Sarasota kids do some smooth sailing at summer camp

As the campers steer their small, single-crew boats away from land and out to open water on Sarasota Bay, they pull down their buffs or remove their masks and take a big breath of fresh air. Luckily, social distancing is simple when you’re on a boat solo.

For campers at Sarasota Youth Sailing, summer is progressing as nearly normal amidst a global pandemic — with a few key safety measures. 

“We were committed to offering something for our youth since we’re 100% outdoors,” executive director Mary Trichter said. “We feel like we owed it to the community to offer something and we feel really confident that what we have is safe for campers and families.” 

Getting things started at the beginning of camp (which takes half the amount of kids as normal) takes a bit longer now, as campers remain in their car, with face coverings on everyone in their vehicle, as coaches and counselors take temperatures and perform a COVID-19 screening — questions on if they’ve been feeling ill or have come into contact with anyone who is ill — before the campers can exit the cars. Once out, they must keep their face coverings on while on land and practice social distancing from their counselors and fellow campers and even take scheduled bathroom breaks to prevent kids from being indoors around each other. Even their boats are theirs alone, and they have the same vessel for all of camp. 

“The parents have been supportive,” Trichter said. “They get it, they’re just happy we’re running something. Kids are just used to the carline from school and they had all been hearing about face masks and social distancing. Some kids struggled because they’d been inside for so long, but it was even more affirmation that kids need exercise and fresh air.” 

For the sailors, all the safety precautions don’t put a damper on camp. Once they take to the water, putting their new knowledge to use, it’s almost the same as any other summer. It’s a lot better than virtual school and you can make friends at a distance, said camper Darius Harandi, 10. 

“This camp is a lot of fun, especially the way you can go super fast when it’s a windy day,” Opti II sailor Darius Harandi. “Sometimes we sail to the sandbar and stay there for a while.” 

The coronavirus responsible for the pandemic is thought to not spread as easily outdoors, where breezes can mix up the air more than indoors, so sea breezes and single-crew skiffs seem a safe bet for many. Trichter said there are fewer fleets this year so kids are in a boat manned by them alone and perhaps trying out something they otherwise wouldn’t. Samuel Long, 12, is in his fourth year of SYS camp but is trying the open skiff this year, something he’s not super familiar with. 

“(Camp is) enjoyable but not the same for sure,” Long said. “When you had red tide you could see it but here with COVID you can’t. Out on the water it’s nice and a lot safer. You can’t get close (to other people) unless your boat gets really close somehow.” 

Long, who said he was quite bored of quarantine, is grateful to have a safe activity for the summer but knows he has to remain careful. His mother has an autoimmune disease and is at a higher risk for complications from the virus, so when he gets home from camp, he washes down, changes clothes and scrubs his hands, just to make sure. 

“Our focus this year was to keep kids on the water,” Trichter said. “It was more like, ‘OK, we can do this, we can be that camp that can responsibly and safely do this.’”