- April 29, 2024
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A crowd of young sailors, along with their parents, gathered at Sarasota Youth Sailing on City Island for the first weekend of fall practice, Aug. 19-20.
Most of the sailors were fresh off the summer sailing camps that ran from June 5 to Aug. 4 and full of excitement as their coaches led the first chalk talks of the season.
SYS held six camps throughout the summer separated by age group and skill level: Tadpoles, 5-6 years old; Level 1 Optimist, 7- to 12-year-old beginner sailors; and Level 2 Optimist for 8- to 12-year-old intermediate sailors. 420 Basics and Beyond is for 13- to 18-year-old beginners. Adventure Sailing and O’Pen Skiffs are more relaxed camps for mixed-age groups.
“This is the entry point to our program,” said Program Director Megan Swick. “Summer camp is for beginning sailing and honing your skills and exploring different boats for the first time that maybe you're not used to.”
While hosting 350 children for the summer camps, SYS has around 80 sailors on their racing teams year-round.
The entry-level team is the Optimist Green Fleet racing team with children who are 8 to 12 years old. The Optimist Red White and Blue team is the highest level program with mostly returning students in the same age range. SYS also has a high school club that practices on Tuesdays and opportunities for college students as well.
“Sailing is an art,” said Swick. “When you see these kids push off by themselves for the first time, you can see that in their faces as their confidence builds up.”
Practice is from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. every Saturday. They start with a coach-led chalk talk about a specific sailing skill. The sailors will also do land drills, go over their progress, things they need to work on and the plans for the day. Then they will prepare their boats and set sail. Once sailing is finished, the coach will give an evaluation of the day.
“We work on a lot of team building,” said Swick. “Sailors in the high school, for example, who are on the 420 racing team, they're in a boat together. So kids do build strong relationships by counting on each other as a skipper or crew, and possibly sailing together for years as partners traveling through the program together. We have a lot of coaches and also sailors that have had long-lasting, wonderful friendships.”
Swick said that they always have a mix of new and returning sailors but, once they join a team, the sailors become dedicated to the sport. They will usually grow up together on these racing teams and volunteer to coach the teams when they are old enough.
“Most of our coaches are former sailors of ours,” said Swick. “Coaches have a great experience in our program as sailors and racing sailors. It is hard to find coaches outside of our programs because anyone who's qualified to coach with us is someone who has learned to sail from us.”
SYS was started by the Luffing Lassies, a women's sailing group from Sarasota Sailing Squadron formed in the 1970s. Swick said that these women started teaching their children how to sail since they would always tag along on their boats. The SYS race team was formed in 1994.
Currently, SYS has a three-year plan to build a new education building that will better serve their students. Swick said that it is something that is still in the works but that everyone is excited for a new era of SYS.
“My favorite part of the job is just watching the kids gain a sense of independence and love for sailing,” said Swick. “They may have come into the program, timid or afraid of capsizing or tipping, but they all really grow and find that confidence and sense of independence through handling their own boat.”
