Where? Neenah's Rec Park. We are next to the Boat Launch ramp between the pool and the water. Look for our brand new Docks! Adult classes are at Riverside Park.
Junior Instructors: Additional high school age junior instructors will also be assisting on the shore, in the boat with your kids and on the water in the powerboats.
Life Jackets! Students must wear a Coast Guard (USCG) approved Life Jacket at all times on the water. Please reinforce that this is Non-Negotiable (and we never have problems).
There are numerous websites explaining how to check that a life jacket properly fits your child including:
Class Preparation
- Life Jacket - mandatory (see above)
- Footwear - required, shoes or sandals (with heel strap).ÂNote that flip flops are not allowed!
- Sunscreen - recommended
- Water bottle - optional
- Text book - leave it at home.
Rain or Shine!
If it is raining, classes will be held at the Boys' and Girls' Brigade building, located at 109 W. Columbian in Neenah. We will have chalkboard instructions, knots, sailing board games, videos, demonstrations, etc. We only had two rain days in 2007. There is no refund for rain days.
On the Water
There are always two powerboats operated by Instructors while students are on the water to insure the student's safety.
The instructors check the weather radar daily and will cancel sailing if is not safe. On-the-water sailing is immediately ended if lightning is seen or reported by our electronic lightning detector we keep onboard the powerboat.
Students get as much time as possible steering or trimming the sails while on the water. They are not sailed around by an instructor.
Boy Scouts can easily complete Small Boat Sailing merit badge requirements during one of our sessions. Ask a counselor about this.
The boats
In Beginner Classes the optimists will hold one or two small students. The Opti is recognized worldwide as the ideal boat to teach beginners because it is safe, easy to handle and fairly indestructible.
The 14' X boats will have 2-3 students and are bigger and more comfortable for middle school age kids. Beginners may start with a Junior Instructor on board. These are easy to handle for Beginners and especially Intermediates.
The Club 420 is a high performance two person boat and is used for racing and more skilled intermediates. It is also raced at the collegiate level.
Capsizing or tipping over
Sailboats do capsize and in one lesson students are taught how to "right" their boat and crawl back in. This is an important part of learning to sail. While younger beginners are sometimes worried about capsizing, the instructors begin the lesson on land and will gently guide any anxious beginner though their first time. It's not long, however, before students are heard bragging and laughing about how many times they've tipped over.
Racing for skill development
FVSS promotes racing for Intermediate and Beginner sailors, not to be hard core competitive, but to promote boat handling experience and general skill development. Racing requires you to sail in more difficult directions relative to the wind direction. This teaches students a lot more than allowing them to coast back and forth across the wind and kids are usually motivated by "a race" to push themselves without realizing it.
"Fun Regattas" will be held at Neenah, Oshkosh and Ephraim for Opti sailors in 2008 if you are interested. There is also competitive youth racing around the region, state and nation and the instructors will be happy to give you more information on that. There is a fee for equipment use for unlimited racing Thursday nights and parents can usually get a ride on the Race Committee power boat which is the best view on the lake.