The more we do it, the better we get! Today was the second of eight lessons in our fall session of Youth Sailing. Each Saturday will look the same. We are divided into two groups: the beginner sailors, ages 9-12, who attend our STEM class, the SYSTEM, and the intermediate sailors, ages 12-17, who attend our NEXT LEVEL program. Both groups began at 10 AM and finished at 3 PM. The SYSTEM classroom is indoors, and the NEXT LEVEL meets in the second-floor breezeway. The SYSTEM is based on REACH (US Sailing's STEM education series), while the NEXT LEVEL is based on US Sailing's Intermediate curriculum.
The weather in Miami, and many other places, follows a pattern: one day looks like the next. The weatherman calls for southeasterly winds of 5-10 knots, but it's calm in the morning. Then, as it gets warmer throughout the day, the land heats up, and the sea breeze kicks in. The wind on the water is affected by local topography, where land, buildings, and other structures block the wind and create turbulence. Also, there is usually a big difference between the highest and lowest wind speeds. We refer to this as puff and lull. Today, the puffs (gusts) were much stronger than 10 knots. In reality, after the fact, when we all know what happened,….
Today was a big Fleet Week celebration next door at the Coral Reef Yacht Club (CRYC). Hundreds of young sailors were invited for fishing, sailing, and boating. The first busload showed up at 0645 hours for a lovely breakfast buffet. As luck has it, the day coincided with our regular Thursday Veterans Sailing. Two uniquely named veterans, who had never sailed with us, arrived at about 1000 hours. The weather and wind were perfect for sailing across the Bay and joining the festivities at Stiltsviille. We tied the boat next to an anchored sailboat in what can best be described as a small lagoon behind the building. The CRYC dockmaster was on hand to ferry us to the lapidated building. We mingled with the sailors for a while and had some snacks and refreshments before heading back to the US Sailing Center. We had to leave before the current started ripping. The sail home was smooth and very relaxing. It was …
Perhaps I might be getting forgetful, but today felt like the best Veterans Sail ever! We had two boats, six veterans, one veteran family member, plus me. Two of the veterans had never sailed with us before. Today was a perfect day on the Bay. The weather conditions were ideal, with just the "right" amount of wind speed. We aimed for the Biscayne Bay channel as we left the Seaplane channel behind, spotting some Dolphins along the way, then tacking through Stiltsville, we turned around and headed back home with the flooding tide pushing us along Bill Baggs State Park, Nixons Beach,..,
Old friends meet new friends. Today, a young man who had just returned from active duty in Syria was visiting. It was super rewarding to offer him and his significant other a soothing and relaxing experience sailing on Biscayne Bay. As always, thank you guys for serving our country.
Team Paradise is honored to work for the US Sailing Center Miami (USSC), which provides the ultimate Sailing Summer Camp experience for children in Miami, our Magic City. Beginning on July 22nd, we will have kids from twelve different parks. Each day, campers from different parks in the city will be brought. USSC will serve approximately 150 kids in a couple of weeks.
Team Paradise is honored to work for the US Sailing Center Miami (USSC), which provides the ultimate Sailing Summer Camp experience for children in Miami, our Magic City. Beginning on July 22nd, we will have kids from twelve different parks. Each day, campers from different parks in the city will be brought. USSC will serve approximately 150 kids in a couple of weeks.
Great big thank you to everyone involved with putting the summer camp together. The US Sailing Center - Miami Parks Sailing for the worthwhile and rewarding initiative. Our volunteers worked diligently and put up a big effort on a daily basis. Ed, Mo, Josh, Jian, Maryna, Frankie, and Pickel, you are the best!
The final week of Summer camp belonged to the US Sailing Center - City of Miami Parks Sailing Program. Coach Lauren was new on our volunteer staff, but no stranger to our community. She grew up sailing on Biscayne Bay and fell in love with our sport. It was no wonder that I jumped on her offer to help us for the final week of Summer Camp before heading back to college in Main.
As normal when kids arrive at the US Sailing Center (USSC), we gather on the second-floor breeze-way for an introduction and a float plan of the day. Yours truly prepared a whiteboard and handed it to Lauren saying “if you can improve on this, please go ahead”……
These are exciting times! The US Sailing Center (USSC) chose Team Paradise as their vendor to take the children of Miami out sailing for a Summer Camp experience on the beautiful Biscayne! This week, the USSC hosts 75+ kids from five different parks within the City of Miami. Each day brings 15 unique named kids out for adventure sailing. Only a few of them have any prior boating experience. They love it! Check out the pictures below and see for yourselves:
Biscayne Bay,, Wednesday, December 8th, 2021. Today was the final episode of the year for the US Sailing Center - City of Miami Parks Department Sailing. It was a make-up session for Coral Gate Park Two, their 2nd visit for the year. This program will be greatly missed until October when it starts back up again.
Wednesday, November 17, 2021. This time we had 7-kids from Curtis Park visiting the US Sailing Center to go sailing. The program is offered by the US Sailing Center and we commonly refer to it as “City Sailing”. Team Paradise facilitates the sailing portion of the program. It is a lot of fun and kids love it!
The bus carrying the children arrived at the Sailing Center at 3.49 PM. The sails were being hoisted as the kids approached the docks. We had four awesome youth sailors show up to command the two RS Feva sailboats. Basically, we had the skippers and the crews! I’m glad we did because it was a windy afternoon with a median velocity of about 15 kts, gusting up to 25 kts, from ENE.
Out of the seven kids, there were 4 boys (3 siblings and a cousin). The youngest one was only five-years-old. The 3 girls were a bit older ranging from 10-14 years of age. It was a disappointment to see that none of the kids were dressed properly to go sailing. Nevertheless, they were excited to head out on the bay for a sail.
Yours truly was driving the coach-boat, taking pictures and cheering them on. We intended to reach the Sister Banks, but the boys were shivering by now and we had to cut the sail short and head back to shore. Boats were tied up at about 5.10 PM.
Thank you US Sailing Center for trusting in us to carry out your program!
Check out the video and the pictures below. Let’s go sailing again, soon!
Wednesday, November 10, 2021. Another 10-kids from Peacock Park arrived at the Sailing Center at 3.55 PM. This was the first City Sail with the clock dial back one-hour. Boats were ready to go. We had three awesome youth sailors show up to lead the way on the water. I didn’t think we would be able to reach the Sister Banks (a.k.a. Viscaya Sandbar), but we did. Some of the kids took the opportunity to go for a swim.
It rained north and south of us, but we were rather lucky to avoid it all. We sailed back and docked the boats at 5.30 PM sharp. I was pleasantly surprised by how far we sailed and the amount of fun we had in such a short time.
Thank you everyone for participating!
There was another beautiful late afternoon on Biscayne Bay on October 20th, 2021. This time we had kids from Coral Gate Park visiting. Two RS Venture sailboats and a coach boat were launched, rigged, and ready to sail. We had three coaches lined up and ready to serve as the kids arrived. I must admit that we were a bit disappointed when only four kids plus a counselor showed up! Especially, since we can handle 12-14 kids, and considering the existing huge need for an after-school sailing program for the children of Miami, it’s a head-scratcher! We take out kids on a regular basis and there are always a few who really love it (sailing/swimming) and want to return for more fun and play on the Bay.
