Sound Sailing Center: Dories Junior Sailing Camp

“Our camp’s one week sessions run from June 24th to August 23rd. On most days other than Friday, we anchor in less than 3’ of water close to an Island from about 10:15 to 11am, and the crew will generally swim or wade to the island beach. We use this time to Swim between the boat and the beach, explore the island, identify marine life, catch crabs, and talk about how the islands are formed (the larger Norwalk Islands are Glacial deposits). We have a dingy available for non-swimmers and we often beach the Ensign so we can step off the bow if not good weather for swimming.

Friday as always will be Pirate Day, rain or shine! Costumes / makeup / eye patches are encouraged! If you have a water gun, please bring it, otherwise we will provide water guns. Each boat gets a bucket of fresh water for reloads. The boats sail out to a starting point, then navigate a proscribed course while engaging in a water fight! Normal racing rules apply and boats can ‘loose’ for not following the rules (basically starboard tack boats and leeward boats have right of way). Targets with buckets underneath on the mainsail is one way we measure how they did (the boat with the least water load is one of the winners), along with the fastest boat, best pirate spirit and best costumes.

At the end of the class students will understand basic sailing and be able to tack, jibe, understand sailing terminology and know basic knots. They will understand more about the marine environment and island ecology / geology.  This course is taught in the mornings from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm, with 15 hours of instruction over 5 days.”