Nea Sailing Club Launches Third Season

In the spring of 2015, Madeline Eustis, an experienced sailor and Nea Community Learning Center humanities teacher, was inspired to share Alameda’s rich sailing heritage with her learners by developing a school-based sailing club.

Sailing can be costly, so Eustis and a group of determined mariners in grades 6-12, raised funds the way many start-up companies do: through a private donation crowd-sourcing website. They raised enough to fund seven sailing club sessions in partnership with the Alameda Community Sailing Center. Amazingly, by their third session, the twelve club members were sailing small crafts known as ‘Flying Juniors’ without instructors.

“Sailing is fun, and being in and around boats fosters camaraderie and mutual responsibility,” said Eustis, explaining why she started the club. “Also, sailing is science. Understanding the winds, the tides, forces and reactions is essential. Plus it builds skills and confidence,” Eustis said.

Thanks to a generous gift from a private donor, the Nea Sailing Club kicked off their fall 2015 season with enough support to fund six sessions for all nine members. They found the light winds and warm weather of fall ideal for developing budding sailors.

So far, the club’s most exciting moment occurred during capsize training exercises – a right of passage for any sailor worth their salt – but not because they had to learn how to right an upside-down boat. Club members were taken aback when four fire trucks and three police cars rushed to the Encinal boat ramp because someone ashore thought they were in trouble and called in the cavalry! The responders stayed long enough to watch them capsize again before heading back to the station. Fortunately, this has been the only “rescue” needed.

Afloat for their third season this spring from generous private donations and a grant from the St. Francis Foundation, the Nea Sailing Club meets weekly to share the joys of seafaring. Each session begins with rigging the boats, followed by a land lesson and as much time on the water as possible. In addition, the kids learn how to tie nautical knots, guide their boats gracefully around the cove, and use new sailing lingo like “starboard” and “aft.”

So if you happen to be out on the Alameda waterfront on a Friday afternoon, you can show off your own nautical lingo by shouting “ahoy, mateys!” as the Nea Sailing Club glides by.