Youths taught valuable lessons at annual camp
WORTH TWP — Anyone can learn the basics of safely operating a sailboat in about a week, but becoming more of an expert takes much longer.
“Sailing is challenging; you're always learning. There is always something new to learn,” said Javier Lopez, commodore of Moraine Sailing Club.
This past week the club was passing along that learning to youths in its annual sailing camp. For five days, 28 children, ages 8 to 15, received instruction on the basics of sailing on Lake Arthur in Moraine State Park.
The young sailors learned on three types of boats based on their age and experience level. The beginners, typically the youngest students, sailed Optimist boats, the intermediate sailors used Sunfishes and the more experienced students used Flying Junior boats.
The sailing club provides the boats, most of which are owned by the club and kept at Watts Bay marina at the park for use by its members. Several of the Flying Juniors were borrowed from the University of Pittsburgh Sailing Club, a student club that also uses Lake Arthur.
The instructors at the camp are all certified by U.S. Sailing and are able to administer tests and award U.S. Sailing certifications, according to camp director Ken Sherwood.
The certification involves learning a series of skills both on the water and in a classroom setting. These include steering, handling the boat in different wind conditions, rigging and knot-tying, and departing and landing at a dock.
At the end of the week, the students seeking certification take a written test as well as a test in a boat. One key skill they must demonstrate is how to right a capsized boat.
To ensure the students are safe, the instructors in the camp require each student to pass a basic swimming test. They also wear life jackets and are accompanied on the water by a pontoon boat, a kayak and other boats manned by instructors.
Though some thunderstorms had kept them off the water Tuesday, the camp's schedule calls for about three and a half hours on the water each day.“We have a big emphasis on tiller time. You can only learn so much from watching and talking,” Sherwood said.Scott Schell of Portersville was at the marina Wednesday to watch his daughter Meghan, 12, sail a Sunfish.Schell, who owns a sailboat, said his two daughters practically grew up on Lake Arthur. However, being a passenger on a sailboat isn't the same thing as learning to sail on your own.He said the more the children learn, the more they feel safe and in control out on the water.“Sailing is an easy thing to do. Learning to do it safely and do it well takes a lot of time and lessons,” Schell said. “I think it's a great confidence builder for children.”Clara Sherwood, 15, of Indiana, Pa., said she is a former student at the camp and now helps out her father as a counselor.Sailing is enjoyable because it is unpredictable, she said.“It's exhilarating once the wind kicks in,” she said. “No sailing excursion is ever the same. The climate or atmosphere or wind makes it different each time.”Lopez said the club was founded after Lake Arthur was filled in 1970 and has 177 members. It holds races on weekends during the summer and also puts on sailing seminars for adults.Lake Arthur is one of the best places to sail in the region because there is a 20-horsepower limit on motorized boats so the lake is not so choppy and there usually is a southwestern wind, he said.Though many members of the club own their own boats, some do not and they are able to borrow the club's boats.Lopez said sailing is an activity anyone could find enjoyment in.“It's very good exercise. You're out in the open air in nature, and you're doing a sport that uses natural power,” Lopez said.
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