Registrations Open for 2023
 
This post is a little out of date, as we actually opened registrations back in December, but I apparently never published the update to the site.  To confirm: registrations are now open for both Junior and Adult sailing programs by clicking here.  Most classes are full but there are a few slots open here and there and we are actively working to expand our staff and thus open up some new slots so please join waiting lists for any classes and we hope to be adding slots before April.  We will do everything we can to accommodate as many sailors as we can. The last couple of years our junior programs have filled within a couple of days and the adult programs within a couple of weeks of registrations opening, so we encourage you to not wait.
 
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us:
Margaret Shirk (Registrar) mwshirk@verizon.net
Mark Welcome (Director) sailingpgm@sailsaratoga.org
 
Thanks!

Hi everyone -
I hope you are having a great Holiday season. After a little bit of a delay, we now have the Sailing School schedule finalized and registrations are now open. You can register by going to the website or directly here: https://sailsaratoga.org/register/camp/4GXzjFv9MN/class
Last year we didn't open registrations until the early Spring, but the popular childrens' classes were completely full within 1 day, so please register your kids, grandkids and their friends as soon as possible.
A few changes to this coming years programs.

• For our junior programs, we have gone back to the traditional model where we offer only 1 level of sailing each week (be it Learn to Sail, Intermediate, Race, etc.). While we understand that many people liked the newer model where they picked whatever weeks they liked and we ran multiple levels, it is much harder from a scheduling perspective after a few of our older instructors have gone on to college internships. Don't worry, John and many of our regulars will be back!
• Our adult classes have expanded their times to run later into the evening (5:30 - 9PM) to allow more time for wrap up after the on the water portion of the class. In addition, we have dropped Wednesday nights from the adult classes based on feedback from students who find it hard to make 5 days a week and also instructors and member students who want to support the Club race program on Wednesdays. 

One of the most common questions we get is whether a child should sign up for Learn to Sail or intermediate levels if they have already taken Learn to Sail.   The general rule of thumb we use is whether or not that sailor is comfortable rigging a boat on their own and going for a short sail by themselves.  it varies from student to student but as an example  a 10 year old who took 1 week of sailing last year and hasn't sailed since is probably not that confident.   Another student who took a year or 2 of lessons but sailed at other times with family and friends may be.  We usually err on the side of safety when recommending class placements.  If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out as we want to make sure that your students are in the class that is right for them.
As always, we appreciate all the support of the sailing school and look forward to seeing you on the water next year.
Thanks
Mark 

We appreciate your patience.  Following last years successful sailing program (lots of fun and no cases of Covid), we spent the winter evaluating new web platforms for both SLSC and the Sailing School.    When registrations open on or before March 1st, you will see a new registration interface that we hope is easier for everyone to use. 

The one big change for this season will be that we are going back to our traditional full day programs.  This is great news for all of the working families who send their kids to sailing school.  Please note that this does mean there will be half as many slots as last year, so please plan to register early.

Please check out our updated schedules which are currently posted on the Programs pages of this site.   We will send out an email blast as soon as registrations are open.
 

Thank you again to everyone who donated old sails to the Sailing Foundation this fall. As in the past, the Foundation give all the sails to Seabags of Maine to recycle them into various bags. In return for all of the clubs donated sails, SeaBags provided the Foundation with a number of different bags made from our very own sails for use as a fundraiser. This year, the Foundation got a number of different bags:
2 Ensign Large Totes
2 Laser Totes
1 Laser Duffel
1 Flying Scot Tote
4 small bucket bags (2 Ensign and 2 Scot)
Generic totes from Seabags retail for $160 on up plus tax and shipping. Their duffel bags go for $195-$245+ and the standard bucket bags go for $45+. This is without the cool fleet insignia and even cooler SLSC provenance! As a fundraiser for the Foundation, the Foundations is asking for $150 for the totes, $175 for the duffel and $40 for the buckets. Please reach out to Mark Welcome to purchase a bag.
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If you have old sails that you would like to donate for next years collection, please let us know. As always, thank you very much for all the ongoing support of both the Sailing Foundation and the Sailing School. We simply couldn't function without it.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and are staying inside during this early storm.  I am simultaneously thinking about sailing and skiing.  A few of us plan to sail one last time this year on Sunday so we're hoping the boats don't get too covered in snow,  In the meantime, 
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Judging from the emails and calls over the last couple of weeks, I know many people are already planning next summers vacations and we always appreciate you checking with us so that you and your kids can still sail.    We have finalized the schedule and have opened up our online registration system. Please click on the "Register Now" button to the right to register for 2020 classes. A few thoughts on the upcoming season:
 
Please Register Early - last year we had to Waitlist and turn away far more people than awe would have liked to.  We really hate doing that! We are a non-profit with a mission to spread the love of sailing to as many people as possible. If everyone registers early, it gives us time to add staff and boats to expand our offerings and move people off of wait lists. Please help us out and register for your classes sooner rather than later. All of our volunteers thank you!
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Gift Certificates - If you're giving sailing lessons as a gift for the holidays, please just contact us at  info@saratogasailingschool.org to request a gift certificate.  Due to changes in the way our registration system works, online you can only purchase them in $50 increments.  If you just drop us a note we can get you set up with a gift certificate in any amount.

Please just let us know if you have any questions at all.  Thanks!
 
Mark Welcome
Director, Sailing School

Happy New Year!
 
I thought I would just give an update with everything going on with the Sailing School for 2019.
 
Registrations: We’ll start with registrations. Our classes are posted and available for registration.  For the Junior sessions especially, we urge everyone to sign up early so that you don’t get put on a wait list. If the session you would like does have a waitlist, please sign up. We always do everything we can to expand classes and clear the waitlists, but it really helps our planning if you sign up early and go on the wait list when necessary. Please click on the "Registration" link above to register for 2019 classes. 
 
New Boats: The new fleet of Hartley 12.2’s proved to be a fantastic addition to our junior programs last year. This year we are currently in the market for a number of updated Club FJ’s for our Junior racing program. These new boats will be very competitive race boats and we are looking forward to seeing a large number of our Juniors out on the race course this season. This has been made possible due to the generosity of several groups of people. A number of members and school families were kind enough to donate several thousand dollars during December to the Saratoga Lake Sailing Foundation. The majority of the purchase was made possible by an extremely generous grant the the Foundation of $13,500 from the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust. We are so grateful for all the support that the Sailing School and the Foundation continue to receive year after year so that we can continually grow and upgrade our programs.
 
ADK Summer Sports Expo: Once again, SLSC will be at the ADK Summer Expo to talk about sailing. This year’s expo is on March 16th and 17th at the Saratoga Springs City Center. For more information, please go to https://www.adksports.com/summer-expo-attendees/ Admission is free so please come on out and chat about sailing with us!
 
Free Sailing Events: Once again we will be hosting a Summer Sailstice weekend where we will be taking people sailing just for the fun of it (and for free!). It is a great way of introducing people to the pleasures of sailing. Please feel free to sign up and let your friends and family know about it. This year’s Sailstice will be held the weekend of June 23rd and 24th.
 
112 days until Docks In 2019!  Have a great winter.

The Saratoga Lake Sailing Foundation is extremely happy to announce that we have received a grant for $13,500 from the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust.  This grant will be used to replace 3 of the Club FJ sailboats used by the SLSC Junior Race program.  This is part of an ongoing plan to replace the entire fleet of FJs in the racing program as well as associated equipment used for travel to and from regattas.  The Junior Race team currently races using six Club FJ sailboats built in the 1980’s.  While these boats have served the team well for a number of years, they have reached a point where they need to be replaced.  This would not have been possible without the support of the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust.  In honor of Mr. Solomon and his generosity to our programs as well as the Saratoga community as a whole, the Foundation will be donating the Alfred Z. Solomon perpetual trophy for the SLSC annual FJ Horse Race Regatta.   The winning skipper and crew names of each year will be engraved on the trophy which will be kept at SLSC in the Trophy Room.
 
The Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust (Saratoga Springs, N.Y.) was established to benefit nonprofit scientific, medical, educational, cultural, religious, and charitable organizations by funding project and programs in memory of the Trust’s founder, Alfred Z. Solomon. Mr. Solomon, a leader in the fashion industry, a horse racing enthusiast, and a philanthropist in Gansevoort, N.Y. and New York City, died on Sept. 4, 2004, at the age of 104, and founded the Trust in his Last Will and Testament.
 
We would like to personally thank Victoria Garlanda and Harry Snyder, trustees of the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust for their support of our efforts.

Now that the school is shut down for the season,  we spending our time  planning for the 2019 season.  
 
Schedule:
The preliminary 2019 schedule is now available for registration on this site .  Please note that we are offering fewer sessions in 2019 until we confirm our instructor availability.  Please sign up early as we expect these sessions to fill quickly.
 
Fundraising:
Over the winter the Sailing School will be working closely with the Saratoga Lake Sailing Foundation to try and raise funds for upgrading the junior racing boats.  While the purple FJ’s have served the junior racing program extremely well over the years, they are more than a little tired and in need of replacement.  We plan to do it in phases over the next few years, but we’d like to raise $10,000 over the next year.  A few initiatives:

• Sail Donations:  We are working with Sea Bags Maine to collect old sails that are no longer being used and trade them in towards the new bags that Sea Bags creates using recycled sails.  The Foundation will then be offering the new bags for sale to raise money for the newer FJ’s.  We appreciate everyone who has already donated sails.  If you have some sails that you no longer use, we appreciate you donating them to the Foundation.  All you need to do is shoot us a note at slsc_foundation@sailsaratoga.org and let us know what you have to donate.  If you are local and can drop them off at the Club, great!  If not, we can arrange to come to you and get the sails.  

 

• Sailboat Donations:  We also do accept donations of sailboats.  To date we have accepted donations of well over a dozen boats from both SLSC members and non-members. Some of the boats that are donated will be used by either the SLSC Sailing School or individual fleets when they are appropriate. Other donated boats are cleaned up and fixed in order to be sold to raise money for other Foundation efforts, such as supporting the new fleet of junior boats for the sailing school.   Please keep in mind that we simply can’t accept all boats that are offered to us, as we are a volunteer group and project boats that require a lot of work before they are usable or can be sold are hard for us to accept. If there’s any doubt, please reach out and we’d love to take a look and discuss. The Foundation is a 501(c)3 charitable organization so we can offer a donation letter for tax purposes.

 

• Grants: We have a number of grants identified that we would like to apply for.  If you have experience in writing grant requests, we could really use your help!  Please contact Mark Welcome if you are willing to help.

 
Thank you for all your support!

A few things we are working on this month:
Registrations
Registrations are coming in daily as classes fill up for the summer. We anticipate a full house for most classes again this year.  Please review this site for all the information and click the "Registration" link above to  register. We look forward to sailing with you and your kids in 2018. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us at info@saratogasailingschool.org

Junior Sailing Counselor Training
We will once again be having trainers from US Sailing coming to the Club this spring to train a number of our junior sailors to become Sailing Counselors. Becoming a counselor is the first step to becoming an instructor at SLSC and is open to juniors who are turning 14 or older this year. Counselors volunteer the sailing school instructors throughout the summer as they are available. It is a great way for us to introduce juniors to the process of teaching sailing so that they can see if they like it and we can begin training them for eventually becoming instructors once they become Level 1 instructor certified. For more information you can visit US Sailing at http://www.ussailing.org/education/sbinstructor/sailingcounselor/ or contact Mark Welcome with questions.
US Sailing Level 1 Instructor Training
We also have a couple of requests for also running a US Sailing level 1 instructor course at the Club this year. This is open to both juniors (age 16 and above) and adults. We are very fortunate at SLSC to have a large number of members who are certified and who assist us with teaching the many adult programs we run every year. We need 6 people to make the course a reality, so please let Mark Welcome know if you might be interested. You can also visit http://www.ussailing.org/education/sbinstructor/level1-instructor/ for more information. 

I just wanted to let everyone know that we had some technical difficulties during the transition to the new web site and new e-mail server.  If you have sent anything to the info@saratogasailingschool.org in the last week or so and have not heard back, most likely it was bounced and we never saw it.  I apologize for the issues, but ask that you please just resend the e-mail so that we can take care of your questions/requests.  Registrations were not affected.
 
I will take this opportunity to let you know that classes are filling up nicely for the summer season, so please take this opportunity to click the "Register" link above to reserve the spots for you and/or your kids spots for the 2018 season.  Only about 12 weeks until the docks are in!
 
We look forward to seeing you on the water
 
Mark Welcome