Centreboard Division
Learn to Sail
Register Now for our Learn To Sail (LTS) Classes held at the SYC Algies Bay facilities
43 Gordon Craig Place, Algies Bay.
Enrolments for the 2025 Term 4 classes are now open. Please send your completed enrolment form or direct enquiries to office@sandspityachtclub.nz.
Courses
We offer 8 week x 3hr courses in Term 1 and Term 4 of the school year for sailors ages 9-16yrs.
Programmes we offer:
- LTS1 – ‘Start sailing’ – For beginners, teaches the basics to get you up and going.
- LTS2 – ‘Sailing fast’ – Builds on the basics increasing confidence and capabilities.
- LTS3 – ‘Go racing’ – Take your sailing to the next level with some racing.
We also plan to start ILCA (laser) classes and racing on a weekly basis one weekday evening this summer – details tbc. Send us an email if you’re interested (office@sandspityachtclub.nz).
2025/2026 Dates
2025 Term 4
Open Day and familiarisation – Sunday 5th October – come and meet the team, learn how to rig your dinghy and get signed off to drive the club tractor and RIBs if you’re interested in helping out.
LTS 1 – classes will be held on Tuesday afternoons, 4:30pm-7pm starting Tuesday 14th October to Tuesday 2nd December (eight weeks)
LTS 2 – classes will be held on Wednesday afternoons, 4:30pm-7pm starting Wednesday 15th October to Wednesday 3rd December (eight weeks)
LTS 3 – classes will be held Monday afternoons, 4:30-7pm starting Monday 13th October to Monday 8th December (eight weeks excluding Labour weekend)
Race Day – 13th or 14th December – TBC
2026 Term 1
LTS 1 & 2 – TBA
LTS 3 – TBA
Race Day – TBA
Big Boat Sailing – Sunday 29th March TBC – a great chance for kids and parents to cruise in company on the club keelboats to Kawau
Cost
The package includes hire/use of a club sailing dinghy and 8 coaching sessions over the term by a qualified coach. Discounts apply for SYC members, bringing your own dinghy and for second and subsequent children within the same family. The club also offers free boat hire for your first term.
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Commitment
The Centreboard Division is run by volunteers, and parent participation is paramount. We need parents to help with launching sailing boats and patrol boats, retrieving them at the end of the class, washing down and putting them away. Whilst sailors are on the water we prefer that parents stay to keep an eye on the sailors from the beach or assist coaches on the water. Those running the programme are not baby-sitters, and like to feel that parents are sufficiently engaged to want to learn along-side their children. As the sailors grow in skill-set and confidence they are able to do more for themselves, less parent help is necessary so you will not have to stay for the 3hr duration. You will be able to gauge this as each week goes along.
We’re also always on the lookout for keen parents to help get involved in the running of the club.
Centreboard Sailing Classes
In the classes we aim to deliver 3-hours of tuition. There is some land based learning, but the majority will be out on the water.
Classes will typically start with getting boats and sailors ready to head out on the water. The coach will do a briefing and usually some land based instruction before safety checks and heading out on the water.
Once the on-water coaching session is finished, the coach will bring everyone back in. The boats get rinsed and put away, and then we have a debrief and sausage-sizzle.
We ask that sailors and parents assist with launching and retrieving the sailing and safety boats, washing down all the boats and helping to store all gear before leaving for the day. This helps us to maximise time on the water and we’ll put together a roster to help with this.
Our Boats
We encourage sailors to stay in Optis until they have outgrown them, rather than see the Bics as the next step up. Potential Bic sailors must demonstrate their skills before sailing in them for the season.
Bics are like skiffs; they require no bailing, are easy to rig; they are light and fast and a lot of fun. And the big appeal to parents of course, is that you don’t have to bring them home and store them. But! they don’t teach the fundamental skills that an Opti will. Lighter sailors can sail a Bic in light airs but simply don’t have the weight required to hike/stack out when the wind and waves get up; Hence, we use the Bics as the alternative to an Opti for novice sailors who are physically too big for an Opti; and as a stepping-stone to assist the undecided or uncommitted sailor or those not ready to commit to the purchase of a boat, so they can sail see the variance in sailing different boats and how much fun one can have.
A Note On Our Fees
Sailing is not a cheap sport, but we keep our fees at an absolute minimum in order to give as many children as possible the opportunity to join these classes.
The course fees above are for the term and cover:
- access to and use of our facilities in Algies Bay.
- contributions towards the costs of maintenance, administration and general running of the centreboard division assets.
- affiliation fees to YNZ, cost of a handbook, insurance
- coaching fees.
Keeping You Informed
Members are kept regularly informed with emails/texts from the Centreboard Division and receive monthly newsletters from the main Sandspit Yacht Club encouraging the whole family to participate in activities put on by the greater club.
By keeping an eye on the fortnightly/monthly SYC newsletters, you’ll see when the SYC Sailing Division has races on and the opportunity is there to secure a spot on one of the ‘big’ boats and race regularly in the SYC Sailing Division races.
