Miami is for me!

Veterans Sailing on Thursday 11/21 had one new Veteran and his wife come sailing with us. Charles and Cindy discovered us at the 2019 Community Salute to our Military at the Coast Guard Air Base in Opa Locka. The couple had never sailed before! They loved it so much that they will be coming back for sailing lessons on 12/15. We are definitely making a difference changing lives through sailing!

This was a special day because more and more of our Veterans are now able to independently helm (steer) our Sonar, so that we can have Veterans teaching Veterans. How about that? Actually, this is nothing new. Bob Hurst who is a retired Coast Guard Captain is also a disabled Veteran and a certified US Sailing Instructor. Bob has been teaching sailing at Team Paradise for several years.

Youth Sailing with Legion Park

Team Paradise welcomed kids from City of Miami’s Legion Park on Wednesday (11/20). Two RS Venture were launched for the occasion, but only three students plus one counselor showed up. I was sad for the kids who didn’t make it, but this was a great opportunity to work with our new volunteers. Liv sailed with the kids in one boat while Bob gave sailing lessons to Pam in the other.  Yours truly went in the safety boat with Rick and Raul.  We took pictures and cheered them on. We anchored up at @Paradiseisland305 in order for the kids to have a short swim before sunset. The kids were back on the bus promptly at 5.30PM

Outreach

Team Paradise was invited to the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary 2019 Community Salute to our Military – A resource event honoring our veterans. The event took place on Saturday 11/16 at the U.S. Coast Guard Air Station in Opa Locka. 

We had an early morning start, towing one of the RS Venture with adaptive seating for display. It was too windy to set any sails, but was otherwise a clear and beautiful day. Our display was right next to Miami-Dade Parks & Rec, which is our partner in Veterans sailing. 

Susan came up with the brilliant idea of giving out raffle tickets in exchange for name, phone and email address. The prize was a sailing excursion on Biscayne Bay for up to 4 people.

We collected the contact info for 27 veterans during this event. Not bad for a days work!

We were just starting to de-rig the boat and load up as a couple of officials came to us. They gave us a stern warning not to post any pictures of military equipment on our website or on social media. That was disappointing because we had taken some cool pictures of vintage airplanes, U.S Coast Guard helicopters and other cool equipment.

Let’s go sailing soon,

Magnus | Team Paradise Executive Director

About our local weather

Have you ever heard our local weather forecast talk about small craft advisory, scattered showers, a chance of thunderstorms and that the bay water will be choppy?  For us living in South Florida, we know how local and scattered the weather conditions usually are. It may rain in one block while it’s dry in the next. It’s very local. Inland towards the Everglades usually gets more rain and storms while further east, like Key Biscayne stays dry and sunny more often. Just because there is bad weather in one neighborhood it doesn’t mean that it will be bad where we sail on Biscayne Bay.

The wind direction is never constant. It may oscillate 5-15 degrees throughout the day, or have persistent shifts of any seize at any time. Be prepared for windspeed that far exceed what was expected when leaving the dock.

Most sailors usually have favorite wind and wave conditions until they realize the need to be prepared for anything and everything that nature has to offer. The weather is fascinating and it’s amazing in how it all works and how much info there is available for us to absorb.

It’s common knowledge that it is better to keep a positive attitude because it is easier to succeed when doing something that you really like. Sailing is no different. To do well, you have to be able do it all, at least when it comes to racing. I have learned not to look at the weather forecast too far in advance and get excited about what I might see. Instead, I monitor the forecast days in advance and note how the predictions for my specific date of interest likely will change.

Let’s not cancel unless we really have to!

Despite a pretty windy period over the last couple of weeks, we have managed to run our program as normal. Canceling program when conditions are not safe could sometimes be the right move, especially when there is thunder and lighting. But to cancel just because it’s windy is not good. To me, that’s an indication that either staff is not skilled enough, or the equipment is not good enough, or that there is not enough of a safety plan established. Canceling is an easy way out and if that is put in place as a go-to option, something is very wrong.

On Wednesday of last week, the wind was “honking” all day. I was thinking about cancelling the day first thing in the morning, but the information I had called for the wind to drop around the time kids would arrive and then pick back up around sunset. We had a breezy sail and everyone got soaked, but we made it back safe, just in time before the breeze picked back up to 30 kts.

The following day was Veterans Sailing and again, it was pretty windy. I asked myself, should I cancel, or not? Most program would have, but not us. Again, the forecast was for the wind to drop around Noon and it did. We went sailing and had a great time!

My favorite weather apps

My favorite wind app is Sailflow, which I find to be  spot on accurate 5-days a week. It has great detail, especially when subscribing to the PRO version. My favorite weather app is NBC 6 Local First Alert weather, which has the most awesome radar.

Let’s go sailing soon,

Magnus | Team Paradise Executive Director

The Island Race

The Island Race used to be called “Around the Island Race.” That was back in the day when we used to race around Key Biscayne, Virginia Key and Fisher Island. The course went around Cape Florida, through Government Cut, then turning near the mouth of the Miami River before heading south through Rickenbacker Causeway to finish just east of Key Biscayne Yacht Club. Nowadays the racecourse has a turning marker just east of Bear Cut. The race then returns back into the Bay, rounding the same marks as on the way out. 

The Island Race has become an annual, reoccurring event for Team Paradise.  It’s a lot of fun because we sail on the ocean side of Key Biscayne, a bit different than sailing around in the Bay. The big trick is to observe the current and wind, and try not to run aground. Anyone who would like to join us and start preparing for next year, please let me know.

Too much wind

It was a windy day for sure! It was so windy that that racing was cancelled even for the much bigger boats. We knew that there was a great potential for strong wind, but we decided to sail and made the starting line on time. The race was postponed and boats started to sail back in. Then came the announcement that the race was cancelled! This is when we said, “Let’s go reaching instead!” Given the time stamp of the video and the computerized anemometer reading from nearby Biscayne Bay Light ’20’, we had gusts hovering around 40 Kt. That’s a lot of wind and I’m so proud of my team for being able to handle such tough conditions. Let’s hope that there is a re-sail of the event, but knowing how busy everything is, we might have to wait for September 2020. 

Weekly Veterans Sailing

Thursday’s weekly Veterans Sailing turned into spinnaker practice for our Veterans who were planning on racing in the Island Race. It turned out to be the nicest day with comfortable temperatures and a perfect breeze for what we wanted to accomplish. We had enough people to make it a two-boat practice, which is always more fun and more worthwhile from a training perspective. Bob Hurst, our retired Coastguard Captain had just returned for the season and we are so fortunate to have him working with us. 

Yours truly was the onboard coach on the other Sonar with Duane on the helm and Julio on mainsheet/spinnaker trim. Duane has come a long way! He graduated Basic Keelboat and Performance Sailing  & Spinnaker Endorsement and is now well underway with competitive racing. The Island Race would have been his 3rd regatta in less than a month. We did a bunch of spinnaker gybes with me on the foredeck. Julio showed good talent for flying the spinnaker and crewing in general. I felt encouraged going into the Island Race on Saturday. Unfortunately the race was cancelled, but we had some major fun and we learned a lot.

Let’s go sailing soon,

Magnus | Executive Director, Team Paradise Sailing

Veterans Sailing Information

We are pleased to announce that our partnership with Miami-Dade Parks & Recreation Open Spaces Department of Disability Services continues for the next grant cycle. Team Paradise is a County vendor, providing sailing the V.I.C.T.O.R. Adapted Sports Program (Veterans Integrated into the Community Through Outdoor Recreation). This translates into free sailing for disabled veterans and disabled members of the armed forces. All you have to do is to pre-register and sign-up at https://teamup.com/ksvfiym4wm3c3vpxri.

Sailing Is What We Do

Trust your sailing to us! Sailing is what we do and we have done so for a long time. I have spend my life around sailing, crossing oceans, winning Olympic and World Championship gold medals and awards like “Rolex Yachtsman of the Year” and “World Sailor of the Year”. I’m also a certified sailing instructor for Basic Keelboat and Performance  and Spinnaker Endorsement. When Team Paradise Sailing became an accredited sailing school a few years back, I realized that if you want to learn sailing, you should have a plan on what to sail after graduating from class.  I welcome you to sail with us as a passenger at any time, but if you like the idea of continued education and you want to keep sailing, we have a plan for you! It’s the Veterans pathway to sailing.

Veterans Pathway To Sailing

City Sailing with Jose Marti Park

City Sailing on October 23rd was a lot of fun! It was another group of kids from City of Miami’s Jose Marti Park. It was a bit too windy for the previous group and they did not get to sail. This day had perfect conditions for what we wanted to accomplish, a nice mellow breeze of 4-6 Kt from the east.

I recruited Charles Nethersole to drive one of the RS Ventures, while I drove the other (RS Venture). The four girls plus another staff member went sailing with Charles and the three boys came sailing with me. The safety boat was ready to go, sitting at the dock.

We sailed upwind towards Key Biscayne, making several tacks, moving our human ballast from side-to-side, roll-tacking and working the jib. Then, we turned around and set the gennaker. One of the boys steered most of the way and did a great job. These boys were special, they had a touch for water and wind and they learned very quickly.  I asked if they wanted to come back sail with Team Paradise? They all said YES!

Everyone wanted to swim, so we stopped by paradiseisland305 on our way back to port. Most of us hopped into the water, holding on to the boats instead of anchoring. Everyone had their life jackets on. The kids performed a swim-test, swimming around the boat. They all seemed to thrive in the water and they sure looked like swimmers to me.

Thank You!

Our community Youth Sailing Program (City Sailing) is 100% free for the kids. Team Paradise raises funds to cover the expenses. We could not offer this type of program without your help. No amount is too small, or too large. Please click button below for payment options, thank you so much!

Columbus Day Regatta LXIV

The Columbus Day Regatta traditionally marks the beginning of the regatta season in Miami.  It’s a relaxed Cruising Regatta, but it can get competitive as well. It used to be the biggest party on Biscayne Bay and eventually became so wild and dangerous that rules had to change and restrictions applied. The power boaters where just “crazy” back in the day. Racers no longer stay out over night. Instead, we start and finish in the same place (just east of the Dinner Key Channel). The Race Committee has several courses to choose from, using government markers for the most part.

Team Paradise has competed in the Columbus Day Regatta for many years. It’s a great opportunity for anyone who likes to try a hand in sailboat racing and for those working on sharpening their sailing and racing skills. For the last few years, our focus has been on providing this opportunity for Disabled Veterans. Our goal is to give everyone a fun and safe learning experience where the individual can excel quickly. Team Paradise offers a pathway to become an expert sailor. From our Discovery Sailing through the Development stage, which seamlessly connects to Sailboat Racing. 

The really good news was that five (5) Sonars had entered the regatta which meant separate starts for our fleet. Also, we would be racing for the nicest looking trophy of the event. www.teamparadise.org

Teams RED, WHITE and BLUE

We entered the regatta with our three (3) Sonar and appropriately named them: team RED, team WHITE and team BLUE. The team members came to us through wonderful collaboration with Warrior Sailing and Veterans Ocean Adventure.  The veterans arrived from near and far: San Antonio, TX, Riverview, FL,  Saint Petersburg, FL, Homestead, FL,  Seminole, FL, Miramar Beach, FL and Miami, FL.

The job that I signed up for was to prepare the boats, make necessary adaption, divide up the teams and otherwise help where help was needed.

Years ago,  I was offered the advice that I should sail with people better than myself, as often as I can. What monkey sees, monkey does, sort of. I did just that and I can honestly say, I have learned, pretty much everything that I know, from others.  The learning experience becomes so much better and students will learn more and at a much quicker rate. Having said that, In order to keep the racing fun, competitive and safe, each team was assigned an on-board coach.

Once again, I had to turn to our super-skilled volunteers. My dear buddy Fritz Mueller was coaching onboard the White Team. Fritz  and yours truly first me sailing the OK Worlds in Falmouth, UK back in 1973. B.T.W (I personally hold him responsible for me leaving Sweden to move here:)

My good friend Charles Nethersole, a professional sailboat captain with a life time of blue-water sailing experience, skippered for team BLUE. The crew had minimal sailing experience and for the most part no racing, or spinnaker experience. The only way for them to be competitive, was for Charles to helm the boat.

Yours truly sailed with Team RED skippered by Laura Root. F.Y.I. Laura won this regatta last year as a jib trimmer onboard the very same boat we were in (with Daniel Evans at the helm and Sam Lugo as a jib trimmer). I did not touch the helm, but I did fly the kite. 

The Racing

The racing was pretty tight for a 20NM course, at least for the three Team Paradise entries. It was anyones race to win. It made total sense to have at least one experienced sailor to lead the way on each boat. Our boats were very even in speed and racing were tight. Team RED  won both days, but it could easily have gone differently. Team WHITE was ahead of us in both races, but we managed to prevail. Team BLUE finished with a second and third. Team WHITE missed a marker on Saturday and were disqualified. They did great on Sunday with a solid second place finish to earn the final podium finish.

“I have learned more about sailing during these 2-days than I have in my 5-year sailing career”

— David Caras | Disabled Veteran and Jib Trimmer onboard Team RED

Onboard Team RED

Other than being lucky, the reason for success onboard Team RED can be credited to focusing on the big picture and being a lot less concern about the little things!

• The starts had to be good, but under no circumstance could we afford to be premature i.e. over-early.

• We changed side when lowering the spinnaker after the first run to set us up correctly for the long second run.

• Early take downs so that we would be ready to sail upwind as soon as arrived to the leeward marks.

• The winning move on the last day was to be the first boat to tack after the run. The reason being is that we were laying the next mark from there.

• Our helms-lady Laura focusing on steering the boat, looking at the tell tales and keeping the boat flat.

• Having the waypoints pre programmed and the routes plugged in made a big difference. Our 4th crew, Tommy Chase has talent for navigation and how to operate his GPS. 

• Our job trimmer, David Caras stayed focused on the jib and did a nice job trimming. Like everyone onboard, he was positive and enthusiastic about the day.

The Awards

The awards ceremony at Coral Reef Yacht Club the following weekend was a lot of fun. It marked the first time that we used the new “Boathaus” building at the club. We were all happy that Laura, David and Karen returned to Miami for the BIG night. Rudy and Charles also attended and it was a blast. Laura pretty much cleaned up, winning a couple of the really BIG trophies. 

Impressive awards!

Laura Root Best Female Trophy

Team RED - First Place

Team Blue - Runner Up

Laura with First Overall Trophy

David Bannister and Janice Bartleson

FIRST

Team RED 07 1+1 = 2p
Laura Root, Riverview, FL
Thomas Chase, San Antonio, TX
David Caras, Saint Petersburg, FL
Magnus Liljedahl, Miami, FL

SECOND

Team BLUE 10 2+3=5p
Charles Nethersole, Miami Beach, FL
Karen Atkinson, Seminole, FL
Rudy Watt, Miami, FL
Jason Phillips, Miramar Beach, FL (Saturday only)      Guy Siegel, Coral Springs, FL (Sunday only)

THIRD

TEAM WHITE: 810 6+2 = 8p
Duane Smith, Homestead, FL
Michael Stevens, Miami, FL
Fritz Muller, Miami Shores, FL

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We say: Thank you!

Volunteers, Donors and Supporters of our Veterans sailing program. Also, special thanks to Miami-Dade Parks Disability Services for their continued support to make our Veterans Sailing extra special. Let’s not forget the Veterans that came to sail. They paid their own way and booked their own rooms. You are awesome!

Too windy for sailing

Sometimes the risk outweighs the reward. When it’s too windy for sailing, when do we cancel? What is our plan B? Thanks to the latest boat donation to Team Paradise, our community sailing program now has another option on what to do!

The 21’ Jet Tender is what every community sailing program should have. It’s made by Castoldi, an Italian boat builder specializing in mega yacht tender boats powered by inboard diesel jet engines and papered by the Castoldi water jet drive. It’s a boat like no other.

It had been a very windy week with gusts up to 30 knots for days in a row. By the time the kids from Shenandoah Park arrived the US Sailing Center it had dropped a bit. But why take the risk of potentially scaring these kids when time is very limited (about 1.5 hours) and they are not prepared for a windy sailing experience? Nothing good will likely come out of that!

Instead, all twelve of us boarded the Castoldi for a shore line excursion, visiting land marks such as Viscaya and the Marine Stadium. It’s amazing how much distance that can be covered in a power boat compared to a sail boat. On our way back, we stopped at the Viscaya Sand Bar, where we anchored and most of everyone got in the water.

These kids where back in the bus promptly at 5.30PM. They had a BLAST!

Unplug from electronics and tune in to nature! Team Paradise Sailing offers youth from Miami-Dade County access to the sport of sailing on Biscayne Bay.  Read more about our community sailing.

After school sailing with City of Miami Parks & Rec

The days are getting shorter and the record high temperatures are giving in to more pleasant conditions. Summer is turning into Fall and before we know it, the Holiday season will be upon us.

Another sign of Fall is when kids from City of Miami Parks & Rec’s after school program come and sail with us on Wednesdays. The program spans ten weeks and the kids come from ten different parks located within the City of Miami. It’s the sixth year that Team Paradise has the honor of serving this very precious population.

Wednesday was particularly fun because the weather was super nice and the kids were exceptional. The experience that we have gained through our Summer Camp with the Bay-Play curriculum makes us very confident taking kids out sailing.

On this particular day, I asked the kids as usual: how many of you can swim if you can’t touch bottom? All seven kids said that they were swimmers. Five kids teamed up with me in the RS Venture while the remaining two kids went Sonar sailing with our ace volunteer skipper, Charles Nethersole and two counselors from the Park.

We sailed across the Bay to the west point of Key Biscayne, my favorite spot in Biscayne Bay. I’m not sure who had more fun, the kids or me. The journey was documented along the way and the video that was made gives you an idea of the fun we had. The sail back to port was fantastic. A prefect reach with gennaker and plenty of apparent wind made us all smile.

Out of the seven kids, all of them would like to come back and sail with us again. How can we make it possible? Please know that we receive no income from this program. There is no fee charged for providing this transformative and awesome experience. It’s only made possible through your generosity.

Unplug from electronics and tune in to nature! Team Paradise Sailing offers youth from Miami-Dade County access to the sport of sailing on Biscayne Bay.  Read more about our community sailing. 

Bart’s Bash 2019

Team Paradise hosted Bart’s Bash on September 15th. Bart’s Bash, the largest sailing race in the World! Youth programs from neighboring yacht clubs and private schools were invited. Team Paradise entered two teams for the event, both with kids form the FOCAL program in Moore Park. These were some of the kids from our summer camp who came back for more fun on the water.

I tapped our board of directors to run the race. We had great help from other volunteers as well. We settled for one start with all boat classes on the line at the same time (Optis, 420, Laser, 29er and RS Venture). There were 55 boats and 72 participants in total. The black flag was in effect right away. The course was a triangle with the leeward mark below the starting line and the finish on the starboard side if the Race Committee boat. The course was 1.06 Nautical Miles. Judging from smiles, cheers and laughter, it seemed like everyone had a great time as the weather cooperated nicely. Next years event takes place on September 13th and we sure look forward to that.

Bart’s Bash is a global sailing race taking place at 100’s of venues, with 1000’s of sailors in 100’s of different classes of boat around the world. Founded in 2014, the event was verified by Guinness World Records as ‘The Largest Sailing Race in the World’.  How about that?

Unplug from electronics and tune in to nature! Team Paradise Sailing offers youth from Miami-Dade County access to the sport of sailing on Biscayne Bay.  Read more about our community sailing. 

Sailing practice with FOCAL kids

We had scheduled for two training sessions before the Bart’s Bash, but had to settle for one Practice day only.(September 8th). It was certainly great to see the familiar faces from Summer Camp again. Three girls and four boys sited along with the FOCAL Program founder, Mrs. Barbara Hardemon.

We had planned on using two RS Venture boats, but as it turned out, our practice switched from Saturday to Sunday and we lost some valuable volunteers to help us. Instead, we took our Castoldi Jet-tender and one RS Venture only. Half of the crew boarded the Castoldi and we met up at the Viscaya sandbar. We switched the crew and everyone got some practice. Mission accomplished!

2019 Inclusive Summer Camp

This year we invited campers who are able to swim, or at the very least would pass a float test. Being on the water is sure a lot more fun for those that swim. We used our Inclusive Summer Camp as a motivator to encourage the kids to learn how to swim. Our “Bay-Play” curriculum uses Biscayne Bay as a unique classroom while exploring several fun destinations around the Bay. Our Inclusive Summer Camp was funded by donations and was 100% free for the campers. We served 212 kids in total and everyone had a fantastic time.

The FOCAL Program

Team Paradise Sailing welcomed 20 kids each day from the City of Miami’s Moore Park FOCAL Program to sail with us during the period July 1st through the 19th. FOCAL’s Barbara Hardemon commented that the parents were calling her, praising our program and how much fun the kids had on the water! 

Breakthrough Miami

It was a memorable day when forty (40) 5-graders from Miami Breakthrough came to sailed with us! We divided the group in two and while one group went sailing, the other group had class room activities such as S.T.E.M. education in the class room. The lab for the day was air pressure and how it also correlates to sailing. Kids also learned how to tie some of the most common knots.

By the time the first group returned to shore, the second group were finished in the class room and were ready to go sailing. We switched and repeated our tasks. Fun, fun, fun!

Down Syndrome Association of Miami

Other summer campers visiting during July were a couple of groups with special needs kids along with their parents from. The Miami Down Syndrome Association was one of the groups visiting. The other group were friends with special needs kids that really enjoyed a day on the water. Let’s go sailing again, soon!

About our Community Sailing

Unplug from electronics and tune in to nature! Team Paradise Sailing offers youth from Miami-Dade County access to the sport of sailing on Biscayne Bay.  Read more about our community sailing.