Camp Trains Budding Sailors
Mike Costanza  |  Lakeshore News Writer

SODUS - August 3, 2011 - Harrison Van De Walle speaks of sailing with a poise that belies his years.
“It just connects you to nature, and the water,” the 10-year-old says.  The Alton youth took to the water on July 26 with the Sodus Bay Junior Sailing Association’s summer sailing camp. The camp runs from the end of June to the beginning of August, says SBJSA president Mike Foley, and everyone from a third-grader to an 18-year-old can enroll. The SBJSA runs the camp at its headquarters in the Village of Sodus Point.  

Foley says instruction at the sailing camp begins with the rudiments of seamanship.  
“We begin with the absolute basics of learning to sail-knot tying, keeping an eye on the weather,” he explained. 

From there, students proceed to learn to sail three types of boats, Foley says, each of which demands different skills. Beginners start with the Opti, a blunt-nosed 8-foot craft that is stable enough to be forgiving. What is the Opti like to sail? Harrison, who joined the SBJSA two years ago, pronounced it “a great beginners’ boat, though a little small.”  
Once a student has mastered the Opti, he or she can begin learning to pilot the 12-foot Laser, a boat that calls for much greater skill. “They race Lasers in the Olympics,” Foley says.

With perseverance and hard work, a student can eventually qualify for instruction in sailing the top of the SBJSA’s fleet, the International 420. The craft’s name comes from its length-4.2 meters, or just under 14 feet. The boat requires a crew of two.

“That is the standard collegiate boat for college or university sailing,” Foley says.  SBJSA’s top students can qualify for places on one of its three traveling racing teams. Foley says club members have also participated in the Junior Olympics of the United States Sailing Association in Florida. “It’s the highest-classification event held in the United States for junior sailors,” he explained. Holly Stevens has grown to be a veteran sailor through the SBJSA.  “I’ve been going there since I was in the 4th grade,” Stevens says.  

Stevens eventually became a paid instructor for the sailing, and was recently promoted to Head-of-Sail. Though Stevens is now in charge of the SBJSA’s learn-to-sail curriculum, she still gets to teach the club’s younger students.  
“The fun part is being able to watch them learn what is going on with the water, (and) what is going on with the sail,” she says.  

Sail campers received an additional thrill last week, when the SBJSA hosted the Central New York Interclub Junior Regatta. Foley says that as many as 17 sailing clubs from all over the region raised sail and headed out into Sodus Bay to compete. Though the wind picked up, the youths managed to fit in three races.
Foley says 97 students have enrolled in SBJSA’s sailing camp thus far, but that the club will admit new students throughout the summer, and scholarships are available. For more information, go to www.sbjsa.org.