NEW PROGRAMS ON THE WATER

Mystic Seaport Museum has never offered your “typical” youth sailing program. The Museum’s program has incorporated sailing in traditional Dyer Dhow dinghies with fun games and challenges using the Museum grounds and ships—for 75 years! Generations of sailors got their start sailing on a Dyer on the Mystic River. The program has been expanded to offer new ways for people to learn skills and experience the River. Earlier this year, the Museum’s Sailing Center was recognized by US Sailing with the Creative Innovations in Programming Award for community sailing centers for our commitment to offer sailing classes that incorporate additional important skills. The new programs now offered include powerboat handling, Girl Scout Mariners, and the Sea Star summer camp.

At the start of 2020 we made plans to expand our programming to include powerboat handling and engine maintenance through the support of the J. Orin Edson Seamanship Program. Through this program we purchased a 20’ center console, Alice, to use in teaching coastal navigation and hands-on boat handling skills. We also purchased five small inflatable boats with tiller outboards. The inflatable boats are used throughout the summer in the counselor-in-training program. The Museum’s teenage volunteers have the opportunity to learn powerboat handling and how to independently instruct sailors from powerboats. Powerboating and seamanship have been built into all of our existing programs and classes. Having just become a US Powerboat certified powerboating instructor myself, I look forward to doing more specific powerboat programs in the future.