Maleah Brown enjoying a Private Lesson

It has been a busy summer for the Junior Division, not just during Opti Kids, Junior Week, the Junior Olympics and the Race Teams, but also for our Educational Programs following Opti Kids and Junior Week. Our hope at the beginning of the summer was to keep kids on the water learning and having fun after Opti Kids and Junior Week. Parents and sailors could choose from one or all three non-racing programs, and from beginner to advanced. All were great follow-ups to the larger classes of Opti Kids and Junior Week. The primary goal was the same-to encourage kids to fall in love with sailing by having a great time! The programs were taught by our Development Team coaches, Austin Powers, Claire Lennarz and Eric Roos. If the above photo of Maleah is any indication, then we were successful! 

Maleah and Coach Claire

Private Lessons
Our Private Lessons Program has grown into a major part of the summer, and this year we averaged over 8 hours of private instruction a week during the summer! We offered private lessons for any skill level junior, and even adults. The lessons were taught on the club’s Optis, Lasers and 420s, and were tailored to the needs of the individual sailor or small group. While many of the sailors were beginners, we also had older sailors and those looking for a refresher. Demand for private lessons has continued to grow through the years, and despite making an additional coach available this summer, we could not handle all of the requests for lessons. We are making plans to expand the program yet again next summer-and hope to add a keel boat!  

Fun Sail
The Junior Fun Sail was held on July 11th, and although severe thunderstorms threatened, we had three hardy families participate and everyone had a ball under the guidance of Coach Claire. The sailors had a chance to enjoy the water and use some of the skills they learned in Opti Kids and Junior Week. The storms held off, and the day ended with pizza and ice cream!

August OptiWeek Relay Race

August OptiWeek
This was the inaugural summer for August OptiWeek, held August 10th through 13th. The class was designed for kids who were not able to attend Opti Kids or Junior Week, and for those who wanted follow-up instruction late in the summer. The four day class was taught by all three of our Development Team coaches, and seven kids and their families participated. Because of the great teacher to student ratio, every sailor received individualized, hands-on instruction. The weather was perfect, and the parents reported a lot of happy kids-especially after the relay fun race!

The Club would like to thank the coordinators who put these great events together, scheduled the participants, and then ran them: Mary Almany for Private Lessons; Paul Almany for Fun Sail; and Doug and Jennifer Bendura for August OptiWeek; without their dedication and commitment the programs would have never succeeded; and finally, our wonderful Development Team Coaches, who made it so much fun.