High School Sailing Team
The Community Sailing Center manages and coaches high school age sailors from around the region through the Northern Vermont High School Sailing Team, each season reaching out to area schools to facilitate their students’ ability to register their school as an official team with the Interscholastic Sailing Association.
The Northern Vermont High School Sailing Team (NVHSST) is open to any student in good standing attending public, private, or home school in Chittenden and surrounding counties. The team practices together on weekdays after school and, for the sake of competitive racing, was officially divided into the following four teams in 2011:
- The Vermont Commons School
- Burlington High School
- Champlain Valley Union High School
- The Northern Vermont High School Sailing Team (comprised of students from a number of schools)
Sailors on the team in 2011 came from the following schools:
- Burlington High School
- Colchester High School
- Champlain Valley Union
- Essex High School
- Harwood
- Lake Champlain Waldorf School
- Mount Mansfield United
- Rice
- South Burlington High School
- Vermont Commons School
Sailing with the Northern Vermont High School Sailing team fits into a traditional high school athletics schedule while providing a number of unique benefits:
- NVHSST provides students with an alternative athletic option, giving them an access point to sports and fitness beyond the traditional team offerings.
- Sailing on a team demands independent achievement and teaches personal responsibility. These individual traits are combined with layers of team work, as skippers work with crew members to pilot their boat and, in team racing, boats work together to position each other with the greatest advantage.
- The sport of sailing takes place exclusively in the outdoors, working actively to promote participants’ sense of place in their ecosystem, an accomplishment with mental, social, and personal benefits supported by a growing body of research championed by “Last Child in the Woods.”
- NVHSST sailors develop a strong sense of community within and beyond the team as participants travel to other sailing venues, meet peers from different communities, and develop mentor relationships with adults through the medium of their shared sport.
The High School Sailing Manual contains overall details about the program. For more information please contact Jen Guimaraes, or call (802) 864-2499.
Spring 2012
*Sailors who want to participate in the spring must have sailing experience at the intermediate level.*
Dates: April 23 – June 1
Fee: $360
Registration: Please complete and return the NVHSST Registration Form and the Program Waiver along with payment. As with all Sailing Center programs, scholarships are available through the Mike McConnell Scholarship Fund, providing access to the world of competitive sailing to all interested high school students.
Summer Race Program
The summer race program is a 4-week program designed for Level III graduates. This exciting opportunity will build on the racing foundation students received in Level III and will include advanced coaching . Sailors will cover starts, heavy wind and light wind racing techniques, and advanced boat handling (including spinnakers and trapezes). The Summer Race team will attend local and regional regattas to gain experience competing against other sailors throughout Vermont and New England. Additionally, sailors will participate in other on-water activities such as canoing, kayaking, and swimming.
Each Summer Race session is 4 weeks long, Monday-Friday
Ages 11-16 Fee: $1,100 9am-4pm
Session I: June 25-July 20
Session II: July 23-August 17
