summer youth sailing

Summer is coming — and the Bay is waiting for your kids! Whether you live in the North Bay, or right on the water in Alameda County, summer youth sailing is at the heart of Bay Area sailing. started," recalls Lum. That makes feeling safe out on the water quite an accomplishment — not to mention her becoming a lead instructor at the club.

Treasure Island Sailing Center Treasure Island Sailing Center mainly services locals in San Francisco and area schools, but is looking to develop a more inclusive environment. Like ACSC, TISC is host to the US Sailing Siebel Sailing Program, but their aim is to recruit more diverse instructors who are mentors and role models. TISC is also developing a unique program called Treasure Island Maritime Education that will build sailing and boat-work skills. Its goal is to expose high-school-aged sailors to build diverse skills such as rigging and fiberglass work, and to help them understand Coast Guard career options.

Beyond sailing, Treasure Island Sailing Center has been a pioneer with their Set Sail Learn STEM training program for 4th graders. More than 6,000 San Francisco Unified School District fourth graders have been given the chance to sail on and learn about San Francisco Bay through TISC's one-day SSL STEM program. Sailing combines with environmental stewardship for maximum fun and impact in the protected waters of Clipper Cove. To support its efforts to broaden the base with more inclusive sailing access, TISC offers an extensive scholarship program with scholarships offered for up to 80% of past participants.

Sailing Education Adventures In Marin County, Sailing Education Adventures (SEA) is a nonprofit community sailing club dedicated to environmental and sail training. SEA launched in 1976, but their youth programs began in 1984 and have been popular from Day One. SEA is based out of Loch Lomond Yacht Harbor at the mouth of San Rafael Creek. They serve North Bay dwellers, mainly from Marin and Sonoma counties, who are looking for access to the water. Since 2012, SEA founder Jane Piereth has worked to revitalize their youth programming, and to make sure SEA is a safe place for families to come together and learn. Board members take an active role as sailing camp parents, and sail campers' parents can come and help run the youth sailing camps. Piereth noted that many times parents fall in love with the sport from seeing the joy and satisfaction their kids experience during camp. "I can't tell you how many times we had kids who were reluctant to come to camp the first day," explains Piereth. "By the end of the week, they want their parents to buy a boat!" But camp is more than being a fine technical sailor. Each camp ends with a sort of graduation ceremony. Piereth remarks, "We do three awards: most improved, best sailor, and best shipmate, which is described as the person in camp with whom you'd feel comfortable sailing to Hawaii in a leaky Laser. It's about having good sailing skills, but really more about being a good person to sail with." Their summer programs fill fast, announced in the spring ahead of the peak summer season. Sail camp kids get access to the SEA fleet: Catalina 16 keelboats, 14-ft RS Quest dinghies, and sometimes the "wanna-be tall ship," the Kitty Sark.

San Francisco Yacht Club If you're looking for sailing with a more competitive focus, the San Francisco Yacht Club (SFYC) in Belvedere is a great spot. SFYC has a strong history of competitive sailors, with graduates sailing in national, international, and Olympic competitions. It's big — the biggest junior program in the Bay and the secondlargest on the West Coast, according to Abby Featherstone, SFYC's youth program director. Last summer, even with COVID-19, SFYC saw almost 90 kids a day for their land school and Opti team programming.

Alameda County Sailing Center The island community in Alameda is home to many water people: stand-up paddlers, swimmers and kayakers. But connecting the community to sailing has proven to be the main challenge in building the youth program at Alameda County Sailing Center. "It's very important to get more people into sailing," says program director Emily Zugnoni, "especially people who don't come from sailing families, and those who don't even know what a yacht club is." Of course, the dream is that kids will fall in love with the sport, the water, and the community and eventually bring their own children and grandchildren to sail. All it takes is the curiosity of one kid looking for fun to introduce a new generation of sailors to the community. Last year saw the launch of a new US Sailing Initiative to get youth into sailing who are traditionally underrepresented in sailing clubs. San Francisco Bay is one of the regions designated for three Siebel Sailor Programs, including ACSC. "We are trying to build people ACSC who love sailing, and care about the water," says Zugnoni. "People who want to try new things, and get outside their comfort zones." Sailing campers play games, do drills, have adventures, and grow into responsible, brave young adults. One would think that funding would be the biggest barrier to getting children on the water. According to Zugnoni, "Finding scholarship money is not the problem. The hard part is finding scholarship recipients!" Meet Kyla Lum, 17, and a high school senior from Alameda. She started sailing at ACSC in the sixth grade, the age girls typically drop the sport. As a young sailor, she enjoyed all the games and really admired her instructors. "I learned pretty much all I know at ACSC," says Lum. "They taught me enough to be able to teach sailing to kids now. I really enjoy it." She describes the laid-back atmosphere at the club, where they find a balance between learning and making learning fun, but also being pushed out of her comfort zone. "I wasn't a strong swimmer when I

Kyla Lum started with ACSC in 6th grade and is now an instructor showing the way.

JOSHUA LEIHE

TISC Strong! Treasure Island sailors get ready to sail.

Left: In the fall, pumpkins are a critical part of the sailing school harvest. Center: The 'Matthew Turner' gives young people their time on the big wheel. Right: SFYC sailors getting rigged and ready.

Luckily for these kids, SFYC has a lot of land on their property where they were able to set up socially distant outdoor classrooms, complete with tables, chairs, and whiteboards.

SFYC is, above all, a resource to help kids explore the sport of sailing. And if they like the sport, there is a world of opportunity to discover. Featherstone herself was a socially motivated young sailor who went on to race competitively. "I always tell parents, eventually your kid will be competitive in something, but the important thing is to give kids the freedom to discover the sport. The competitive side of things will come." Featherstone also notes that sailing is about community, emphasizing the important role coaches take as mentors and instructors. Sailing can take young sailors all over the world. Bay Area kids compete each year, going through team trials to qualify for international regattas. In the past, one SFYC sailor went to Argentina, and others have gone to Holland, Spain and Lake Garda in Italy. SFYC is a proven local launching spot for students who are serious about racing. SFYC works with a nonprofit called the Belvedere Cove Foundation to offer scholarship money. The scholarships are available for those who want to apply for any sailing programs throughout the Bay. But the foundation is also a major funding source for racing, from helping to fund sailing lessons to supporting sailors at the Olympic level. Call of the Sea Also sailing San Francisco Bay among the racers and the cruisers are schooners that look as if they sailed right out of the 1890s. Kids can sail the Matthew Turner — a sustainable wooden tall ship, complete with tall masts, square sails, and rigging that looks like a pirate ship to the untrained eye. Built by Call of the Sea in Sausalito, and commissioned to provide on-the-water and landside marine ecology and local history education, the Matthew Turner offers a rare opportunity to set sail on a tall ship. Call of the Sea also purchased Seaward, an 82-ft classic staysail schooner built in 1988. She can comfortably sleep 12 on overnight trips. When COVID-19

Spacious docks and plenty of Bay access give kids a great escape from San Francisco Yacht Club.

hit, Seaward adapted to the new county regulations — no more overnight trips, but they did host three-week summer day camps for 12 students. Besides maskwearing, sanitizing between groups, and other social-distancing measures, Call of the Sea also asked for a community commitment from young sailors. They requested that families treat camp as a pod. Sylvia Stewart Stompe, who has worked with Call of the Sea since the construction of Matthew Turner in 2017, recalls, "We had a camper who wanted to go to martial arts class [the same week], but we had to say, 'Sorry, it's one or the other.' He ended up going to martial arts camp over Zoom and came sailing with us!"

The focus of the tall-ship programs is experiential: Students learn about marine biology and the rich maritime history of the Bay hands-on from the deck of these historical vessels. The seamanship is just an added bonus! Kids in the Aloft programs, including an all-girls group called Girls Aloft, start with deckhand basics, like coiling lines, and end up sailing the high Bay seas, going aloft and exploring the ship.

Phones are put away for their programs. Sailors on schooners in the 1890s didn't text while sailing, and neither do

JOSHUA LEIHE

TISC sails in flat water and sunny skies in the shadow of the city.

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Call of the Sea sailors! Stewart Stompe laughs about how this is such an important lesson for kids. "We get these feedback forms after camps. One read, 'I didn't know you could have fun without your phone.' "

Call of the Sea is working hard to be an inclusive, accessible opportunity for underserved youth. "We're in conversation with all kinds of organizations with the goal of providing access," says Stewart Stompe. "The main objective is equal access. We raise money for scholarships to bring groups out, and are very much committed to inclusivity." Call of the Sea founder Alan Olson wanted to provide access to the ocean with the aim of developing the deep love of the ocean and stewardship.

Sailing is an adventure. It is fun and games, but the personal growth achieved on a boat lasts a lifetime: teamwork, courage, and overcoming fears. Whether you're looking for racing, community sailing, or more educational sailing, the Bay Area has extensive resources. Latitude 38 has created a onestop resource to discover the right club for you this spring and summer. Check out a complete list of Bay Area youth sailing opportunities here: https://www. latitude38.com/feature/san-franciscoyouth-sailing/.

LYON OMOHUNDRO

The kids learning how to coil a line aboard the 'Matthew Turner.'

— heather breaux

FAIRBAIRN ROXANNE

Colorful and calm at SFYC.

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