Staff Stories: Rebecca
Our first sailing instructor spotlight features incoming Oyster Bay High School Senior, Rebecca Keller. Rebecca isn't only an instructor now but grew up at The WaterFront Center, through our summer programs and race teams.
Her first memory of The WaterFront Center was in preschool when her class took a field trip to The WaterFront Center. Here they learned the basics of sailing and Rebecca got her first sailing experience in a Pram, a small beginner sailboat. On that Pram she also met her best friend Emma in the process as they were paired up in the same boat. Rebecca loved sailing so much that her parents signed her up for our Summer Youth Program that same year!
Throughout the years Rebecca was able to steadily get better and better as she came back every summer starting from our very first group, Bay Buccaneers. Fortunately, she was able to attend camp with the same friend, Emma, who she shared her first sailing experience. When she was 11 Rebecca moved into our First Mates group where her instructor introduced her to racing. That instructor inspired Rebecca to work harder and join our race team to continue her sailing Journey. She came back every year moving from Opti Beginner, to Opti race and eventually joined our 420 Race team as a freshman in high school.
Joining the 420 Race team solidified her passion for sailing and racing as she found a love for collaborating with other Sailors, as they were able to discuss different tactics and ideas.
“When I was on the 420 Race Team at The WaterFront Center in 2018, I found it beneficial that all of us would work together and push each other prior to and during regattas to improve our sailing. This ended up working really well as we were able to pull really good results that year.”
Now as an instructor Rebecca said that she learns new things about sailing every day and loves seeing the sport from a different angle. Being an instructor has taught her how unique the sport is in ways that individuals adapt to sailing. She says that the sport is very different for everyone whether you're into pleasure sailing or racing and it showed her that people like sailing for a myriad of different reasons and everyone's experience is completely different. Her favorite part of being an instructor is “watching the little sailors develop the same excitement for sailing that I felt when I was little, which is incredibly rewarding.”
After this summer she has one more year in high school before pursuing a higher education in the Northeast. Of course, as she mentioned, she would love to continue sailing 420’s competitively in college. In school she says that she likes most subjects and is especially interested in economics but as she knows life’s full of surprises and she’s ready to head bow first into anything life throws at her. Eventually, she wants to settle down and pass on her passion of sailing to her family.
For Rebecca sailing at the WaterFront Center started during a field trip as a young child but has become so much more than that. The WaterFront Center was somewhere for Rebecca to grow up with her friends, learn new skills, and acquire passions that will last a lifetime.
We are so lucky to have Rebecca as an instructor, we’ve loved watching her grow into a great young sailor. We honor her dedication and commitment to both the sport and our organization. Thanks for sailing with us Rebecca!
