Junior Summer Week 2 Recap

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Jul 13

Happy Shark Week!! This past week, July 8th-July 12th, marked the second week of the Junior Summer Program! The Marine Education team explored our second Ocean Principal: Beaches & Coasts - how the Oceans affect the Earth. Meanwhile, our Youth Sailors battled the heavy winds with improved sailing techniques!

Marine Explorers

Bay Buccaneers

The Bay Buccaneers competed in The Waterfront Center Olympics! They competed in water relays and Jeopardy for points and won prizes through our in-house treasure chest.

Sound Swashbucklers

The Sound Swashbucklers made paper mache volcanoes, studied weathering and erosion, created their own landslide on the beach, made jumping origami frogs, went on the Ida May, kayaked, and made flip books that showed how rivers change over time. What a week!!

Skippers

Our Skippers embraced the spirit of shark week and learned about sustainable fishing practices and the protection and conservation of our waters. The group learned about a new shark every day and got to spend time on the beach meeting new interesting sea creatures.

First Mates

First Mates learned about Sharks and Beavers by building dams in the river on Beekman Beach and making shark teeth out of clay. They also learned about shark length and determined what type of shark each camper would be based on their height! Happy Shark Week!!

First Mates measured the lengths of different large marine animals by lining up together!

Youth Sailing

Lil’ Puffs

This week in Lil’ Puffs, we touched upon a handful of topics; for example, we learned about the different types of sails we may utilize on a Sonar, points of sail, tacking, jibing, and different parts of the boat! On top of this, we expanded upon our sailing vocabulary. For instance, we learned that starboard and port are the sailing terms for left and right! Additionally, each kid had a chance at taking control of the sonar by utilizing the bo’s tiller - they quickly learned that they must point the tiller in the opposite direction that they desire to move in. While sailing, we played a plethora of fun games on the water. Lastly, the kids got to cool off after a great day of sailing in the water!

Opti Beginners

This week, the Opti Beginner class reviewed the skills of steering with a tiller, tacking, and jibing. They also mastered the complicated concept of sailing upwind. The class enjoyed the games of follow the leader and tennis ball tag, and they practiced their skills with figure eight and windward-leeward drills. Everyone finished the week a better sailor than they started out.

Opti Race Team

The Opti Race Team started the week with an adventure sail to Bayville, utilizing light wind strategies. Throughout the week, the wind picked up, so they were able to do practice races and work on high-wind boat handling. We finished the week playing fun games such as 21 and relay racing.

C420 Intermediate

The afternoons brought some heavy wind, which was perfect for the sailors. While they started improving their hiking form to keep the boat flat, they quickly discovered how fun the trapeze wire can be. These sailors put a lot of energy into perfecting their sailing techniques, which showed in Thursday’s competition with the race team.

Opti Intermediate

The Opti Intermediate class practiced the fundamental concepts of upwind sailing, downwind sailing, tacking, and jibing. The group experienced multiple days of high wind, where some struggled at first but were able to make the necessary adjustments. They also experienced sailing a Sonar during one of the high-wind days. The skills the class practiced this week culminated in a session of relaxed racing on Friday afternoon, which introduced the class to a sailing regatta.

C420 Beginner

With a lot of wind this week, there were quite a few capsizes, so the sailors spent a little more time in the water than usual. The C420 Beginner sailors have made lots of progress in understanding the fundamentals of controlling their boats. Even when the sailors face challenging conditions, they have proven that they can apply their new skills with guidance.

Campers working together to put away sails

C420 Race Team

The 420 race team practiced hard all week in big breezes and close to no breezes, covering all ends of the racing spectrum. With the new addition of two sailors, we are glad to have more boats on the water, creating a better training environment. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come in the past two weeks, and we are excited to see what is to come by the end of the summer!

Adventure Sailing

This week in Adventure Sailing, the kids learned a lot while having fun! At the beginning of the week, the wind was very light, so the kids performed some on-land trivia/drills on parts of the boat and went through basic motions they would have to do on the Hobies. Later in the week, the wind turned out to be heavy, and the group really got a feel for how to handle these boats. The kids were all very good at keeping calm, even in stressful, windy situations.

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Manaal Nabi

Manaal grew up in Syosset, NY and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture with a minor in Business Management from Syracuse University. She has been working at The Waterfront Center for two years as a Front Desk Associate and currently as a Marketing Intern. She loves nature and the outdoors and is passionate about the environment and sustainable design practices.