Neptune Sailing

More Dinghy Instructors Successful

Chelmondiston Primary students make good progress

We continue to be keenly supported by our local primary schools, who always seem to find keen Year 5 & 6 students to come along to help on our Dinghy Instructor courses. This Easter was warmer than in the past, but still chilly enough to test beginners at sailing.

Our Dinghy Instructor candidates did a very good job at teaching the group, all of whom came back for the second day- this may have been due to the supply of chocolate cookies though!
The course result showed the progress made by the whole group, with all of the Dinghy Instructors passing their course and leaving us very good and useful feedback.
If you would like to join our next course, please do register your interest and we'll keep you informed. For the first time we are planning to offer the course at the end of the summer holidays, over two weekends- it could even be warm by then!!

New Season Just Around the Corner!

What a Great Team!

Work has continued throughout the winter, with many upgrades to the fleet now in place, or arriving soon. Much of the work has been carried out by our team of volunteers who have turned out, no matter what the weather! Applying anti-foul, turning boats over, rigging, launching craft or just cleaning up the site would not have been possible without the help of our parents, friends, helpers and management team. It's been great to see everyone working together to drive the centre forward. So, from all on the team - "Many thanks for all of your work - we couldn't have done it without you!"

Dinghy Instructors successful

Primary School students brave the weather!

Shotley Community Primary and Holbrook Primary seem to be producing a very hardy breed of students these days! A group of 17 year 5 & 6 pupils arrived at the centre, despite very strong winds and low temperatures, to act as beginner sailors for our Dinghy Instructor (DI) course. Winds gusting to Force 5 proved no problem and they all enjoyed the afternoon. A range of chocolate cookies afterwards seemed to encourage them to come back for a second day, despite even lower temperatures!
I know that all of the DI group want to thank their crews, who were totally amazing throughout both days.
The full course had taken place over two weekends, with all six members enjoying the experience and being successful in qualifying as RYA Dinghy Instructors. The last day was spent at Alton Water, assisting the Woolverstone Project with their Sailability group and racing single-handers in the afternoon. Well done to Adrian Slim and the whole group who made the course so enjoyable and successful.

Feva Fest 2012

Exciting Racing in High Winds

Young sailors from several local Sailing Clubs: Felixstowe Ferry Youth Sailing, Orford and Harwich Town Clubs, hosted by Neptune Youth Group, came together to compete in a series of Team Racing, using our fleet of RS Fevas.

The morning started with some challenging sailing conditions and heavy swell; some sailors practicing their capsize drills!. Race coaching was undertaken by participating Instructors, giving individual sailors help and tips on enhancing their skills to sail the Feva as efficiently as they could. The racing was exciting with Neptune sailors Harriet Memory / Hannah Lewis winning their first Neptune Team Race, which was most impressive to watch on a mark rounding which had flashbacks to the Olympic sailing in Weymouth. Felixstowe entered two teams, with a great standard of sailing from all teams apparent. The overall winning team was from Harwich Town (assisted by Jess from FFYS). All the sailors from the various clubs had a fantastic and fun day, with plenty of inter-team rivalry. A big thank you to Chris Hussey of RYAOnboard and Andy Robinson from Felixstowe Ferry for organising and managing the racing on the day.

Who are Neptune Sailing?

Neptune Sailing is based on the River Orwell at Woolverstone, near Ipswich. We have a large number of craft, of different types and provide a range of Dinghy Sailing and Powerboat training and assessment. During the season the centre is available to both young people and adults. We aim to provide high quality tuition, based on the RYA National schemes.

Neptune Sailing has been divested from Suffolk Water Sports Association (SWSA). We have now registered as a limited company and have been awarded charitable status.

Our Youth Groups run on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings for Beginners, Improvers and Advanced skills and are open to all young people. They are very popular, so making an early approach regarding joining one of the groups is advisable.

Adult training courses are run mainly during weekends and cover the RYA Sailing Schemes to Level 3 and RYA Powerboat Level 1 and 2, as well as Safety Boat. We are happy to offer courses to groups and individuals at other times.

During the school holiday periods week-long courses are available for young people and these are very popular. The courses offer training from beginner Stage 1 to advanced skills Stage 4.