sailing

Young sailors will have more choices this summer as the Boston Yacht Club expands its summer sailing program for Marblehead youths.

It’s 25 degrees outside and the harbor is a cobalt blue, but inside the Yardarm building, BYC Sailing Director Gareth PetosBunney is thinking about the balmy days of summer.

“We will be expanding our junior sailing program this summer offering four, two-week courses for advanced junior sailors,” he said. In the past the junior sailing program offered a series of two-week courses.

The young sailors go onto the harbor aboard Sonars and Optis to learn the basics. PetrosBunney says the goal is for them to develop a lifelong love of sailing. He is also revising the adventure curriculum to be

99TH ePISODe

more STEM oriented. “This will include science, technology, engineering and math. We will show the youngsters the different shapes and sizes of sails, for instance, and what it takes to move the boat forward in the water.”

After-school sailing in June will be another new offering.

“We are excited about our expanded programs this year,”

Petros-Bunney

The program will be run by six staff members, all residents of Marblehead, according to PetrosBunney. He says he is excited that some of the staff were students in the junior sailing program before.

The program has grown since 2021. In 2020 it was cancelled because of the COVID pandemic.

Last year, there were 84 kids through the summer. The goal is to have 90 youngsters sign up this year.

The 2023 schedule: Session 1 June 26-July 7

» Session 2 July 10-July 20

Session 3 July 24-Aug. 3

Session 4 Aug. 7-Aug. 17