Junior Pathways

Most sailors start their journey in the sport here, with their Opti Level 1 course and then progressing when they are ready to their Level 2 and Level 3 course. All three of these levels are able to be completed across either an 8-week block during a term, or a ‘Fast-Track’ format of 4 days in a school holiday programme week. The Opti is a great boat for learning in, it is stable, spacious and loads of fun for beginners! The boats can take one or two sailors and through the levels sailors will learn to handle the Opti all by themselves in a range of conditions. Once sailors complete all the important learning objectives in their level 1, they can progress on to level 2 and level 3 to keep working on their boat handling skills.

Once sailors are ready to move on from Opti Level 3, they generally move on to ‘Green Fleet’. This is where sailors learn the basics of how to race their boats in a fun and friendly environment! Green Fleet also uses the Opti class, but sailors transition into an Opti made of fibreglass so it is important that the sailors are confident in how to handle their boats and look after them. Sailors are still able to use club boats at this stage, but they also have the option to use their own boats and start to take pride in their own boat. Sailors may also start to go to regattas at this stage and start travelling with our RAYC race team!

The White Fleet is for Optimist sailors ready to build their racing skills in a less competitive setting than the Open Fleet. Without the top sailors, it’s easier to practice starts, follow a race plan, and experience leading a fleet—boosting confidence and preparing sailors for future success. It’s a fun and supportive environment where sailors learn fleet management and how to handle a full regatta series. White fleet can be an incredibly fun and rewarding time for an Optimist sailor where they can learn a huge amount about racing in a more relaxed and friendly environment. Sailors will need their own boats to participate in this level.

The Opti is a great class if your sailors love racing and has enjoyed their time in White fleet! The Opti class has a large fleet, great competition and there is a very active racing circuit of regattas all over New Zealand. To progress into the Opti Open fleet sailors will need to have their own boat to use and race with as well as having the all-clear from their coach to progress into the Open fleet, as well as competing in at least three off-site regattas and getting some good results in White fleet racing. We provide high-level race coaching from international race coaches for this class and will travel with the race team to regattas. The class is also run by the NZ Opti Association which can offer opportunities for sailors to attend development camps overseas and possibly representing New Zealand at international regattas for the NZ Race Team.

The Starling is an awesome class to follow on from sailors racing Optis, it has been the single-handed boat of choice for most of NZ’s top sailors across the generations and top sailors like Peter Burling, Simon Cooke and many more grew up racing Starlings. It has a very active racing circuit and is a great performance boat that sailors will learn a lot of new skills from. Sailors are required to have their own Starling to get involved in this class.

The RS Feva is the worlds most popular double-handed dinghy for youth sailors, it is an established international class with an active global race circuit and a traveler circuit around NZ. RAYC even has had world champions in this class! As well as this, it offers a great platform for learning how to sail double-handed boats and new skills like learning how to use a jib, a spinnaker and working as a team. Sailors tend to progress into the Feva after finishing with Opti Green/Open or if sailors start learning how to sail in their teenage years. Once your coach has given the go-ahead to move into the Feva Development class, even though the boat is sailed in pairs there is no need to come to the session with a partner, we can pair up sailors on the session too! Once sailors have mastered the boat handling basics of the Feva class they can look at progressing into the Feva Race class. The Feva Race groups are working towards getting involved in club racing and/or racing at regattas, working on using racing skills learned in previous classes and travelling with our Feva Race Team. For sailors to move into the Race group they need to be cleared with the coach and the sailors need to be working towards racing in the class.