Regional Training Groups

 The Cadets offer training sessions within three Regional Training Groups over the winter period. These are in the South, West and East of the country and each are administered separately. The RYA has requested that all supported junior classes such as the Cadet offer training using a regional model, rather than the old ’national squad’ format.

Every training event will be open for anyone to attend irrespective of which squadron/region they are from, and there will normally be two groups to cater for the range of experience and ability.

As well as the time and cost savings, the benefits of the regional model also include potential flexibility to postpone/move dates for bad weather without cost implications which may also be helpful with any future Covid interruptions and it will be more inclusive as there is no need to be a 'regular traveller'.

RESIDENTIAL TRAINING WEEKENDS

In March the three Regional Training Groups will be brought together for a residential training weekend at Grafham Water Activity Centre. All Cadet sailors will have the opportunity to take part regardless of age or experience. In the past the residential weekend was only available to a small number of sailors as part of the then NJS squad. Recent results including from the Nationals, Inlands and RYA Regional Championships will be used to group sailors by ability for the training groups over these weekends. We will need a small number of house parents who are prepared to stay at the residential centre. More details on this are below - Residential Weekends

Training Goals

• To provide high quality race training for varying abilities. Whilst this will not be teaching kids to sail we are aiming to provide training for any Cadet sailor who wants it and commits to it.

• To balance maximising the benefits of training with minimising costs and time commitment.

• To have a model which is sustainable for UKNCCA from a cost and organisational perspective for the medium term.

Training Syllabus 2023-24

Costs

The Frensham October dates are charged locally through the Frensham Pond squadron - entry can be found here.

Costs on other sessions will be communicated shortly & this page will be updated.

Costs for any local Squadron Programmes will be managed separately by the squadron.

Entry

Entry for the October events at Frensham Pond will be managed by the Frensham Pond Squadron - entry can be found here.

Entry for the Regional Training sessions will be made on the Clubhouse system.

You will need to enter each session that you’re planning on attending.

Please enter as a Helm or a Crew but we will need both team members details.

You do not need to be a UKNCCA member to take part.

Please book into these sessions as soon as you can. Certain venues require us to provide numbers ahead of time, so for those venues we'll close the event booking approximately two weeks beforehand. Coaches also need to know who is attending in order to plan their sessions. Residential spaces are limited at Grafham by the venues capacity.

Residential Weekend

The class provides a Residential weekend of training once per year.

In years gone by, these Residential weekends were only available for those selected in the RYA National Junior Squad (NJS), and were historically the highlight of the NJS programme. In 2021 we switched to a Regional Training Structure, which has allowed the Class to make these weekends available to all sailors, depending on space availability.

Where?

The Residential weekend takes place at the Grafham Water Centre (Postcode: PE28 0GW)

This is the building to the east of Grafham Water Sailing Club. Note it has a separate entrance via the road called ‘Ridgeway’, which just to the right of the entrance gate to the Sailing Club - do not drive into the Sailing Club

How it works

• Much of the benefit of the weekends come from the sailors learning a degree of independence from their parents. We will have plenty of coaches and house parents available throughout the weekends and in the nicest way we would ask parents to disappear once boats are rigged (by 10am) on the Saturday morning.

• If anyone would like to volunteer to be a house parent please contact us - your accommodation is free but its quite basic, and its a full on job!

• All other parents don’t then need to reappear until Sunday afternoon - around 4pm so they can assist with packing up.

• Accommodation is provided in the centre for an overnight stay, and children are allocated in rooms with one or two other children, with a house parent available near-by. If you want your child to stay off-site, then you will have to organise and pay for this over-and-above the cost of the weekend.

• We will have rooms allocated for the sailors - most are shared small dormitories and we will do our best to get sailors sharing with people they know but with in excess of 60 sailors it is hard to group everyone with exactly who they want to share with.

Rough schedule

• Boats rigged by 10:00 and parents depart

• Classroom and sailing sessions AM

• Lunchtime 12:30 to 13:30 approx

• Classroom and sailing sessions PM until 17:00

• Early dinner

• Games / Movies etc 19:00 until 21:00

• Bed

• Breakfast and lunch on Sunday

• Parents arrive 16:00

In Advance

• Everyone will be required to fill out a disclaimer form in advance. This form will include any medical details we need to know and any food allergies or vegetarians etc.

• Please make sure all sailors come with sufficient sailing gear for the weekend as well as a towel and plenty of home clothes

• Anyone testing positive for Covid or otherwise required to isolate under government guidelines in existence at the time should not attend

• The Centre expressly forbids the consumption of alcohol by the sailors and anyone found having consumed alcohol will be excluded from the remainder of the weekends - zero tolerance!