[alberg30] Kids and sailing

Sat Dec 9 00:26:02 PST 2000

I would like to make two points about kid's programs and Parry Sound.

First, as a high school principal with 29 years in education, I cannot agree more with the principle that programs like these are the best thing we all can do for our children.  It has very little to do with sailing and everything to do with providing an exciting positive activity run by adults for children.  It is important that kids see us adults as providing an activity that is exciting to them and shows the adults in a positive light.  The little leagues of the world in which the parents argue all the time become very destructive to kids in the long run.  The world would be better off without these programs.  In my town both Little League Baseball and Football are dying an agonizing death due to adults who would rather have the kids win than have fun.  In the meantime two new programs, soccer and hockey, have grown tremendously.  I have six kids.  While none of them played hockey, all have played soccer.  In the hundreds of games I've attended I have never heard one discouraging word directed at a player, coach or official.  It is not allowed by rules and the league officials have backed the rules by not letting negative adults participate.  In a small town (3,500 with 10,000 in the surrounding area) this is a difficult thing to do.  Our league does it to the great benefit of the kids.  As a result we have over 1,000 kids involved in soccer and probably that many involved in hockey.  Kudos to Parry Sound for their program.  I have visited Parry Sound twice.  I hope I get to visit Parry Sound again and see this program in action.

Second, I am new to sailing but I am familiar with the North Channel/Georgian Bay area by way of sea kayaking.  It is my favourite place on earth and anyone interested in sea kayaking or sailing should visit this area at least one time in their life.  It doesn't surprise me that Parry Sound has a good program for kids in their town.  As impressed as I am with the natural beauty of the area, I am more impressed with the character and personality of the Canadians in that part of the country.  It is truly a superb place to visit.  And besides, Parry Sound has the good judgement to put an Alberg 30 as the first picture on their web-site.

John Bailey
"Zevulun"  #33 

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Marianne King-Wilson 
  To: alberg30 at egroups.com 
  Sent: Friday, December 08, 2000 9:37 PM
  Subject: [alberg30] Kids and sailing

  > 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]

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