Juniors

The newly formed Guilford Sailing Team, which launched in September 2021 as a club sport for sailors at Guilford High School in Guilford, CT, is off to an amazing start! The team’s first fall season is well underway with a roster of eight enthusiastic and talented sailors. Guilford Yacht Club has generously provided a home base for the team, with practices held three days a week after school. This location is fantastic, providing the sailors easy access…

Story & photos by Rick Bannerot I’ve had the pleasure of photographing sailing on western Long Island Sound for 20+ years, ranging from Opti dinghies to Maxi yachts and just about everything in between. I am routinely gobsmacked by the growth of junior sailing, particularly juniors sailing on, and in fact actually sailing “big boats” ranging from keelboats like Sonars on the small side to 60-foot bluewater distance racers. Adult racers and cruisers always seem to be…

A Stopover at the RS Feva Class North American & JSA of LIS Feva Championships Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, CT hosted the 2021 RS Feva Class North American Championship and the Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound Feva Championship on July 29 & 30. The day before the regatta, sailors attended a US Sailing sponsored clinic led by coach Mackenzie McGuckin, to practice and refine their boat handling skills on these sporty 12-foot youth…

By Emma Janson, Sailors for the Sea Skipper The actions and voices of young people across the globe are providing hope for the future of our oceans and waterways. Through Sailors for the Sea’s Clean Regattas program, youth sailors have stepped up to become leaders for environmental stewardship in their local communities. Emma Janson, a volunteer Skipper for Sailors for the Sea, shares her take on why every youth regatta should become a Clean Regatta. As a youth…

New England Science & Sailing is Celebrating 20 Years of Innovative Education If you sail into Stonington Harbor in eastern Connecticut in the summer months, you might mistake New England Science & Sailing (NESS) for a summer camp, with children sailing, wading in tidal pools with fish nets, and kayaking about. Yet, while it may resemble a camp-like experience, there is a deep educational structure behind everything that NESS does year-round. And that tenet will be nicely…

By Mischa van Berkel Started in 2013 with a group of Optimist sailors who could not get enough of sailing during the summer, MudRatz has developed into an organization that offers a full learn-to-race program for junior sailors in eastern Connecticut. Complementary to the local youth sailing programs, MudRatz provides the opportunity to extend the sailing season with racing practice sessions in both spring and fall. We strive to provide a positive and fun environment where sailors…

Strict protocols and grateful sailors Larchmont Yacht Club Mainsheet     Larchmont Yacht Club in Larchmont, NY hosted the Optimist Atlantic Coast Championship October 2-4, the first USODA championship regatta of this size since March. Regatta chairs, Ned and Dorsey Roseberry and Senet Bischoff, began their thoughtful preparations three years ago and adapted those plans with each shifting wind of the COVID storm. Normally drawing hundreds of Optis from across the country, this year’s ACC was capped…

By Todd Vorenkamp, NESS Communications & Public Relations Director   Despite the global COVID pandemic the New England Science and Sailing Foundation (NESS), with proper precautions and an emphasis on mask wearing and social distancing, was able to pull off a successful 9th Annual Catch-A-Curl Youth Surf competition at Westerly Town Beach in Westerly, RI on Saturday, September 19 with a record 53 young surfers competing for glory. As the event nears a decade as a local…

Editor’s note: This article, from the JibeTalk blog and reprinted with the kind permission of our friends at the Junior Sailing Association of Long Island Sound, evokes great memories of our own junior sailing days. The summer of 2020 has been both a challenge and a different experience for our junior sailors. COVID-19 has brought with it the need for “social distancing,” masks, buffs, curtailment of some very large regatta experiences and a lot more. On the…

By Caroline Conzatti, CBC Assistant Director “CBC has been a huge confidence boost for me in the past four years. Sailing makes me feel more free and like I can overcome obstacles. I love to share this feeling with others.” – Carlyn, CBC Junior Instructor     Community Boating Center, Inc. in New Bedford, MA is a youth mentorship and outreach organization that uses boating and the marine environment to involve kids in safe, fun learning experiences….