Club racing

AB racing is where children learn the basic skills and the racing rules — sailors work up through four levels, from sharing a boat with a parent to single-handed racing.

Fleet levels

A sailor's level is shown by a colour-coded tally at the mast head, so the safety boats can see at a glance who is who on the water.6

CAP

Red tally

Child and parent — a gentle introduction, sailing round inflatable toys.

Bronze

Blue tally

Children sailing solo or double-handed with a friend, with help from parent volunteers on the water.

Silver

Light grey tally

For those confident on the water and keen to learn about racing.

Gold

Yellow tally

Single-handed sailors concentrating on race technique.

Before you can race

Every boat has to pass the same checks at the start of the season.5

Annual buoyancy test — the boat is rigged and laid on each side for three minutes with a suitably dressed child aboard, on set days in the first week of the season.
Foam bumper on the bow.
Visible sail number.
Colour-coded mast-head tally showing the sailor’s fleet level.
Current year’s club yard sticker on the transom.
A correctly fitted buoyancy aid, appropriate to the sailor’s weight, with every strap, buckle and zip done up.
Proper footwear — no flip-flops or wellies.

The courses

These are the courses the fleet sails — the real marks, the real start line, and the track a boat is actually steered round. Every mark is left to port, and the ring shows the zone: three boat lengths out, where the mark-room rules switch on. The sausage is the one used most often.

SausageTriangle

Fig. 06 — Sausage, signal B1

Signal B1Reach out to starboard, round 1a and 1b, then back along the top to 2 and 3.

Sail it yourself →

Who gives way?

Two boats, one puff of wind and about four seconds to decide. Pick a situation, press the button, and watch it play out.

Rule 10Rule 11Rule 18.2

Port gives way to starboard

Two boats beating towards each other on opposite tacks, about four seconds from crossing. Tap to see which one has to move.

Fixtures

Nothing is scheduled at the moment.

This page reads the fleet's own calendar rather than keeping a list of its own, so fixtures appear here as soon as they are added to it — nobody has to remember to update the website. That calendar has not been added to since Fri, 13 Jan 2023.

Subscribe to the fleet calendar to get fixtures in your own diary, or tell us if racing is running and the calendar has fallen behind.

An AB season runs roughly from a first Sunday in spring, through summer series and Youth Week, into autumn racing on Saturdays — the pattern eleven years of that calendar shows.

Results

Youth Week 2026 — Parkstone Yacht Club, 1–7 August 2026. 60 ABs raced across four fleets. Final results, as published by the club.

Gold

4 boats · 15 races · White Fleet results

Youth Week 2026 — AB Gold
Pos	Sail	Helm	Club	Nett
1	417	Hobie Martin	Parkstone YC	19
2	411	Amelie Knibbs	Parkstone YC	27
3	422	Finn Upchurch	Parkstone YC	27
4	331	Oliver Norris	Parkstone YC	34

Silver

8 boats · 15 races · White Fleet results

Youth Week 2026 — AB Silver
Pos	Sail	Helm	Club	Nett
1	303	Evan Bailey	Parkstone YC	17
2	421	Imogen Thorpe	Parkstone YC	24
3	407	Sophie Melhuish	Parkstone YC	36
4	401	Sebastian Thorpe	Parkstone YC	38
5	419	Phoebe Ward-Rose	Parkstone YC	52
6	406	Oliver Steele	Parkstone YC	85
7	312	Leah Jenninhs	Parkstone YC	86
8	418	Atticus Fox	Parkstone YC	86

Bronze

16 boats · 13 races · Blue Fleet Bronze results

Youth Week 2026 — AB Bronze
Pos	Sail	Helm	Club	Nett
1	405	Mia Dixon	Parkstone YC	15
2	330	Amber Marvin	Parkstone YC	19
3	256	Eloise Knibbs	Parkstone YC	54
4	313	Charlie Pollock	Parkstone YC	55
5	322	Pippa Aldred with Holly Davies	Parkstone YC	58
6	63	Isla Southgate	Parkstone YC	59
7	225	Oliver Jones	Parkstone YC	71
8	400	Esme Windett with Lucas Windett	Parkstone YC	78
9	307	Sylvie Clarke with Theo Clarke	Parkstone YC	79
10	252	Eli Gratwick	Parkstone YC	90
11	250	Bernie Pearson with Ollie Lawrence	Poole YC	98
12	415	Wilfred Montgomery	Royal Thames YC/PYC	101
13	412	Sophia Shutte	Parkstone YC	116
14	183	Eva Parsons	Parkstone YC	118
15	235	Ezra Gratwick	Parkstone YC	123
16	318	Angus Hall	Parkstone YC	170

CAP

32 boats · 12 races · Blue Fleet CAP results

Youth Week 2026 — AB CAP
Pos	Sail	Helm	Club	Nett
1	317	Teddy Summers	Parkstone YC	16
2	286	Rosie Burge	Poole YC	25
3	65	Rupert Richards	Parkstone YC	34
4	107	Giovanna Foppa	—	34
5	319	Jasper Pollock	Parkstone YC	39
6	428	Millie Moseley	Parkstone YC	45
7	214	Jolyon Montgomery	Royal Thames YC/PYC	63
8	302	Arthur Williamson	Parkstone YC	74
9	191	George Bursey	Parkstone YC	75
10	430	Aubrey Marvin	Parkstone YC	78
11	67	Benji Pollock	Parkstone YC	81
12	137	Henry Palmer-Haynes	Parkstone YC	83
13	309	Jack Manzo	Poole YC	115
14	216	Jack Walsh	Poole YC	117
15	234	Fred Davies	Parkstone YC	125
16	232	Poppy Bond	RSYC and Netley SC	129
17	314	Frankie Gibbons	Parkstone YC	131
18	68	William Lambert	Parkstone YC	145
19	326	Pippa Gorringe	Parkstone YC	147
20	215	Scarlett Andow	Parkstone YC	150
21	305	Harry Crane	Parkstone YC	154
22	255	Edie Evans	Parkstone YC	159
23	431	Rosanna Kent	Parkstone YC	170
24	50	Finn Walker	Parkstone YC	171
25	316	Freddie Moseley	Parkstone YC	181
26	177	Ottilie Singleton	Parkstone YC	183
27	414	Charlie Powell	Parkstone YC	200
28	221	Jessica Windett	Parkstone YC	207
29	300	Teddy Dorrell	Parkstone YC	224
30	162	Max Southgate	Parkstone YC	233
31	241	Sebastian Evans	Parkstone YC	248
32	425	Abby	Parkstone YC	297

Nett points are the total less each boat's discard, so the lowest score wins. These are the club's results reproduced here — the sheets linked above are the record, and stay current if anything is corrected.

Sailing with us

Starting out

Getting started

Children can start from four or five years old with an adult in the boat, and typically sail ABs up to about twelve.7

Kit

What to wear

Wetsuit, dinghy top, wetsuit boots and a properly fitted buoyancy aid; plus a hat, sunscreen and a water bottle. No flip-flops or wellies.

Parents

Parent duties

Fleets normally run a parent safety rota — confirm what is asked of families and how duties are booked.