Sincere and heartfelt congratulations to the DSC Community, who rallied individual efforts with a true, "Team Spirit," and raised nearly $28,000 in donations and sponsorship dollars!

 

Children and the unique sailing programs hosted by the Downtown Sailing Center are the beneficiaries of the "Sail for Kids" Regatta and Fundraiser and we are awed with the outpouring of generosity.

 

Highlights of the weekend-long activities:

 

Saturday the after race party was held at Little Havana's.  Juan Peralta, a former SIT (Sailing Instructor Training) participant and current DSC Instructor, gave a moving speech about how his experience at the DSC helped pave the way to college. He is due to graduate soon from the University of Maryland-College Park, having attended with a full scholarship, and directly attributes his leadership and learning experiences gleaned at the DSC to the successful approval of his scholarship application.  Juan will be graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.

 

Sunday's BBQ was a fabulous and joyful celebration, with great food, live music by John King and his band, and an awards ceremony presented by our Executive Director, Greg Cantori.

 

Sponsors: We are honored by the wonderful support of our sponsors. Thank you to Invotex, JWorld Annapolis, Bobylyn II2, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Green Spring Racquet Club, Rochlin, Settleman & Dobres, PA, Gensler, West Marine, The Healing Path, Annapolis Performance Sailing (APS), Ella Vickers,Pride of Baltimore, Dunkin Donuts (McHenry Row), Attman's Delicatessen, and Andrew Tiller, State Farm Agent.

 

Individual Fundraising: "Fundracing" Awards went to "Team Jolie" for most money raised by a team; Josh Ewen for most money raised by an individual and highest number of donors; Kathleen Lester received 2nd Place in the individual category and Todd Jenner in 3rd Place; and Annie Lester won for the most money raised by a youth. Congrats to these individuals for their determination, leadership, and wonderful essence of camaraderie.

 

Regatta: The regatta ran both Saturday and Sunday with good wind both days outside Fort McHenry.

 

The winners of the Spinnaker class: Jolie came in 1st Place and Jester came in 2nd Place. The winners of the cruising class: Big Indian took 1st Place and Frolic took 2nd Place.

 

On Sunday, the "Pimlico Road Foundation" kids were present. With Sailing Buddies, they sailed out in front of the docks and had a rewarding day of exciting dinghy racing! Smiles abounded! The winners of the dinghy races were Michael and Erica in 1st Place and Lakesha and Camerin took 2nd Place.

 

Thank you to Race Council Members: Scott Kirwin, Rosemary Liff Kirwin, Chris Tom, Richard Love, and Jim Koehnlein for overseeing one or both days of races in the summer heat.

 

Congratulations to all the winners of the regatta and "fundracer"!

 

In closing, we issue a warm thank you to the Sail for Kids Committee for planning all aspects of the event from the regatta, to the parties and sponsors. Thanks to Shannon Darlington, Kathleen Lester, Traci Mead, Jared Ackers, Todd Gustin, Karin Smith and Kathleen Pryor.

 

Once again, we are also so appreciative of our corps of generous DSC Volunteers and Members, who supported us with time and energy to coordinate the weekend's tasks which assured the success of all aspects of the Sail for Kids Regatta and Fundraiser event. Thank you!

A Capstone Cruising Event for our Sailing Instructors in Training

 

Cruising Skipper and volunteer extraordinaire Charley Tucker aboard Big Indian, along with Director Greg Cantori aboard his schooner Goodwind, and instructors John, Evan and Taylor took our six Sailing Instructor Trainees ages 15-16 on their first ever overnight trip to Bodkin Creek this week. With light headwinds they did lots of tacking and turns at the wheel - a new and challenging way to steer since all that tiller work trained them to do the opposite!

 

Along the way they were introduced to basic coastal navigation including using ranges, buoys, depth soundings and the compass along with ye good ole dividers and parallel rules to plot their position. Every now and then we'd hear "Ready to tack, tacking!" or "Ok everyone, we're in the channel again!" as we kept a watch for shipping traffic. Everyone got a chance to do some halyard swinging (with a bit of coaxing!) and swimming, capped off with a slow but sure barbeque by John of hot dogs and hamburgers. The full moon reflecting off the anchorage capped off a beautiful evening.

 

(Pictured in the photo are: Charley, Morlynne, Cameron, Malcolm, Kyle, Temicka, Amaya, Evan, and John.)

Next Friday night is the second food truck rally at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Come on down and enjoy some of the best food from a truck!

The BMI has kindly offered the DSC space for a table. We are going to promote our adult education classes and our open house. If you are available to help out please register. We only need three people to man the booth from 6:00pm to 9:00pm. So come on down and share our greatness with the Federal Hill Community.