Start your journey to a life long adventure
The Galway Bay Sailing Club is a certified Irish Sailing training Center. The courses we offer follow the Irish Sailing Small Boat Sailing Scheme (SBSC) which covers both Adults and Youth/Junior sailors alike.
If you are a Junior (7-11) who have never sailed before then we recommend the Cara Na Mara course that provides an on the water and shoreside training programme that delivers basics sailing skills, seamanship, environmental awareness and science as part of a fun filled summer camp. While it does cover the essential sailing skills needed the program has a strong emphasis on skills & knowledge that will allow the sailors to appreciate & enjoy the water and outdoor environment safely. These skills and knowledge tie into the National School curriculum. Cara na Mara is an Irish Sailing approved introductory sailing course designed for children between the ages of 7 and 11 years. The course runs for 5 days from 9:30am to 5pm. Participants are grouped according to their age/abilities and are supervised at all times by qualified instructors. This course serves an good introduction to sailing and it is an ideal prerequisite for those wishing move on to the Irish Sailing Start Sailing course which is the recommended entry point to the Small Boat Sailing Scheme which is itself the suggested pathway to learn how to sail. On completion of this course you will receive a Certificate of Completion and a roadmap of what and where to go next.
If you are an Adult with no experience and you are wondering where to start. Should I choose Dinghy or Keelboat? then this is for you. Alot depends on your sense of adventure, your goals and affordability. Dinghy sailing is great fun, they are small boats usually with a crew of 1 or 2. In the right hands exceptional fast and if you like getting wet and living life on the edge then this might be for you. Dinghy’s are a great way to start as they are smaller and more controllable. Finaly Dinghy’s are affordable, once you reach a certain proficiency and join the Club you can rent them. As you develop your skills over time you may decide to purchase you own and they won’t break the bank and they are very transportable. Keelboats on the other hand are larger, expensive, more difficult to manoeuvre and are designed for deeper and open waters. Typically, people wishing to lean how to sail keelboats will usually be either interested in crewing and or racing on larger yachts, perhaps wanting to someday purchase their own yacht and or with continuing through the Keelboat Level 1 and Level 2 courses and on to Competent Crew, Day Skipper and beyond. Adult Dinghy and Kealboat syllabus differ. The whole idea around the “Adult Taste of Sailing” programmes is that it allows you in a safe and cost-effective way without huge commitments to have a go and just try it.
The Small Boat Sailing Scheme covers a range of progressive courses that take a participant on a sailing journey from complete novice through to being an accredited competent sailor, from there they can start to participate in the Irish Sailing Instructor program.
The Small Boat Sailing Scheme for Dinghy's covers the following courses in the given sequence.
Level 1 Start Sailing
Learn to Sail upwind and downing with the assistance of an Instructor
Know the Rules of the Road
Understand basic maneuvers
Level 2 Basic Skills
Learn to Sail Safely without assistance.
Launch and recover your boat
Sail to a given course
Level 3 Improving Skills
Sail efficiently in stronger winds
Tune your Rigging
Get more out of your boat
Level 4 Advance Boat Handling
Control your boat while on a Plane
Tack and Gybe in all conditions
Sail efficiently without a rudder
From there you can move on to "Kites and Wires" and or "Start Racing"
How Does it Work?
Certification
Certification is not automatic. Just because a candidate have completed a course it does not mean that they will become certified for that course.
Each Irish Sailing course that is accreditation has a defined set of skills, manoeuvres and knowledge that must be demonstrated by each candidate.
Each candidate is accessed on a contentious basis by their instructors against a set of defined criteria for that course.
It is only when a candidate has meet all of the courses criteria that they are signed off by their instructor will they receive the necessary certificate.
If a candidate does not meet all the requirements for certification then they will have to take the course and again and focus on the remaining outstanding tasks required to complete the require course checklist.
A good analogy is the Driving Test, just because a candidate has completed the 12 mandatory one hour lessons they is not guarantee they will pass the test and if they fail it is generally recommended to take additional lessons.
Tracking
The Irish Sailing Passport scheme provides the detailed visibility to a candidates progress. This Passport system is hosted on the Irish Sailing Checklick portal.
A Candidate can be set up and their progress monitored on Checklick (click here)
The Checklick system allows allows one to move between training centers and is personalisied to each sailors progress as they achieve the required skills at each level in the SBSC.
Parents ,candidates or Adults can log in at any time to see the competencies of their children have achieved, print certificates and or see what is outstanding and decide next steps.
Progressing
Like all worthwhile skills, the only way to maintain proficiency and to develop is through regular practice and following the IS Small Boat Sailing Scheme pathway to sailing.
As sailors progress through their sailing journey they can start to participate in the Clubs Instructor Program which covers:
Junior Instructors
Instructor
Advanced Instructor
Senior Instructors
Not alone does the Instructor program allow one to develop there skill further it also represents a good opportunity for summer work as they progress through school holidays and on to College allowing they to earn good money at home and abroad. Some may even go on to develop a career in Sailing.
Joining the Club
For Junior that wish to join the club we recommend that they have completed at a Start Sailing and Basic Skills Course and that they can sail with limited assistance.
At the end of each summer season the best of that summers junior sailors are access by the Clubs Senior Instructor and my be Invited to partake in the clubs Junior Academy which is run by the clubs Rear-Commodore of Junior Sailing.
The is the general entry point for Junior Sailors.
For Adult Sailors we generally encourage as part of undertaking a Start Sailing course that joining the Club would be an ideal getting involved with the club and getting more time on the water.
If you need any further help understanding which course if for you or what to do next please do not hesitate to contact us.
Email on sailing@gbsc.ie or just phone us on 089 278 400