Mary Anne Ward, Executive Director of Sail Sand Point Community boating center in Seattle, was one of several Northwesterners who recently attend the US Sailing Leadership Forum in St. Pete Beach, Florida. Mary Anne’s a fan (but not uncritical) of the organization. To those of us who don’t attend conferences, but are fierce proponents of sailing, it’s always interesting to hear what’s being and not being done at the national level.
Addiction Treatment?
Ward’s biggest takeaway came from encountering an old friend from New Jersey, Russ Lucas, who’d she had not seen in a while. In the interim, Lucas had struggled and triumphed with addiction, and came out of it feeling strongly that sailing was helpful and therapeutic in his recovery. This has prompted him to develop a program in New Jersey to help break addictions, and is seeing lot of success. Then, as if on cue, Ward was introduced by West Coast Sailing’s George Yioulos, to Ken Block who’s reaching out with a similar program in Park City, Utah in cooperation with the Veterans Administration. The VA has seen the success and is backing the effort.
Ward would love to integrate such a program here in the Seattle area at Sail Sand Point. “I’m super excited about it,” Ward says, and as we’ve noted in the past when she’s super excited about something she’s not easily dissuaded.
However, she was disappointed that US Sailing didn’t take up the cause more fully. I agree this is an area US Sailing needs to step up to the plate on. The therapeutic benefits of boating, in particular sailing, have been well documented and pass the common sense test with flying colors. Sailing gets someone out into nature and fills the senses and mind with something other than a need to take a drink or pop a pill. It’s definitely a way to redefine our sport to those who think it’s “just” recreation.
The Rest of the Forum
These conferences are all about industry networking and sharing of thoughts, and Ward found that satisfying. “I found it very valuable,” she says. This was especially true in the awards ceremony, where different recipients used their moment on stage to share the stories of their successes.
There wasn’t, Ward reports, nearly enough focus on community sailing, the one area in which the sport is seeing growth. “They talked a lot about the path to the Olympics, which of course I fully support, but they didn’t spend enough time on community sailing centers where these athletes are going to get their start.” The breakout session was over lunch and without a strong agenda.
Another area where Ward sees there’s room for improvement, is discussion of using racing to promote sailing. Too often racing isn’t clearly identified as a lead-in for lifelong sailing. “Oh, that’s different, that’s racing and not everybody likes racing” is often the attitude. Ward, a racer herself, sees racing as an important way for people to get started and develop a love for sailing.
There are a number of short videos here that will give a feel for the conference. From what I can tell, the vids are glossy, short and don’t have a lot of meat. Here’s one on kiteboarding. There are many others, including on on the America’s Cup, you may want to check out.
As a sailing evangelist, and a member, I often wonder what US Sailing does. The successful community sailing centers I’ve seen accomplish things primarily on their own with relatively little support from US Sailing. And while US Sailing does manage the US Olympic team, the stories I always hear are about athletes spending an inordinate amount of time on fundraising and logistics instead of sailing. And US Sailing has abdicated its responsibility of picking and promoting a handicapping system, instead taking a neutral stance while sailors wallow in rating uncertainty.
Sail Sand Point
Sail Sand Point, in the meantime, is going strong. Ward reports that the summer’s classes for 8-11 year olds are basically full. Other classes are filling fast There are the big high school Divisional Championships this week at SSP, and that will be followed by middle school sailors the week after. Adult sailing starts in early April, and outreach starts in May.
Ward sees one of SSP’s primary roles is to bring sailing to disadvantaged kids for at least a one-day experience. SSP already works with 47 different groups, and hopes to expand that. “Our long term goal is to target some of these kids, the ones that get really excited during their visit – to become volunteers and instructors.” When additional housing is built at Magnuson Park, there may be as many as 500 kids on site.
Note: The High School Divisionals will be a big event this weekend. If you’re not out sailing yourself or doing Blakely Rock, it would be a great chance to check out the amazing high school sailing scene.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.