Junior Learn-to-Sail
by Nicole Claas Moore
GMSC’s junior sailing camp was held in June with twenty-six young sailors in attendance, along with a handful of instructors and a slew of volunteers making it all happen. We had a bad storm last summer that damaged many of our Optis and Sunfish, and Jeremy Shapley and Neal & Amber Zeman spent countless hours leading up to the class repairing them. The next time you see them at the lake, please extend your thanks for their generous and hard work.
This summer’s session was led by Nicholas Feddersen, a US Sailing certified instructor from Charlotte, NC. Assisting Nicholas with instruction were Lou Shapley, Caroline Michaels, and Charlie Mulhollan, all graduates of GMSC’s junior program and all second or third generation sailors. Throughout the week, they worked together to teach, rig, unrig, and herd.
Our week began with an introduction to Lake Maumelle by Central Arkansas Water’s Bryan Rupar followed by the students’ swim test along the t-dock. Then, Nicholas taught the parts of the boat by rigging an Opti and a Sunfish on shore. The wind didn’t show up but the heat did, so the conditions were perfect for learning how to right a boat. Capsize drills proved to be the theme of the week!
Our young sailors learned how to tie knots, enjoyed “Watergun Wednesday,” and the Sunfish group got to sail to Westrock Marina for a snack while the Opti group put their sailing skills to the test gathering up rubber duckies and tennis balls. Throughout the week, the four instructors took notes of which paper plate award might be fitting for each of our students. On Thursday afternoon, the instructors brought their craft boxes and spent a few hours at the clubhouse drawing these creative and fun awards, including such favorites as “Capsize Queen” and “Smooth Sailor.”
Friday morning, a thunderstorm cooled everything down. We retreated to the clubhouse and had chalk-talk about how to start a race and how to sail around a racecourse. Once the storm had passed, the wind stuck around and the races were on! Having had light air all week, it was interesting to see who was able to sail not only downwind but back upwind, too. The Sunfish fleet sailed two races and the overall winner was Samuel Shapley – he’s a “Knotty Boy,” but he’s fast! In the Opti fleet, one of our youngest sailors who sailed alone, Lyle Meek, our “Lone Wolf,” came out on top!
The closing ceremony was held at the clubhouse to recognize our sailors completing the weeklong camp. We had lunch and awards on the deck, giving out paddles as trophies to our race winners and a paper plate award to each student. These awards were a big hit and we are thankful to last year’s instructors, Stephanie Griffin and Will Bryant, for bringing this funny and colorful new tradition to our junior program. Each one of these awards is special and you can see them all in the photos linked below. The one that stood out to me this year was the “Quick Thinker” award, which went to Fiona Fiser, the brave new sailor who jumped in to retrieve an Opti that had sailed off without a skipper!
We had a lot of help from our GMSC volunteers, including teens, parents, grandparents, and other club members. A huge thank you to Shelby Bellew, James Corriveau, Neil Jones, Katelyn Nigus, David Nigus, Jeff Olm, Jeremy Shapley, Werner Schwarz, Delinda Simmons, Art Speckles, Linda VanBlaricom, and Neal Zeman. A special thanks to all the parents and grandparents who brought their kids out each day for the class and who recognize that sailing is not only a wonderful, lifelong sport but, also, that these young sailors are the future of GMSC.
The next step to improving sailing skills is time on the water! Junior sailors are encouraged to attend Wednesday Night Tiller Time and older students might be interested in crewing. If your child would like to crew, please contact fleet captains or come out on a race day. Another great way to learn about sailing is to volunteer for Race Committee, and the next opportunity is during the Labor Day regatta. If interested, please contact Greg Hamilton or Tracy Sykes. |