Youth sailing

Optimist (6 – 10 years old)
If sailing seems cool to you and you are not 10 years old yet, we have an optimist especially for you. This is a boat in which you will learn to sail all by yourself. Of course, the instructor will always be nearby, but you are your own captain. Wearing a cool life vest and wetsuit the stirring is all up to you.

During this course you will learn all of the ins and outs of sailing in a calm and most of all fun way. Our instructors are especially trained to work with kids and make sure it will be an amazing week! The lessons will be held with a maximum of 5 kids per instructor, we do this so there is a sufficient amount of attention for all of the kids.

Laser Pico (11 – 13 years old)
All captains that are too old (11 and older)and too big for the optimist will sail the fast and sporty Laser Pico for two persons. Wetsuit and life vest (from the sailing school) on and go! Very fast and fun to sail a week with your friend of course.

The Laser Pico is a lot faster and quickly we will explore more of the lake, a real adventure! The lessons are given in groups of max. 6 kids (so 3 boats) with who you will swich around a lot. No worriess if you want to stay with your friend, we will take this into account!

Project Black Bird

Are you between 12 and 17 years old and do you want to sail a cool and fast boat? Than at Zeilschool Zuidlaardermeer de keelboat discipline is perfect for you! You can read about Project Black Bird down here.

The interest for the Valk decreased a lot over the years. Where previously would be a fleet of 8 boats, nowadays stay down to only two. We do not only see this at our sailing school but at other sailing schools too in the rest of the country. The current trend is that the students are getting more active and an increase is seen at the dinghy discipline. The keelboat discipline unfortunately stayed behind and is being seen as old fashioned or boring.

We as a sailing school decided to make a change! With Project Black Bird we want to put a new life into the keelboat. The project is in full development but has shown to be a success already! Aside to a full new look and feel, two Valks had a complete upgrade. Think about a trapeze, hanging bands, new sails and a gaff of 20m2

But with that only we’re not there yet. Also the way of teaching has changed and there is a dinghy like mentality. More action, no instructor in the boat next to you but at distance, so you get more responsibility over your boat! Shortly, if you want to sail an amazing boat this is your chance!

Windsurfing

Would you enjoy racing over water with a surfboard? And are you between 12 and 17 years old? Are you not afraid of getting wet? Than you could be a real HENK and windsurfing is perfect for you!

At Zeilschool Zuidlaardermeer we only sail with good and new material, so no old surfing sails held together by ducktape! As a beginner you will sail with our trainer sails from 3 m2 t/m 5 m2 made from dacron. But if you get a little experienced you are allowed to sail with monofilm sails from the brand Severne Sails! The surfboards we use are from the brand starboard, perfect to learn how to surf but allows experienced surfers to rock too!

The lessons are build up so you first get to know the basis so you are able to sail independently when the lessons move to other locations where there is more wind or a better opportunity to do tricks. The lessons are given in groups of max. 5 students so there is enough attention for everyone.

The dinghy discpline

Do you want to go hard and sail actively? Do you find it fun to sail over the lake together? Than the dinghy discipline is perfect for you! For students from 13-17 years old.

Sailing with a dinghy includes hanging in the trapeze, go very hard and sail with a genaker for even more fun and speed. At our sailing school we have two different kinds of boats. For the young students we have the RS Feva, an international competition class which is used all over the world. For the experienced and older students we have the Laser Vago that is even more challenging.

Competition sailing is an important part of dinghy sailing and will therefore also be teached. Apart from the active sailing of course there is room for fun! The groups of mac. 6 students per instructor make sure you will get enough personal attention, next to that we do not work with switching around so you are always able to sail!