Learning to sail is not difficult and a river, so some of the UK’s top sailors claim, is the best place to hone your skills. Minima offers boats, advice and the opportunity to get started.  Having grasped the basics in a few days you will then find that like every other sailor there is always something new to master.  There is nothing better after a busy day at work than to spend time on the Thames focusing on catching the next puff of breeze. 

Minima Yacht Club is an ideal place for sailing as it is not subject to tidal restrictions although the local buildings and trees do present their own challenges. They say if you can sail on a river then you can sail anywhere as your expertise in reading wind shifts and dealing with the resulting breeze will be second to none.

Most Minima members sail dinghies, whilst a growing number opt to paddle a canoe or kayak but membership is not limited to craft of any particular size or even owning a boat at all. There are also opportunities to join the crew of members’ sailing boats in the Solent and elsewhere.  

The club provides a varied programme of events throughout the year designed to enable you to do as little or as much as you wish.  The season starts on the water in March and there is sailing right through until the Boxing Day Fun Race.  During the remaining winter months there are evening talks on racing rules and other topics of interest.  In season Minima offers sailing throughout the week on Wednesday & Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. See our Events Calendar for up to date details.

  

There are also opportunities to learn to drive our two launches which are used to ferry crews across to the dinghy park and patrol the race course. We hold regular training and refresher sessions for all our members at the start of the season and the Boatswain will offer coaching at other times. Volunteers can also train become race officers; setting the courses, capturing entry details, starting the races, timing laps, finishing each boat and calculating the results. The sequence of bells and flags is not as mysterious as it appears, nor is working out the results and once learnt it is a skill any yacht club would welcome.