Seacliff Yacht Club has appointed DOUG NAIRN as CHILD SAFE OFFICER.  His TELEPHONE NUMBER IS 0417 002 521

Brighton & Seacliff Yacht Club thanks our sponsors