Serious Sailing Camp for 14 Year-Old Girl

[Palarran]

I'm wondering if any of you know of a sailing camp in the United States that provides serious sailing skills. My 14 year old daughter has been going to our local yacht club for opti and laser sailing for the last 4 years. We would like to ratchet up the level a little. She has considered the Outward Bound Maine sailing program but it seems they do a lot of rowing and not as much sailing. Most of the camps that offer "sailing" are just resident camps that have a couple sunfish.

Thanks.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Palarran

I'm wondering if any of you know of a sailing camp in the United States that provides serious sailing skills. My 14 year old daughter has been going to our local yacht club for opti and laser sailing for the last 4 years. We would like to ratchet up the level a little. She has considered the Outward Bound Maine sailing program but it seems they do a lot of rowing and not as much sailing. Most of the camps that offer "sailing" are just resident camps that have a couple sunfish.

Thanks.

Take a look at Broadreach (Broadreach | Intensive Sail Training Caribbean Summer Camp for Teens. ). When our daughter was 15 we sent her on one of the 5 week adventure trips--Martinique to Trinidad on a 55 foot Beneteau mono with 9 other teens and two instructors--and she loved the experience. One of our other members here--Hud--was able to keep an eye on her from his home in Nevis and give us a progress report when the kids visited his island. It was a very worth while program.

FWIW...

[Palarran]

Great suggestion - Thanks. That also explains the catamaran that was anchored next to us this last summer in Gustavia. I wondered how so many kids could pack into that Lagoon catamaran. Their dive compressor ran non-stop and the music was a blarin. It would be perfect if it was more geared towards the sailing with diving thrown in but I'll have my daughter look at it. Thanks again. David.

[cfarrar]

My 14 year old daughter has been going to our local yacht club for opti and laser sailing for the last 4 years. We would like to ratchet up the level a little.

Maybe it depends on what kind of sailing your daughter is looking for. Does she want to learn how to reef and anchor a 50 foot boat or does she want to learn how to steer her a dinghy through waves and jibe it in 15-20 knots of breeze? Both could be valuable experiences.

[Palarran]

That's a good question and I'll have to ask her in more detail. I know she was excited about the Outward Bound sailing until we read that it was two weeks long and had little land time and involved a lot of rowing. She is a good water skiier and enjoys snorkeling. She is fair on the opti's but needs work from there. I'd like to see her doing more competative sailing for somewhere around 4-5 hours per day in a week long camp. J-World would be nice if she was older.

She does want to get scuba certified but I'm probably going to have her do that over Christmas when we are in St. Maarten. She also is interested in trying kite-boarding but I'd rather her focus on sailing first.

Maine, Cape Cod, or somewhere on the Chesapeake would be ideal for a summer sailing camp. The St. Martin Broadreach program is very nice except we already keep our boat at Oyster Pond and are down there 4 times per year as a family right now.

Thanks for your interest and help.

[svHyLyte]

Originally Posted by Palarran

Great suggestion - Thanks. That also explains the catamaran that was anchored next to us this last summer in Gustavia. I wondered how so many kids could pack into that Lagoon catamaran. Their dive compressor ran non-stop and the music was a blarin. It would be perfect if it was more geared towards the sailing with diving thrown in but I'll have my daughter look at it. Thanks again. David.

There are "Dive" programs and "Sailing" programs. Our daughter was on the "Arc of the Carribean" sailing program. The kids on the Cats are on the dive program which is much different. After she came home she was quite capable of handling out First 42 although out boat has a lot of luxuries that her taining boat didn't (such as an auto pilot!).

Good Luck...

[IdoraKeeper]

For an ongoing experience that has a lasting effect I can personally recomend SeaScouts. There are many different types of "ships" in use and the older kids are gradually given more and more responsibility and opportunities to use their skills.

Todd

[rebel heart]

I really like scuba diving and it's a busy couple of weeks if you want to get your open water and advanced open water all done at once. You'll be wet all the time, studying every night, and rolling your jaw forwards and backwards in the evening as you get used to equalizing. The advanced open water requires wreck diving, night diving, deep diving, peak performance, and underwater navigation. It was really fun and I learned a lot.

Plus you can have her clean the hull. I actually enjoy that job now.