Why sail?

Taylor Pond Yacht Club is a sailing club, founded by adults who built boats, sailed them, and taught their children to build and sail.

We’ve been teaching sailing to young people and some adults for over 80 years. Our young people have gone on to be lifetime sailors, be selected for college sailing teams, run one Olympic sailing qualification campaign, buy ocean going boats and cruise far and wide.

As our membership changes from time to time it is good to make sure we all know what a special opportunity our sailing lesson program is for kids 8 through 18. This year that opportunity is even more special because we have a nationally recognized sailing program director with decades of experience teaching young people: Mike Horn.

You might ask, why do I want my child to spend time learning an obsolete skill? When faced with competing challenges for their children’s time, why should our members choose sailing?

Kenneth Grahame says in The Wind in the Willows that “…there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Here’s our longer answer to why our children should learn to sail.

Sailing is peaceful, challenging, exhilarating, satisfying, absorbing, and fun.

Children who learn to sail get healthy outdoor exercise and learn a lifelong skill, self-reliance, responsibility, teamwork, physics, meteorology, and sportsmanship, and have fun.

Sailors have self-confidence, coordination, technical knowledge, character, passion, pluck, good social skills, adventures and, did we mention, fun.

There’s too much about sailing to learn it all in a summer, or a lifetime. Start young and have fun.

We have received two gifts from members to fund scholarships for students in need. Contact the lesson coordinator with questions at lessons@taylorpondyachtclub.com.