Getting the Whole Family Involved with Junior Sailing

This Article by Andrew Nelson Appeared in the February 2016 issue of 48° North Magazine.

 

Some of my fondest memories growing up were sailing with my dad and the crew of White Squall. It wasn’t about winning, but having fun and spending time with my extended “boat family.” Eating mildly warm beef stew out of mug and sleeping aboard the night before the race were all part of the experience. Fewer and fewer junior sailors come from sailing families or have access to boats outside of class hours. That means most of today’s young sailors never get to enjoy sailing with their parents. While that’s a troubling sign for the long term health of our sport, there are plenty of junior sailing programs trying to reverse this trend and get families on the water together again.

 

To the increasingly busy American family, junior sailing is often just one more stop on the minivan’s route to work. At the end of the day, sailors are whisked away, perhaps changing in the car as the family rushes Suzy to her soccer game. At the end of the week- long “learn to sail” program, little Suzy goes home and puts her completion certificate on the refrigerator. There it hangs next to the other awards she earned from rock climbing, jujitsu, and math camp. Next week she’s off to a week-long music camp.

 

It’s hard for an activity to stick when it’s just one of many that a child is constantly bombarded with. Sure there are those children who get really excited about sailing and want to do nothing else, but they are the exception. And in the world of junior sailing we rely heavily on these exceptions! However, if we really want to develop more lifelong sailors we need to engage children and parents together, so that sailing becomes more than just another activity, sailing becomes family time. How is this possible when most junior sailors come from families that don’t sail?