THOMAS HARDY

While it was not drawn on the back of a napkin at a restaurant, it was pretty close. The Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River County, Inc. (YSF) did start at a table at the Vero Beach Yacht Club in March 2009 when Varoujan Karentz (known as Pops) asked member Jim Fuller what the Yacht Club’s youth sailing program consisted of. The answer was “there is none.”

Pop’s discussed the idea of starting a children’s sailing program with his neighbor Charlie Pope, who enthusiastically said: “let’s go and do it.” Charlie became Chairman and together with his wife, Chris, worked tirelessly over the past five years to build the Foundation.

Charlie wished to have children understand not only sailing, but to enjoy the fun of building a boat. The boat that was chosen was the Optimist, a pram that could be made out of two sheets of 4 X 8 marine grade plywood.

Charlie’s concept became, “the kids build the boats…the boats build the kids.”

Over time, under Charlie’s leadership, the volunteers came, the donations came, the City of Vero Beach came, the Moorings came and now the YSF has the vibrant organization it is today.

YSF now has a building just off Indian River Boulevard in Vero Beach, just south of the 17^th Street Bridge. It has a launching ramp, designed and built by its volunteers. YSF has chase boats donated or purchased to ensure the safety of their young sailors. Most importantly, the YSF has over 30 Optimists, built by kids and their parents, eight C-420’s, mostly donated, Five Trinka 12’s, a locally built vessel built by Johannsen Boat Works and one Mariner that is being rehabilitated.

The newest addition to the YSF fleet is a pontoon boat, to be used for educating and social affairs for parents who wish to watch their children while learning or racing in our various programs.

Along the way the YSF created a Summer Camp, held at the Moorings, where children learn to sail under the watchful eyes of instructors.

YSF successfully initiated a pilot program, “Beginning Adult Sailing” on March 1, 2014. It took off and went from the testing stage to become a regular YSF staple.  On November 1, 2014, YSF is also starting a new “Intermediate Sailing Program”

Over 20 Shop Volunteers have been involved and today there is no hesitation by this crew to undertake any repair or modification to any boat in the YSF fleet. It’s the shop volunteers who boat by boat walk the youngster and his or her family through the construction process. Thirty-one boats have been built, each with 68 cut out pieces of Okoume plywood, prepared, fitted, clamped and epoxied together

Sailing demands self-discipline and alertness, some of the qualities that few schools or activities teach today. Moreover, it builds self-confidence. It is one thing learn how to ride a bike, but yet quite another at the age of nine to pilot your own craft.

Scuttlebutt Sailing News (06/05/2013) reports that children learning to sail develop four key qualities. They develop 1) Spatial awareness, an understanding of his/her location and the location of objects in relation to his/her body; 2) a sense of direction, such a calculating distance and identifying landmarks; 3) weather knowledge; and 4) shipshape habits, including rigging, putting things away, keeping them tidy and learning to respect provided equipment.

According to George Horak, Commodore of the Miami Sailing Club, who offers summer sailing for children, “At this point if we have a problem in our Society, it’s because the role models are questionable.”

At the Youth Sailing Foundation of Indian River County the primary objective is to provide children with superior role models, reflected in their instructors, volunteers and Board Members. They want to develop children into leaders.

For further information visit the YSF website, www.ysfirc.org, contact Charlie Pope at 772-321-8087 or email him at cdpope643@bellsouth.net. You can also visit YSF on Facebook.