and raised a lot of money at our auction last year…and for my sins they made me the President.
And of course I have to take a moment to promote one of my favorite organizations – the Greenwich Bay Sailing Association, also known as GBSA. This is the youth sailing program associated with our yacht club, which I somehow find myself in charge of this year. So of course I need to take advantage of this venue to not only blow my own horn, but to shamelessly promote this great organization.
I can’t begin to tell you how envious I am that my kids have something like this available to them. What little time I was able to sail as a kid was enough to make me fall in love with it instantly. Growing up in the Midwest, son of parents who did not sail…the opportunities weren’t a lot though.
On the other hand my kids are other water every day. And they love it. I didn’t really start sailing until my 30’s, my kids are born to it.
Running a sailing program like this is tough – in our case we have to rely on tuition and contributions to make it all happen, we aren’t subsidized by our club. It costs a fair amount of money to make a program like this work safely and efficiently. Staff, boats, facilities, fuel – our tuition covers the operations but we have to raise the money to buy boats and equipment.
It takes a lot of time, it takes a lot of work. But it’s worth it to see all those kids in love with sailing and boats out there having a blast. If you do it right these kids all take away something important that will stay with them for life – lessons about sailing, being outdoors and having fun, sportsmanship and a love for the sport.
I’d better not screw this up.
