I noticed Rods remark in the previous thread. Good day Rod. Yes there is hope :)that children will be build and sail Footys
There were three children in the UK nationals this year all of whom did well. Two were sailing solo and one as part of an adult/youngster team.
The recipe is ‘just add a dash of Grandad’ Don’t expect much in term time but make the Summer holidays work for you. We have plans for a Footy building Summer Camp down here at Frensham( UK) with a regatta on the Friday (this is a secret because the Commodore has not yet said yes ) There are plans afoot in the UK for the Footy to be used as a cdt project, Polish children build their own, Chinese children will probably do the same.
The beauty of Footy building is that a properly competitive boat may be turned out in a morning - the last thing children need is to be involved in long term projects. The key is to start this morning and go sailing (in the bath) this afternoon. So the boat sinks. The next one won’t.
The Team Mim project in the Nationals here was dreamed up by me for my grandaughter. I did the starts, Mim did the downwind legs of many of the races - and did very well. You need to have the nerve to stay hands off and let the youngster do his or her stuff - a lot harder I may say than doing it yourself!
A bit of planning helps:
Dont expect a youngster to do sixteen races. Six is enough
Let the other competitors know through the race officer that children are sailing and make sure they know the numbers on the boats. Children are perfectly capable of sailing to the rules but harsh words from a frustrated adult skip will turn a child away for good:mad:
Make sure that every youngster gets a prize - and a round of applause.
And make plan for children at every major event - I was talking to Roger Stollery about this and he suggests a six race set designed specifically for the youngsters with their own tophy at the end.
OK, that said, my grandson would rather sail my Marblehead - Rod is right about whizz bangs - and I have acquired a Ten Rater this week so Heaven knows how I am going to keep his hands off that. But with his own Footy (he built it) he is his own boss and that goes a long long way
Cheers
PS In the Frensham open Mim then aged 9 did a wonderful start appearing fourth at the windward mark before handing the stick back to Granddad - who promptly lost five places. If you are going into this business with your children better get into training!