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The ubiquitous Optimist Dinghy - Sailed in over 100 countries by many hundreds of thousands of children, is the boat in which young people of the world learn to sail. Simple enough for a 6-year-old to sail, and technically challenging enough for a 14 or 15 year old to race at a very high standard.

As a boat it provides everything a child could want whilst providing a great stepping stone to bigger things. Most of the UK's sailing medallists at the last Olympic Games in Sydney started in Optimists, and indeed past Wraysbury Optimist sailors regularly raced against some of these winners.

Wraysbury is particularly well suited to youngsters learning to sail, and particularly in the Optimist (see our Photo Gallery). Parts of the sailing area are well protected so the complete novice can begin in safety yet there is sufficient space to provide a challenge for the more experienced sailor on a windy day.

The earliest age that Wraysbury encourage children to start is around 6 years old, but equally, many start later. We try to eliminate the initial issue of having a boat to get started through the provision of polypropylene "Oppie look-alikes", available for use by the beginners on payment of a small maintenance fee. However children do progress quickly, and the vast majority of our fleet are sailing their own boats.

Our season never really stops, with the more experienced hardy children sailing throughout the year (suitably clothed). The Training Club, operates on regular Sundays between April and November, with a key event being our full two day training event, "Oppie Camp" in June, whilst later in the season we also run a fun "Pirates" Day, with competitions, games and water based fun - most people ending up wet!

Alongside the training programme, we run a full race programme - Spring LAMBS series, Summer SWANS Series, Autumn SWALLOWS series and one day Regattas (See Race Results), whilst the more experienced also join in with the general club handicap races. Full details of our training and racing events on the Calendar.

Our Optimist Fleet is affiliated to the UK International Optimist Class Association (IOCA), and we encourage our members to be IOCA members - see our Contacts section. IOCA, with the RYA, oversee a full programme of National and Regional Competitions, whilst each club flotilla around the country also run their own 'Open' Event, with children travelling to these events from other clubs; At Wraysbury, we hold our own open events. Our Race Reports Section contains information from many of these events.

Wraysbury Optimist sailors travel to compete at many of these events, one aim being to gain selection to the Regional Training Squads, and ultimately the National Squad.

To contact our Fleet Captain for more information, please see the Contacts page.

Damian Lord, former WLSC Club Champion (all fleets) and UK training squad member shows how to balance an Oppie in a strong breeze

Well done to the following Wraysbury sailors who have been selected for various squads for 2006 / 07.

Oliver Cooper- Optimist National Squad (top 30 sailors)

Now in his second year as a member of the Optimist National Squad, Oliver has done very well towards the end of the season to secure place his despite an ongoing injury problem earlier in the season. Oliver was also selected to sail for the UK at the French National Championships, and competed in the Irish Nationals and Braas-semermeer (Easter International Regatta in Holland), where he won the Silver Fleet (places 90 of 180 after an initial flighted round robin series).

Chris Taylor - Optimist Intermediate Squad (top 30 -60)

Chris is in his second year of the Optimist Intermediate Squad and was unfortunate to just miss out on a place in the National Squad. This year Chris competed in the Irish Nationals, as well as Braassemermeer, where he won the Bronze Fleet (places 180 to 270 after the round robin series).

Robert Baddeley - RYA SE Zone Optimist Squad

Robert started sailing at Wraysbury three years ago having completed an RYA introduction to sailing course. 2006 breeze was his first year in the main fleet, and although this proved to be a steep learning curve, by the end of the season he was producing some good results.

David Paul - RYA SE Zone Optimist Squad

Joined Wraysbury from Queensmead in June. David is in his first year on the open circuit sailing mainly in the regatta fleet, and producing some good results.

Jamie Webb - RYA SE Zone Optimist Squad

Started sailing Optimists at Wraysbury in 2004. 2006 was his first year on the open circuit, with the highlight being a third place in the Regatta Training Fleet at the National Championships in Pwllheli in the summer.

This is the highest number of Wraysbury sailors in squads for many years, with the expectation for further success in the future. Our under 10's have also been working hard and show great potential for next year, with the overall success being a tribute to all the hard work put in by many parents over many years to build a strong Optimist Flotilla at Wraysbury. From a much smaller base, we are now as successful (if not more so) compared to some of our much bigger neighbouring flotilla's - a fantastic achievement. Well done you all!

Wraysbury Lake SC Contacts

Morgan Secker

WLSCoptimist [at] googlemail.com

Optimist Class Association Contacts (IOCA)

Mrs Fiona Rainback

01202 668158

iocauk [at] btinternet.com

administrator [at] ioca.org.uk

Fred Deacon-Smith

david_baddeley [at] hotmail.com

IOCA UK Website

Link to the UK Class Association

Our Training Programme

Training is based around four groups comprising Beginners, Improvers, Silver Racing and Gold Racing. The beginners group would normally consist of children in club boats, whilst the other groups will generally be children with their own boats - this is done on the basis that improvement is gained through time on the water, which generally implies owning a boat.

In principal, our training is geared around the RYA 'Start Sailing' scheme heavily supplemented with the International Optimist Class Association (IOCA) Training Programme. The IOCA syllabus follows the RYA Stages 1 to 3, but it is Optimist specific. Features of the scheme are as follows:

• A Log Book is used to record progress,
• Badges and certificates are awarded to children as they progress through each stage. The badges can be sewn onto the backs of buoyancy aids.
• There are Five Grades

o Grades 1 to 3 take a child from novice to basic racing level.
o Grades 4 and 5 cover more advanced racing techniques.
o There is also a Coastal Bar, covering waves and tides, not easy to deliver on a gravel pit!!

• Helms can pick up the RYA scheme at the equivalent stage should they transfer to another type of boat

The full programme is detailed in the Log Book. These will be available in due course for sale from the Fleet Captain at £2.50 - they are also provided when individuals join IOCA (See Contacts).

Our training groups will roughly correspond with the Grades as in the table on the right, although the group into which a child is placed will also depend on our assessment of their overall ability and experience. An experienced sailor who has not acquired any grades may well be allocated to a more advanced Group, whilst another may remain in a lower group to spend more time at the essentials even if they have a certificate.

For the present, we expect that all members in the Improvers Group and the Silver Racing Group to have their own Log Book. We would also hope that most of the beginners group adopt the programme, as their training will be based on this. Log Books are optional for the Gold Fleet, as sailors in this group will probably have moved well beyond the basics.

Note that we will only be able to award certificates and badges to those children with a Log Book

Oppie Camp

Oppie Camp is an integral part of our overall Training Programme - dates on the Calendar. This two day event gives us a chance to really build on the confidence and skills of children, but it is only of value if a child continues to sail both at subsequent training days, and by joining in some of the race series. It is of no value whatsoever if the child fails to sail again during the year.

To control numbers and provide appropriate instructor/ sailor ratios, we restrict entry to Oppie Camp as follows :

• Oppie Camp is only open to club members.
• It is age restricted for practical reasons - from previous experience we have learned that the earliest age for children to physically start learning to sail is around age 6 to 7, and therefore this is the minimum.
• In the event of over-subscription, priority is given to children from families who have already purchased their own boat (genuine exceptions considered) - we do not have enough club boats to cater for large numbers of children who don't have access to their own boat.
• Younger siblings, aged over 4, are welcome, but due to limited instructor numbers their on water activities are limited to trips in Bosun dinghies, and rides in the safety boats. We can sometimes take them for rides in oppies with older sailors.
• A parent or guardian for every child attending Oppie Camp is expected to remain at the club during the event.

Learning to sail is fun - Pirates Day

Pre-booking for Oppie Camp is essential. This gives us time to organise appropriate instructor numbers, and plan activities according to the numbers of boats available.