It was a slow day, somewhat sketchy weather and highlighted by a visit from some odd looking travelers. As their raft pulled up to the dock and some scraggled passengers stepped on to our Atlas dock, I approached asking how the day was going – honestly checking out if they were coherent or lost or were sailors who knew what they were doing. Pleasantly, I was happy to find out that despite the rugged appearances, the travelers were five guys from Hampshire College who made a raft and were taking it from Swanton to New York City using the Champlain Canal from Lake Champlain to the Hudson River. The raft was about 8′ wide and 20′ long, four posts to hold a roof and a hammock and , and riding about 4-6″ above the water with a 40hp motor powering it. Not too much room to accommodate for waves, but just enough to keep most of one’s body dry for the three week journey. As intrigued as I was by the boat and the travelers, I chatted them up, ran up to the office to grab a camera and took a couple pictures. The journeymen asked me to send the pics to family and friends, so I took down some email addresses and ran back up to the shore to send off a quick note. In the note I included a quote from Huck Finn:
We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.
Mark Twain
The family and friends were eager to respond, as they hadn’t heard from the group for 5 or 6 days while they were building the raft attempting to get it seaworthy. They wrote back all exclaiming thanks and one even was so moved he offered a place to stay in Boston when I travel there next. All were relieved to hear that they were on their way and doing well. Like these roguish voyageurs and sailors we encounter daily, the people we meet here on the Lake and the CSC never cease to amaze me.
Thanks so much for the update and pictures! These are the first we have seen of the completed raft. I am glad to see they are on their way and doing well.
-Jeff
Thank you so much for sending these wonderful photographs and news of our wanderers! We were wondering how they were doing and whether they had gotten their motor repaired. They look great! Thanks again!
-Christine
Thanks so very much. We are all wondering what is happening. I really love the Mark Twain quote. I have a slow download because we have dial-up, but I look forward to the pictures. Thanks again. -Martha
I am the father of one of the RAFT boys. My wife and I can’t thank you enough for extending your hospitality to the boys and for your wonderful communique your words and pictures and your Mark Twain quote !!! As parents we worry and your email gave us a lot of solace. My son is Dean , he is the guy wearing multi-plaid shirt .
-Arthur and Cindy
The sailing instructors are aided by a staff of coordinators. Some, like Colin and Jen, are well noticed and appreciated by community sailing members. Others, like Dave D’Angelo of Vermont Adaptive, can fly under the radar of the average Community Sailing member. While Dave does not work for the Sailing Center, he does work with the us on a daily basis, helping to coordinate our adaptive sailing program. For those who don’t know, our adaptive program aims to get folks of all abilities sailing and enjoying Lake Champlain. We even have a specially designed boat, an adaptive sonar, that gives people with limited mobility a chance to drive the boat. Dave has been a big help this summer, not only with setting up great programs for Vermont Adaptive, but also during busy and hectic times. He’s always there willing to give us a hand. I’ve seen him hop in a motor boat and help us get folks off the water before a storm hits. I’ve also seen him “test the water temperature” on those really hot and windless days by throwing a massive cannonball off of our dock. We’ve had some really great adaptive programs this summer so I just wanted to give a huge high five to Dave for making it happen and for doing all the good work that he does.
Working down on the waterfront you see many different kinds of critters on land and in the water. While putting the boats in one morning four minks were jumping and playing around in the grass and shrubs along the bank. Every now and then they would pop out and scurry across the loading area and then dive into the shrubs again, it seemed as if they were playing a game of who could stay out in the open the longest. A few days before I watched two minks fish right in front of the coast guard boat launch, playing and eating their catch in the docks floating off the inner break water. Many of the animals around spend most of their time in the water, like ducks and fish. There are a few ducks that will rest and bask in the sun on one of the rock poking out of the water just off the shore, one of the resident duck has had a few ducklings following her around and feeding on the algae that grows on our ramps. Even the fish are noticeable residents. There was a bass earlier in the season that was guarding his eggs, and within the second or third week of June, they hatched and there were hundreds of baby bass swimming along the surface. I’m sure that they all didn’t make it, but those who did will swim on and enjoy the lake just like wee all do.
Lost Something? Well I have got news for you. We have a great inventory of lost items that have been found sitting around the sailing center. There are plenty of shoes, hats, shirts and other interesting items located in our luxurious lost and found. So, if you don’t remember where your Red Sox Hat is there is a chance that it is the Red Sox hat sitting in our lost and found. I find it odd when looking at some of the things that turn up in the Lost and found. I often wonder how could someone forget about something so important like ones shoes or their lunch box but then I remembered that they were having too much fun Sailing that they totally forgot they were hungry. The excitement that they had on the water engulfed them so much that all they can think about is sailing. So, come on in and ask one of our Waterfront coordinators for the lost and found and we can find what you are looking for.
When working as an instructor at the community sailing center, the need for proper positive feedback is always present. With help from US Sailing, experienced instructors, and newcomers, our staff is fortunate enough to have gained many options for positive feedback when teaching camps. There is of course, the obvious feedback, such as a nice “good job” or even a high five to boost confidence, but there are definitely many other options here at the community sailing center. We seem to have a never-ending flow of “freezie pops”, and are always ready to have a sweet frozen water-and-sugar party at the end of a week. Our last, and probably most inventive source of positive feedback, are the awards. Given out at the end of the week, we provide small cards with specialized awards for each student, such as “master crew” “super skipper” and “fish in the water”. These awards definitely help to remind kids how well they did at their camp.
Though it may seem like the key word in our name is Sailing, given that that’s primarily what goes on here, or even Center, given that we’re a specific place, I believe that it’s actually the Community that is the focus of the CSC. When I started working at the CSC about two months ago, I didn’t know any of the other staff members, renters, volunteers, or campers. However, at this point in the summer I feel very much a part of a great community of people here at the Sailing Center.
Sailing is truly a group sport and is helpful in building community where one may not yet exist. Through sailing, neighbors, classmates, families, and friends can learn to communicate and understand each other more fully. I have been amazed in my time here at how eager everyone at the Sailing Center has been to teach me things about sailing, about the lake, and about the region we’re in. Through partnerships with many local organizations, we provide opportunities for everyone in the community, and I believe we are succeeding in building a strong community of lake lovers.
On Wednesday the Sailing Center youth had quite a time during lunch. Ted Hart, a PhD student at UVM came down to work with the students for their weekly WAVES seminar. Ted’s research focuses on how changes in precipitation that are expected to happen with climate change will alter aquatic insect communities. Now you may ask are aquatic insects plankton? No. Plankton are small, free-floating organisms that are so tiny that they cannot move about in the water on their own and as a result just float around. After a short talk with the students on the deck, the kids headed down to the docks to conduct plankton tows. By dragging a finely meshed net through the water students were able to collect plankton samples right off our very own docks! After everyone had a chance to use the nets the kids finished their seminar on the deck investigating their findings with magnifying glasses!
I love to see that more often, people are riding their bikes in to the community sailing center. Every week, there are several kids who choose to ride their bikes in to camp (even some of their parents choose to ride them in on bikes as well). With campers and the large group of staff and volunteers who bike in, we are finding that the percentage of car drivers is diminishing accordingly. I believe that sailors and their parents understand that in choosing to get their
power from the wind as opposed to a motor, they are choosing an alternative to fossil fuels. This is an amazing improvement, especially if one chooses to sail and ride their bike. We are also constantly working on the W.A.V.E.S. Initiative, which teaches us about the ecology of the lake and some of the issues we are currently facing. With the combination of bike riding, W.A.V.E.S. activities, and tallying/reducing our trash output, we are proving the community sailing center is definitely conscious of their role on Lake Champlain.
As July begins to fade into a rapidly approaching August, I think we have all begun to look forward to the coming Fall with a mixture of regret, relief, anticipation, and excitement. Enrollment in our youth camps has peaked, which hopefully means a welcome respite for our instructors from the surge of young energy that occasionally clashed with the wet weather these past few weeks. Our waterfront coordinators, on the other hand, are bracing themselves for the annual onslaught of rentals that accompanies the increased population of Burlington sailors as undergraduate students flood back into town.
No one likes to see the summer days gone; no matter how wet they have been I think we all look forward to the warm water and breezy sailing of this season every year. Still, it is a relief to think about settling back into the routine of Fall—and from the sailing perspective, September, October, and November bring some of the best winds of the year onto the lake.
I expect to see an increase in frantic energy down here as our campers begin the countdown to the beginning of the school year and rebel against the thought of it. Every year there seems to be a moment when we all realize that our long summer days are deceptively short—the impermanence of a seemingly timeless season catches us off guard.
For my part, I’ll be headed out West in September to pursue further studies, and even though September is a few short weeks away, it felt like ages until just a few days ago. I suddenly have a mile-long to do list that should have been done yesterday, but I feel motivated and invigorated thinking about the new challenges ahead.
I am sure that come next summer I will miss the mercurial Burlington weather that keeps us all firmly in our life jackets with an eye on the radar; for the moment, though, I am happily anticipating a more permanent change in the atmosphere.
It always happens that at least one student is reluctant to get into the water for the swim test. This is usually has less to do with their swimming ability and more to do with the cold air and water. One of our students was convinced that she would be forever frozen if she jumped into the lake and instead spent the next twenty minutes huddled in a towel, trying to psyche herself up for the Big Jump.
Justin and I did our best to convince her that the water wasn’t that cold, warm really, well. . . . at least compared to the air. . . . and. . . . you know. . . . it’s fun. . . . no, really. . . . it is. She did finally jump but we could all see that it took some pretty fierce will power on her part. Little did we know that the minute her feet touched the water that we unleashed a monster. A four foot tall swimming monster, that would launch herself off of any boat or dock and lurk in the water until Justin or I reminded her that we were, in fact, in sailing class. And while we do want to teach sailing skills, teaching students to overcome fears and embrace this cold and wet Vermont summer on Lake Champlain, is a pretty good skill to have.
