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2007 JUNIOR DIVISION INFORMATION This season, FBYC’s Junior Program continues to expand in breadth and quality by offering the full range of instruction we offered last year, but with the addition of housing and transportation provided through our partnership with nearby Christchurch School. For the first time, we’ll be able to offer children and their busy working parents a fully rounded summer sailing program that provides quality sailing instruction, housing, food and transportation for much of the season. We’re also offering weekend practice sessions in the spring to give our kids an early jump on polishing their boat handling skills after the long winter break. Our goal is to make sailing our kid’s favorite sport for life. Once the season is underway, we’ll have a full summer of learning, practice and racing for all juniors from beginning Optimist through advanced Laser and 420s. The summer begins early with practices on May weekends, followed by Junior Week, a series of clinics for all levels, and two Fishing Bay Junior Regattas at FBYC. Beyond Junior Week our extended programs provide ongoing opportunities for Juniors to build sailing and racing skills through regular classroom and on the water training, clinics, traveling around the Bay to regattas with friends, and opportunities to sail with other Junior Sailors at FBYC’s two Junior Regatta’s, Annual Regatta, Dog Days Regatta, Fall Series and Indian Summer Regattas. This year, we are also offering housing/transportation/food service through a cooperative arrangement with nearby Christchurch School. We hope this will provide our membership with the resources they need to have their children participate in our program. The Objectives of the Junior Division are for each junior to learn to sail, enjoy sailing, learn to race and participate in regional, national and international racing events. How does the Junior Division do this? Great Coaches. Our professional coaches work for FBYC full time in the summer - from mid June through mid August. This year, the club will employ two world-class coaches who have trained junior sailors from beginner level to top international events and have experience in teaching Optimist, Laser, Laser Radial and 420s. The coaches are at the club to teach our juniors in regularly scheduled classes and to travel with the Junior Race Team. Please make sure you use this valuable resource. They can be reached as follows: § FBYC Junior Commander -Eric Powers at eric.powers@mma1.com C~804-363-5553 § Head Coach - Diego Ravecca ravecca@gmail.com C~ § Assistant Coach - Luis Canuto laserdingo@hotmail.com C~ § L2S Coach - Daniel Gillispie dan_gillispie@yahoo.com C~(804)-389-5614 Good Equipment. We own 13 Optis, 4 Lasers, a Byte, 7 420s and 1 Mobjack, which are available for use by members. For any race on the FBYC schedule, the boats must be reserved on a first-come first-served basis through the Head Coach or Senior CIT. If you have any questions regarding the availability of boats or equipment, please contact Eric Powers. The Junior shed stores sails, rudders, dagger boards, sheets and lines. We have a Junior Coach Boat for the coaches to use to teach at FBYC and to use when traveling to away events and enough trailers to haul 17 boats. Parent and Junior Volunteers run the program. The club’s programs are a three-way partnership between the club volunteers, coaches and parents. Parent volunteerism is an integral part of this, and in many cases, is a required part of the various programs. Parent volunteers are needed to help our kids get to FBYC, on and off the water, and to get to racing events around the Bay and beyond. Everyone should look at this as an excellent opportunity to be a part of our children’s sailing career as well as a time to spend quality time with them through the summer. We encourage everyone to work with our Junior Program volunteers and coaching staff to give our children a sailing summer they’ll never forget. Key names for program staff are listed on page 3 of the Sailing Events Book. This year's Junior Division officers are: Commander, Eric Powers; Lt. Commander, Stephan Cost; Race Committee Chair, Lisa Radtke. All Junior events need additional volunteers for safety boats, race committees, social duties, etc. Diverse schedule with something for all. The events are summarized below: FBYC Junior Events - Non-Racing "I loved my 5 years at Fishing Bay's Junior Week, but I never raced. However, the sailing skills I learned at Fishing Bay enabled me to try out for the sailing team in college. I made it and became Captain of the Dartmouth women's team. Thank you so much!" Alice Nelson We host non-racing events where juniors can learn to sail and enjoy the water. This year, FBYC will have a special coach dedicated to juniors who wish to remain at the club to pursue their sailing interests. The Summer Coach will be available at FBYC during the week even when the race team juniors are away at competitive events.
FBYC One Design Events - Racing The Spring Series, the Annual Regatta, the Fall Series and the Indian Summer Regattas are One Design Events for all One Design sailors, adults and juniors. As described below, two regular Junior Regattas are also held, as well as a new Dog Days Regatta in August. This season, we want to promote spring practice for Juniors on One Design Spring Series race days. On these days, we plan to provide an opportunity for Juniors to get out on the water with instruction so they’ll be in top form by the time of the first summer regatta. FBYC Offshore Events - Racing The FBYC Offshore Division hosts a Spring and Fall Series, a number of Long Distance races, the Leukemia Cup and the Stingray Point Regattas, Offshore skippers are always looking for young and energetic crew to grind winches, tail sheets and dance the foredeck. FBYC Junior Regattas - Racing "I think I speak for the kids I raced with, when I say that we really got into doing the regattas because of the other kids on the FB team, the great coaches, and the laid-back environment which still kept a focus on racing excellence when on the racecourse." Caroline Garrett Among the many activities we have planned through the summer, FBYC hosts two regular annual junior racing events that are complimentary to a Bay-wide regatta series that runs from June through mid August. FBYC’s events include a June Junior Regatta and an early August Junior Regatta. For these events, FBYC juniors are joined by those from other regional sailing clubs who come to FBYC to join us for some friendly competition, camaraderie and great food. Our regattas are popular with visitors because of the great sailing conditions on Fishing Bay for smaller boats - protected smooth waters, good winds and great visibility for parents. Junior Regattas are designed to be fun. A first time racer can join the Green Fleet in an Optimist and attend our clinics to be held the day before the races. Green Fleet kids always have a separate start which makes it easy for beginners. At FBYC regattas, on-the-water coaching is allowed for Green Fleeters in the back half of the fleet. More experienced juniors can join the Red (Age 13-15), Blue (Age 11 and 12) or White (Age 10 and under) Optimist fleets or sail a Laser, or Laser Radial. A team of two juniors may borrow one of FBYC's 420s’s if they’re not already reserved by Racing Team members. Club Opti's and Lasers are also available for loan. At the end of the regattas there are always great trophies and a fun cookout at the clubhouse. During the summer of 2007, the Junior Division will encourage juniors to join offshore race crews in at least two matched offshore boats, crewed by Junior Race Team members and other interested juniors. We also wish to promote two special around the buoys races on big boats with special sailing instructions requiring one junior crewmember for every adult crewmember on board, and a junior sailor driving at least fifty (50) percent of the course to insure junior sailors get lots of experience. More details of this event will be provided later. FBYC Traveling Junior Events - Racing "Go on the road with the FBYC team. You won't want to come back.... home that is." Parker Garrett Any junior is welcome to join the Extended Junior Race Team. In years past, we have had as many as 15 to 20 FBYC Juniors travel together to regattas at other Clubs - Hampton, Norfolk, Annapolis, West River, Miles River, Tred Avon, etc. The coaches transport the boats, and parents go along as drivers and to support the group. The parents and coaches help the racers get organized and the coaches coach the participants between races. A parent volunteer will help coordinate each race. To assist in planning, we have selected key events from the CBYRA Junior schedule to attend as set forth in the following pages. As in past years, we will be organizing car pools and other volunteer support for away events and Deltaville practices in advance of the summer. As mentioned above, we can now offer housing/transportation/food service for juniors participating in the extended racing program. Please contact Eric Powers at eric.powers@mma1.com if you can help or need more information. Junior Championship Events - Racing "Growing up in the Fishing Bay Junior Program was one of the greatest times of my life. Traveling, giving Chessey (Charlie's Dog) shotgun, joking around with Parker and Malcolm, and racing was an experience that I will never forget. I have developed a lifelong love for sailing, and it is the Fishing Bay program I have to thank" Blake Kimbrough "Fostered by competition and committed to coming back by the times had with friends on the road and at Fishing Bay, I was able to compete and win at the top of college racing. With my love for sailing fueled by my memories of time spent on and off the water as a junior, I spent 1000 days on the water over the past four years. Competition brought me to the regattas and practices; friends are the reason I always come back." Parker Garrett "The only way you see real competition is to participate in a national or regional event. My first national event was in 1993 Laser Radial Nationals in Miami. It was a real eye-opener because although you may be the big cheese at your yacht club or even on the Bay, there's a bigger fishbowl you can't forget about." Caroline Garrett This season, FBYC will host at least two high performance race clinics. Clinics will be run by our head and assistant coaches Diego Ravecca and Luis Canuto and will include team racing, the refinement of racing skills including sail trim, tactics and racecourse strategy. All of these are significant regional events in junior sailing and draw junior sailors sailing Optis, Lasers, Laser Radials and 420s from around the Bay. Volunteers will be needed so we can make a good showing in these terrific opportunities to showcase our club in major junior sailing events. At the end of June, we’ll also be hosting a Team Racing Clinic and Regatta. Team racing is an exciting aspect to racing we want our Juniors to learn to enjoy. Groups of boats and skippers join as team to pursue a game of strategy towards gaining the highest standing for the team overall. The June 30th Clinic and July1st Team Racing Invitational Regatta will provide kids with a chance to learn this aspect of the sport and try out their skills in an actual team race. We also list some championships to which FBYC should send representatives. In past seasons, FBYC has produced some great sailors. Last year’s racing team started with spring practices in Annapolis and then attended FBYC’s Junior Week. After Junior Week they pursued a busy schedule of regional, national and international championships. 2006 saw FBYC kids compete at the Optimist State Championship at FBYC, Optimist Nationals in Sarasota, Flanders Youth Regatta, Belgium and the British Optimists Nationals in Wales. This year we plan to attend the Optimist Nationals to be held in Minnesota. In July, US Sailing also offers the Sears, Bemis and Smythe Cups as the National Championships for Junior’s sailing single-handed, double-handed and triple-handed events. Ask our coaches if you think you could go to some of these events. Daily Coaching Sessions Our Head and Assistant Coaches invite non-extended program juniors to join their classes for Optimist, 420s, Lasers and Laser Radials during regular practice sessions held Tuesday-Saturday. There will also be several weekend days when classes will be open to all juniors who want to attend one-day clinics. Parents and children wishing to get a quick boost in their performance should contact our coaches and sign up for these opportunities. There will be a charge of $50 per day per student for these sessions. Safety Requirements We have always prided ourselves on running a good junior program and have established safety standards. Mandatory safety requirements for the Junior Program include: 1. Life jackets will be worn on the water by all ages during all Junior events. 2. One safety boat with working motor with a "qualified" driver is required for each racecourse. 3. Each race committee, safety boat and shore-based adult will have a working VHF radio. 4. The full time coaches and each Junior Week Head Instructor will be a Level I certified instructor. 5. Emergency contact information will be available for all juniors in every junior event. 6. Any traveling junior team event must be supervised by an adult over age 25 as "adult in charge." |
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