What does it feel like to really connect with the lake? What’s it like to head west on a tight reach when the wind is blowing 12 out of the south? How does it feel to tack around, let the sails out and head back towards Burlington with the wind and the sun at your back?
If you sail, and you’ve had experiences like the ones above, then you know. It feels amazing. It feels like limitless freedom. It looks beautiful with a giant sun setting over New York behind you and Burlington getting larger and larger in front of you. You feel the warm air, you feel the boat under your feet accelerating and slowing down, and you just can’t help but smile wide.
But for so many people, they’ve never felt these things. They don’t know what Burlington looks like from the middle of the lake. They don’t know how cool Mt. Mansfield and Camels Hump look with the lake stretched out in front of them. They have never seen the moon rise over our small city or how the fireworks look from anywhere but the shores of Lake Champlain.
This is one of the main reasons I got involved with the Community Sailing Center; to get more people out into the lake and on the water. While I grew up and lived what I just spoke about, so many others did not, and I’d really like to see that improve. I became a board member at CSC last year for a variety of reasons; from helping the organization secure a permanent home, to helping improve the Burlington waterfront, to helping more people get out onto the lake and experience what it’s like to sail and connect with the water. I really feel that the lake is one of our greatest resources, and we need to make it accessible to everyone.
It really is a misconception that the lake is inaccessible. It doesn’t matter who you are; the CSC helps get everyone out into the lake to begin to have these experiences. I ask for your help in doing so. If you’re a CSC camper, parent, renter, customer, or just a friend; I challenge you to bring someone you know down to the center in the next 3 weeks to show them what is really going on down there. They will see the scene, they’ll meet the staff, and they’ll see campers and customers alike having life-altering experiences every day. Only if we grow, involve more people, and continue to do what we’re doing will more people catch on and begin to understand the essence of the lake.
Thanks,
Eli Lesser-Goldsmith, Board of Directors
This essay was published in the Burlington Free Press on Friday, August 8th: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20108060322
