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The Grapevine Sailing Club's Junior Race Team is one of the strongest junior teams in the state of Texas. The team is made up of young boys and girls between the age of 7 and 19 that love the sport of sailing and want to get more experience on the water and in races. Many of the team’s members travel throughout the state competing in Texas Sailing Association regattas (www.txsail.org) while others focus on events in North Texas sponsored by the Metroplex Sailing Association (www.metroplexsailing.org). Either way, they get experience, a chance to continue building their skills, and have fun.
The team is mostly made up of former campers from the summer Learn to Sail Camp. A group of volunteers (team parents) supports the team in instruction and logistics. The sailors learn the sport and gain the confidence they need to participate in the racing events.
The mission of the Grapevine Sailing Club’s Junior Program is to develop knowledgeable junior sailors while instilling in them a love for the sport of sailing that will serve as a foundation for the future of our club and our sport.
Further, the Youth Program strives to:
- Interest and lead Juniors in developing safe sailing skills
- Promote Juniors attendance at all Junior activities and regattas.
- Represent the Grapevine Sailing Club in Events through out the state
- Conduct and further develop our year round program.
- Develop curriculum that promotes self-esteem, camaraderie, and sportsmanship both on and off the water
- Develop parental involvement that will support the various fleets and activities of the Youth Program.
In order to promote the sport, the Optimist class (the one man boats sailed during camp) has a special novice fleet for the beginning sailor. In this fleet, sailors get on the water coaching during the races and a chance to learn without the pressures of the more competitive fleets. In addition to being a great fleet to introduce the finer points of racing, it allows sailors to learn and grow at their own pace. As sailors gain experience, they move into more competitive fleets that are segregated by age (White - 10 and under, Blue - 11 to 12, and Red - 13 to 15).
Through our partnership with Grapevine Community Sailing Education Fund (GCSEF), The Grapevine Sailing Club can make it easy and affordable to participate. Through GCSEF, we are able to offer boats to charter in order to keep the cost of sailing down. Our charter fleet includes the Optimist ages 7 through 15 and the Laser and Club 420 for ages 13 and older. Chartering a boat is an affordable way to get started on the team or to move up into a new boat or fleet.
Although, we try to supply regatta support for each of the MSA and TSA events, please note that this program is all run by unpaid volunteers made up of parents just like you. We ask all parents to help with regatta support. We do have a team trailer that can carry 8 Optimists so if you do not have a trailer or truck, we can help you get a boat to the regatta for your child. We try to get the team trailer and the coach boat to regattas where there is sufficient participation and need. We ask that parents help with loading and unloading and with setup and take down of all boats. The program works with help from the parents.
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