Proudly supported by
Community Bank Elwood

Elwood Sailing Club has a proud 99-year history of recreational and competitive sailing for monohulls and catamarans with easy access from Melbourne suburbs, favorable sailing through the season and fresh summer breezes for Windsurfing. As a stalwart of the Elwood foreshore community, the club’s purpose is to continually improve the skills of our members and the community to enjoy water-based recreation safely and enjoyably, while respecting the enjoyment of others.

A significant component of our skills development program is our “Pace Yourself” program, which we offer to novice sailors and new club members at no additional fee across many of our organised “Off the beach” racing days.  This encourages people of all ages who may have no sailing experience to join and learn the basics of sailing a dinghy.  This program is run entirely with volunteer’s time and makes use of the club’s fleet of dedicated training dinghies and safety equipment, as well as support boats for safety and coaching.

Training fleets suffer accelerated rates of wear and tear on sails, foils, rigging and vests as our learners come to grips with what works and importantly, what doesn’t.  The generous support of Bendigo Bank over the years has been critical to our ability to make this program available to so many and so affordably.  A big THANK YOU to Bendigo Bank! from the club, from those who have benefited from the program, and especially from those who graduate “Pace Yourself” to a lifelong love of sailing.

Pre-Requisites: You do need to be a financial member of Elwood Sailing Club, for access fob and insurance.

Pace Yourself 2024-25

The principle is “learning by doing” and at your own pace.

The goals are to get you enjoying (or returning to) sailing safely and quickly, and to have you enjoy the club facilities and membership to their fullest extent.

Just a reminder that this program is volunteer-led and while we have a loose syllabus,
what we do will depend on the weather and the interests of participants and volunteers.

For those with previous experience with ESC Pace Yourself Sail Training, we’ll try to get through the mandatory briefings as quickly as possible and get out on the water quickly, and also introduce some other boats – likely ILCA and Taser classes.

What does success look like?

You are having fun sailing and learning new skills.
You can identify safe operating conditions and dress appropriately.
You can independently rig/de-rig a pacer and make ready for the water.
You know the most common sailing knots and where they are used.
You can launch, tack, gybe, safety-stop and land a dinghy safely in light weather.
You can execute a two person capsize recovery.
You know the principles of ands can execute safe towing.
You know the basic “Rules for the avoidance of collision at sea” for dinghy sailing.
You are keen to join the club races and learn more.

Dates and Times for instructed sessions:

23 November 2024 9am-11:30am
30 November 2024 9am-11:30am
7 December 2024 9am-11:30am
14 December 2024 9am-11:30am
21 December 2024 9am-11:30am
18 January 2025 9am-11:30am
1 February 2025 9am-11:30am