Here’s a question to start us off:
When someone asks a South Shore native about Duxbury Bay Maritime School, what do you think is the first thing that comes to mind?
I’m willing to bet that many of you thought of ‘sailing’, or more specifically, ‘Junior Sailing‘.
Since our first summer in 1998, Junior Sailing at DBMS has been a foundational element in our mission to connect people to the bay and instill an enduring love for the sea. Many families would even consider learning to sail at DBMS a ‘summer essential’ for local children and seasonal vacationers.
Keeping with our mission, we wanted to think of a way to make Junior Sailing an even better experience for our young mariners. After listening to feedback from parents and participants, we decided to make an exciting change:
This summer, our traditional three 3-week sessions will be replaced with
four 2-week sessions!
The original goal of the 3-week Junior Sailing session was to allow enough time for students to feel truly comfortable and confident sailing or racing the boat they were learning in. We found that if we changed the model to having a “long week” where students would be at DBMS for approximately 6 hours during the optimal tide, paired with one “short week” (students spending approximately 3 hours at DBMS during the optimal tide) would result in more sailing time for students… nearly 35 hours at DBMS during the traditional 3-week model versus 45 hours in the new 2-week model!
This new model also allows Junior Sailing students thew opportunity to participate in an additional course! For instance, say your Opti Magic student had such a great time sailing that they wanted to take Opti 2 while the skills were still fresh on their mind. Since the courses are now only 2-weeks long and are offered 4 times during the summer, it allows for more flexibility in regards to scheduling another course.
HOW GREAT IS THAT?!
Obviously we’re really thrilled over here about this new change, and we think you will be too come June 2016! It may only be February, but believe it or not our classes are already starting to fill. Check out our 2-Week Junior Sailing Calendar and 1-Week Junior Sailing Calendar to see when classes will be offered and register for as course or two today!
Also be sure to keep an eye out for information on two of the newest 1-week sailing classes we’ve added (Hartley 12 and Parent Sailing Night) as well as other news regarding courses and events at DBMS. The best way to get DBMS news first hand is to subscribe to our e-newsletter, Changing Tides, at the bottom of our homepage.