Off-the-shelf YA youth program in Cadets at RBYC

Clubs & Classes

In an era where youth programs and junior sailing pathways are hot topics, the Australian 12ft Cadets have quietly gone about their business. They are delivering a high-quality, time-proven program with contemporary design evolutions that have kept the class sympathetic to its roots but growing to meet the demands of modern youth training.

The home of the 12ft Cadet is at the YATC-accredited Jock Sturrock sailing centre at Royal Brighton Yacht Club. It is a unique program because the proven displacement hull design allows three kids or an adult coach and a couple of kids in each boat.

The program uses a mentoring-based instruction system which means that each boat has a mix of experience onboard also providing the experienced skippers leadership and team development skills. Crews learn to manage themselves as well as their mates and look out for each other in a way that good crews do on much larger boats. While seamanship, boat handling, race-craft, teamwork and leadership are important, so too are inclusiveness and respect – all important values that need to be reinforced.

The control systems on board a Cadet are very similar in complexity to much larger yachts, which means that once the Cadet crews master the equipment on board they are competent on just about any other class of boat.

The teenage participants also learn how to look after the club-supplied boats with an instructor-guided maintenance period during May.

As a strictly-controlled one-design class, all boats are virtually identical in performance and the real sailing skills are emphasized as the crews learn the finer points of sail and boat trim. These skills are recognised pre-requisites for sailing in many other classes from 29er’s to keel boats.

The RBYC Cadet youth program

The club-owned boats are just the starting point for the youth program developed around the Cadet. The beginners go racing on their first few times out with an experienced skipper or, typically, with an adult on the helm. Many important dynamics of everyday life are put to the test in the RBYC program.

Under the guidance of YA accredited instructors, the crews race and train from August to April each year. The first half of the season focuses on getting back onto the water with basic training and preparation for the annual national championship, the Stonehaven Cup, now in its 83rd year. The second half of the season focuses on advanced sail training, crewing and seamanship.

A brief history

Around 1920, Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club decided their youth members required a training class that would lead into the adult 21 Footer class then being raced nationally. A design concept was produced by one of the founding class members in 1922.

Mr. A.C. Barber, a Sydney naval architect, was commissioned to refine the hull design. The class popularity spread throughout the nation and six states competed for the national title which last hit its peak during the 1960’s.

All early hulls were clinker-built timber, fastened with copper nails and roves in the traditional way. During the 1960’s boat builders began using lighter timbers such as Western Red Cedar, producing lighter, faster hulls. Along with the lighter hull came the new polyester/dacron sailcloth, providing better shape-holding and further improving the function and handling of the dinghy. Much of the appeal of the Cadet is due in large part to the beautiful lines of the clinker-built timber hull.

In 1974 Jack Gutierrez, an RBYC club member and boat builder, recognised the virtues of fibreglass construction materials and after much deliberation it was decided to build a hull mould and produce the 12 Foot Cadet dinghy in this new and maintenance-free ‘modern’ material.

Further development of the class brought in the use of aluminium spars; large bow and stern buoyancy tanks; the bermudan rig to replace the traditional dipping lugsail configuration; larger spinnakers, swing blade rudders and lightweight aluminium centreplates, and more recently the side buoyancy tanks.

Some of Australia’s foremost sailors have made their start in sailing through the Cadet programs at their respective clubs. Respected elder statesmen of Australian sailing such as Andrew Palfrey, Jock Sturrock MBE, Sir James Hardy KBE OBE, Nick Chapman, Ian Quartermain, Tony Manford, Warren Young, Howard Pigott, Glenn Stanway and just about every one of the Muir clan from Tasmania.

As a recognised one-design training class, the specifications are tightly controlled. This ensures competitive racing and controlled cost of ownership and maintenance. Close adherence to the specifications also allows parts and rigging to be interchanged in the event of breakage or damage and keeps fleet management simple and low cost.

The boats are maintained as a fleet with no exotic materials or expensive parts – everything is standard and low tech. To sail the new generation Cadet is a delight for all sailors, simply put she is a beautiful boat to sail.

Return on investment for the club

The program delivers competent crews for the keel boat fleet; the juniors learn seamanship and competition racing; and they are developing club members for life.

The RBYC Cadet youth program is a ready-made program fully documented with policy, protocol and specifications, recommended parts lists and build notes. It is about as optimized as a youth program can be and after 83 years, looking as good as it ever did.

Parents enjoy the program too. They get to see their children develop as they learn to manage risk in their adventures. Their self-esteem and confidence grows under the guidance of different role models from their home or school. They learn to respect their friends and the equipment they use. All crews are expected to participate in the annual maintenance period during the month of May when all spars are rubbed back and polished; timber brightwork is sanded and varnished. There is always the look of pride in a job well done at the end of May as they take a couple of months off.

After 83 years, the Australian 12 Foot Cadet Dinghy youth program is well and truly time-tested and still produces a strong teenager engagement. It is all about fun, adventure, excitement, teamwork, physical challenge, leadership and of course, social. If sailing wasn’t so much fun, why do we bother getting so wet?

- Ray Smith