Sailing the Fleet

This is a five-day  course ending Friday

Have you enjoyed taking one of our ELEMENTS OF SAILING classes onboard our fleet of Herreshoff and Haven 12 1/2s, or perhaps on one of the many Craft of Sail cruising boats, but you’ve looked out at our anchorage and wondered: What about that one, when do I get to sail that boat?

This fun-filled week might very well include every boat in the WoodenBoat School fleet, from the Joel White–designed 7’7” Nutshell Pram to our 29’ Friendship sloop BELFORD GRAY. Each day will begin with a quick “chalk talk” in the Boathouse classroom with refresher discussions on such topics as onboard safety, weather, and local-knowledge navigation. This will be followed by short discussions on the varied boat designs that are represented on our waterfront, focusing on how to rig and sail them–and then finally, a morning sail or row in the anchorage to try out those boats. The afternoon may have students sailing out of the anchorage and exploring our neighboring islands or staying near the docks, swapping out into different boats throughout the afternoon. On one of the nicer days we might even head out in some of our beachable watercraft and have a picnic on one of the islands.

The Waterfront Staff will be your hosts for the week, with daily visits from different WoodenBoat School and WoodenBoat Publications staff members who will talk about their favorite boats in the fleet and join us on the water for the day’s activities.

For those less-than-ideal sailing days (or mornings), we have a few surprises in store that might include:

Guest lecturers from WoodenBoat magazine staff
A harbor tour of Center Harbor to look at the big boats up close
A tour of the WoodenBoat Publications offices
In all, this promises to be a great week, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to sail a wide variety of unique wooden boats in the company of folks who are truly passionate about them.