Youth Sailing
Welcome to the North Devon Yacht Club Youth Sailing pages for our sailors aged 5 to 18.
The aim of youth sailing is to enable as many young people as possible to access sailing in a safe and fun environment. We can take people who have never sailed before and guide them to become competent and confident sailors.
There are four strands to our youth sailing scheme:
- Pirates for those with little or no sailing experience at all
- Privateers for those who have a basic RYA qualification or can sail to the same standard
- Youth Sail for sailors with an RYA Stage 3 qualification or equivalent experience
- Youth Race for sailors with an RYA Stage 3 qualification or equivalent experience who want to race
Every summer the club runs Cadet Weeks where formal training is offered. The training ranges across all the courses that the club runs that are open to sailors aged 8-18.
Additional courses are available, usually from March to December each year. These are advertised on the club website and are generally restricted to those sailors with a Stage 3 or Stage 4 qualification.
This summer we are also trialling a new Flexible Training programme running weekends over June to the end July. This is a departure from most youth activities in that it provides a much greater level of instruction leading to formal RYA qualifications at stage 1 and 2. This means we take children with little or no experience. We do not want to be too specific over ages but can take younger children from 6 years. As a formal RYA qualification there is a cost to this training which can be booked through the booking pages. If the trial is successful Flexible Training will return after Cadet Weeks in September.
Sailors with a Stage 4 qualification and one of the advanced modules (Seamanship, Sailing with Spinnakers, Day Sailing or Performance Sailing) can attend an Assistant Instructor Course if they want to pass on their skills to others. There is usually one course each year.
The club takes the welfare of all of its sailors very seriously. Our policies require that a parent/guardian or a nominated responsible adult must remain on-site while their child is on the premises, unless the sailor is 14 or over and a completed Parental Consent Form (see policies page) has been uploaded to the Qualifications section of the child's NDYC account.
Last updated 12:08pm on 14 June 2026