(Nantucket, MA)- While Nantucket is a wonderful vacation resort, the families who live on the remote island struggle to make ends meet. According to Diana Brown, President of Nantucket Community Sailing, “our organization was founded to help island children have access to the water that they would otherwise not be able to afford. We are honored to serve that mission. Nantucket Community Sailing has dozens of enrollments in our youth programs each summer, 30% of whom are local island children and we give them scholarships to make it affordable to sail. A third J/105 would be a huge improvement to our youth sailing programs, and also give more Nantucket kids access to the waters surrounding our beautiful island.”
One
of the NCS members, Susan Farm, comments that, “NCS currently has two
donated J/105s in our keelboat program. Both boats are used for youth
sailing programs and this past summer we experienced demand higher than
we could support for the program. We also race the boats in a local PHRF
series and travel to local regattas. The kids race one boat, and I
leased the second boat with an all female crew (Diane is on the crew).
This summer, the kids program took precedence over our use, and we were
out of a boat! But what a nice problem to have. (The boats are also
used to take seniors out for leisurely cruises).”
Susan continues to say that, “we had 128 kids enrolled in the one-week J/105 programs on the two NCS J/105s, ranging in age from 9–18. The programs are at capacity, so the addition of a third boat would allow more children to experience the thrill of big boat sailing. The older children were able to participate in Wednesday night PHRF racing and in three days of PHRF racing during Nantucket Race Week. The J/105s also compete in the famous FIGAWI Race in the beginning of the summer; they are crewed by members of the Nantucket High School sailing team. Finally, NCS also uses the J/105s for community outreach, specifically with the “Old Salts” program (seniors from the Salt Marsh Center) and the patients and caregivers from PASCON (Palliative and Supportive Care of Nantucket).
Please contact Diana Brown for further information about the Nantucket Community Sailing program- work ph. 508-228-6600 or email- diana@nantucketsailing.org. Learn more here on their NCS website
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