by Rick Bannerot, WindCheck
Some sailors are born into it. Others wander in by accident, and then there are those who moved up from dinghies to the world of “big boat” sailing. The first part of this series, Driving Interest & Success in Junior Big Boat Sailing, recounted many notable junior big boat victories that generated headlines around the sailing world, including Young American winning the Vineyard Race in 2013, High Noon winning the 2016 Newport Bermuda Race, and Dreamcatcher’s victory in the 2018 Newport Bermuda Race.

Heady stuff, to say the least, but certainly not the be-all, end-all when it comes to making junior big boat sailing something that is not only fun, but also functionally instructive; building self-confidence, improving decision-making, and fostering more lifelong sailors.

A frequently mentioned goal is encouraging more young people to “go to sea.” Beyond that, regardless of the various paths available, is to have young men and women develop a sense of pride and identity themselves as “sailors” not only as teenagers, but eventually as adults.

Talking with Peter Becker (Founder of the Young American Sailing Academy and the Young American Foundation in Rye, NY), about his experience with juniors on big boats, he keeps coming back to the concept of young sailors “becoming salty” to describe gaining effective problem-solving techniques, learning and using sailing skills appropriately, and developing confidence.

Becker strives to make the rather daunting idea of teaching teenagers to transition from going for a sail on a big boat into a teaching/learning process that breaks down the roles and responsibilities of the entire crew so they can all eventually sail the boat as a team.

From one side of Long Island Sound’s successful junior big boat sailing programs, we cross to Oyster Bay, NY where uber-accomplished sailor Dawn Riley is the Executive Director of Oakcliff Sailing. She has envisioned and successfully willed into existence through grit, determination, sweat equity, brains, fundraising, business acumen and no small amount of well-earned self-confidence what we see today.

Listening to Dawn speak about her experiences becoming a big boat sailor at a young age, you quickly come to understand she was raised in a big boat family and learned, literally at her father’s knee, onboard their 36-foot Great Lakes Cutter and then a “racier” C&C 35, around Michigan. Dawn cut her bluewater teeth at 13, sailing from Detroit to the Caribbean and back with her family, and earned her captain’s license at 15.

Oh, then were some of those other “offshore stints” like doing the Whitbread Round the World Race at the tender age of 26 on Maiden, as documented in the excellent film of the same name. Dawn was named skipper of Heineken in the ‘93-‘94 Whitbread before she turned 30, which is recounted in her first book, Taking the Helm. – Full story