Sandringham Yacht Club

Entered my child into the Little Tackers Course 1 to learn about boating and have some fun on the school holidays. He had no experience boating before and it was advertised as under 12 years age group for beginners. It was not a good experience at all and would not recommend it to any potential parent thinking same. Staff my child had were international students who knew a lot about boating but nothing about handling children. Did not listen or observe enough just spoke a million miles an hour so only half of what was said could be understood. On Monday had one teacher and different teacher after that. It was conducted over 5 mornings. There were no morning tea breaks or toilet breaks. No food or water provided. Cold showers. No materials given as advertised. No debriefing when my son was frightened at sea by huge surf. Just told off for saying a rude word which I think was natural under the circumstances. Poor communication from start to finish. Run in very disorganised manner with no set structure. Basically, staff had a very uncaring attitude towards my child and did not consider that being a beginner sailer needs reassurance and encouragement. At the end of the day there was no debriefing for any of the children. Did not follow up with a phone call to see if my child was ok. Very important that a child does not lose confidence in the teacher as the teacher is the only one he or she counts on when out in the sea. Particularly when a beginner. This is exactly what happened to my child. Perhaps a one on one would be better as mast (boom) often swings around banging a beginners head. This happened several times to Hmy child. Not fun. No response to my email. Car parking was $15.00 per day or $5.00 per hour. Cafe was also very expensive. I would recommend sailing but certainly not with Sandringham boating academy as my child's experience put him off sailing not encouraged him. I also had to pay $300.00 for the privilege of doing the course.

The sailing school at Sandringham has excellent facilities and dedicated teachers who can take children from tiny dinghies all the way to the Olympics. Parents are encouraged to help out, or they could just enjoy the excellent caf and other facilities of the extremely large Sandringham clubhouse or the caf down by the pier. The club hosts many national and international sailing titles and has spawned a lot of Olympians.