[alberg30] Kids and sailing

[Marianne King-Wilson]

> Your plan to get
>   sailors involved in a local, grass roots type of program is a step in the
>   right direction, and even if it is only a few kids that are reached, it will
>   be better than if no one had done anything at all.
>
This IS possible!  Our little club of fewer than 50 people was formed three years
ago, to bring sailing to Parry Sound on Georgian Bay. (About ten of our members
concentrate their efforts on the school, while the rest are involved in race
management.) We've had great success in attracting sailing races, but the real
surprise was how well the sailing school has done.

In our little town of 6500, with an outlying population of another 25,000,
augmented by the many thousands of cottagers in this area, we've had no trouble
filling the 200 places in the school each year--mostly with local kids.  Not only
that, but 22 boats have been donated outright to the school, including a fleet of
10 new Optis.  (The Optimist club has not yet participated by buying boats.)

Dozens of local businesses, most of whose proprietors do not sail, have helped
with donations and gifts.   The idea of teaching kids to sail really caught their
imagination.

Every adult sailor in the area has chipped in in one way or another.
The Town gave us a piece of the Town Beach, (parking, washrooms, snack bar,
lifeguard and lunchtime swimming available) and the Coast Guard let us put the
boats in a fenced enclosure at night.

Now we have developed homegrown instructors.  The lessons have extended into the
evenings, and we are teaching adults as well.
This has always been a great boating town, but now these people and their kids,
are learning to sail.

Importantly, there are community organizations which will confidentially
supplement the cost of lessons for kids who need help.  The cost is no barrier.

When I grew up in this town, kids complained there was nothing to do.  I had a
boat, and I was never bored. Today, kids complain there is nothing to do, and
then they discover sailing! They are on the water, not on the street, and not
watching TV.

Our motto is "a better community through sailing", and a major part of that is
that children learn all the skills and confidence and self-reliance of sailing,
and they have an enhanced sense of self-worth.
I'm preaching to the converted, here, I realize.  But only a few people can make
a powerful difference; you'd be amazed!

Marianne King-Wilson---Windward #369
http://www.SailParrySound.on.ca


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]


-------------------------- eGroups Sponsor -------------------------~-~>
eGroups eLerts
It's Easy. It's Fun. Best of All, it's Free!
http://click.egroups.com/1/9698/1/_/476031/_/976329438/
---------------------------------------------------------------------_->



 976329458.0