North East and Yorkshire Youth Sailing Coaching at South Shields Sailing Club
by Fiona Spence 10 Mar 14:07 UTC
8 March 2025
The fleet heading home after a fantastic day at sea during the NEYYSA Coaching at South Shields © NEYYSA
On Saturday 8th March, North East and Yorkshire Youth Sailing (NEYYSA) headed to South Shields SC for a day of training with 31 sailors; the final session in their Winter coaching programme before their racing programme for the season starts in early April.
Some of the sailors have written about their experiences below and it is fantastic to hear the enthusiasm from so many youth and junior sailors about the opportunities and experiences we have available in the region.
Read on for a summary of the day by ILCA6 sailor Toby Waggett along with comments from different sailors who went to sea at South Shields.
The training had been organised for 5 different fleets - Optimist, Topper, Tera, ILCA 4 and ILCA 6, sadly the Feva sailors weren't available. As NEYYSA supports ALL Youth and Junior sailors in the North region (and sometimes sailors from Scotland & Midlands too) there was a great mix of sailors from all ages and with varied experience.
When we arrived at the Sailing Club, early, there was already a buzz in the dinghy park and on the beach as we all unloaded. There was good mix of teenagers down to younger children.
As we all rigged, we got called into our fleet groups to meet the coaches - Lead Coach David Shilling along with Oscar Shilling, Seb Shilling, Fintan Starkie, Erin Young, all of whom have been NEYYSA sailors at some point. Aside from the ILCA 6 group all the others had at least one sailor who had not been on the sea before - everyone did very well! Especially as the coaches decided all the groups would stay out on the sea all day, this was a really big deal for the younger sailors as some had not done this before. I hope all the sailors enjoyed their day.
South Shields Sailing Club is a great place to sail from. The launch is quick from the boat park with direct beach access into the Tyne Estuary, the Galley is always amazing and the onshore team are all super helpful. We helped launch the RIBS (we needed 5) and then we soon followed with our boats.
Us sailors were met with light winds of 4-8 knots with some sea state and tide. The ILCA 6 and ILCA 4 fleets headed straight out of the harbour walls and we spent all day training in the North Sea. The focus of the day for the ILCA 6 was speed.
The Toppers, Teras and Optimists stayed in the harbour walls until after their lunch on the RIBS and then they too headed out of the harbour walls. The focus for the sessions was gaining experience in waves and tide and as well as encouraging independent sailing. The Toppers went through the piers first and then the others followed. Toby Waggett (ILCA 6)
Saturday morning we started out with a short briefing before heading out to get lots of time on the water. We quickly left South Shields harbour to get the bigger waves and tide. We focused on manoeuvres in a gut-buster exercise, which included mark roundings, tacks and gybes. In the afternoon we switched focus to speed and strategy with rabbit runs, long down winds and exercises that forced you to think about why you are tacking and your plan. It was almost 6 hours on the water in champagne conditions and fabulous coaching for all the fleets.
The end of the day was topped off with delicious food and cakes from Yvonne and James. Saturday was excellent sailing! Alanna Starkie (ILCA 4)
The Club was very friendly and I had a great day sailing with other Toppers. I learnt a lot about sailing on the sea! Edward Worthington (Topper)
It was fun and relaxed but I still learned loads. Dylan Jenkins (Tera)
That was the best training day I have ever been to! Nia Jenkins (Tera)
I had never sailed on the sea before so I was excited to be doing it for the first time. It definitely lived up to expectations and was really good fun. I learnt lots and I even saw a seal! Thank you to the coaches and other Oppie sailors for a great day. Matthew Marks (Optimist)
As well as enthusiastic sailors it was such a luxury to have a choice from the young coaching talent we have growing in the North at the moment. Starting a coaching journey can be a daunting experience so this was super important for the 4 young coaches to work together, share ideas and the experience while having the support of an experienced coach helping alongside David Shilling (Lead Coach)
This was a fantastic day and I'd like to thank NEYYSA Committee member Deborah Waggett for all her efforts masterminding the NEYYSA 2025 winter coaching programme and also thank the numerous host clubs and club volunteers who have helped make it all happen.
NEYYSA is working hard to build on our learnings from this winter's coaching programme; we are very lucky to have some amazing clubs in the region and their support is very much appreciated. We are also developing links with the class associations to ensure a cohesive answer is found to deliver events and coaching sessions that meet our sailors' needs and aspirations. NEYYSA also recognises the need to support new coaching talent in the region and is working hard to develop more opportunities. This session was led by regional coaching favourite David Shilling who provided mentoring for the 4 young coaches leading the different groups.
This multi-class event concept also meets family needs as several families had sailors at South Shields in different boats. It also gave parents time to chat and catch up with friends and familiar faces, and we had so many parent volunteers offering to support the coaches afloat we almost had to draw lots! We also believe the host clubs benefit from larger numbers by minimising club volunteer load whilst maximising return on effort in the galley & facility preparation when compared to two separate weekends with smaller numbers.
We have many North region events to join in with in 2025, event details and entry links are on our website www.neyysa.org or follow us on facebook. Our first traveller series event is the Spring Fling on 5 April at Yorkshire Dales SC where we will be sprint-racing - so fast and fun racing for experienced and novice racers alike and we look forward to seeing all 31 sailors who went to sea on Saturday there! Information and entry to the North Regional Youth & Junior Champs on 21/22 June and our Regional Team Racing Championships on 20/21 September will be released shortly. Fiona Spence (NEYYSA Chair)