Across the Great South Bay from Wednesday, July 31 through Friday, Aug. 2, multi-colored sails cruised along the water before the Robert Moses Bridge as they participated in the Great South Bay Yacht Race Association’s (GSBYRA) annual Junior Race Week.
Race Week is an annual event organized by the GSBYRA, the governing body scheduling regattas at yacht clubs across the Great South Bay, in which sailors from yacht clubs across Long Island come to one club house for three days of competition.
This year, the Bay Shore Yacht Club (BSYC) was selected to host Race Week. The selection is a historical one; this is the second year in a row that GSBYRA, founded in 1907, has hosted race week at the same club, three days in a row, consecutively. Prior to that, it had always been tradition to move all boats from one club to the next for all three days.
Founded in 1883, Bay Shore Yacht Club has been teaching children for over 100 years. The Sailing Instruction Committee—one of the club’s 26 volunteer committees—manages the certified sailing instructions, who teach the “littles” the basics of sailing, techniques and strategy for racing. The young sailors get to put the skills accumulated throughout the seven-week season to the test during race week.
“The beauty of Race Week is that in addition to teamwork, it requires a lot of strategy. There is problem solving happening constantly,” explained Karen Aries, sailing instruction chair. “This is their first car, at 7, 8, 9 years old, and they are out there on their own. They have their coaches, but they are figuring it out on their own, and relying on their teammates.”
BSYC has a wide array of hosting responsibilities, including setting the marks for the racecourses, organizing the Race Committee boats to score each race, providing safety boats on the racecourses, having a medic on hand, and providing lunch to all participants and their parents.
Being selected as hosts two years in a row is a reflection of the growing interest in sailing within the Bay Shore community. As different volunteer committees move through the club, they bring different interests to the sailing program, whether it be cruising, racing, or both. The addition of head instructor Zara McCreery and race coach Ella Hemeryck, who both hail from Ireland, has introduced new techniques to the program to help the young sailors excel at racing.
“Three years ago, the Bay Shore sailors were not going to all the regattas. But in the last two years, we have gone to every single Friday regatta during our program. We are hosting race week, and we are so proud and excited to see our interest grow, and how the kids are rising to the challenge,” noted Aries. “The goal is to have lifelong sailors. It really creates a lifelong love of the Great South Bay.”
Indeed, every Friday during the season, BSYC transports their boats to a different club, with clubs going from Westhampton all the way to Hempstead Bay, for competitions. It is a great way for kids in other clubs to get to know each other, though the fun is not limited to BSYC members.
“We allow families who are not members to sail for one year; then if they want to sail for a second year, they become members,” said Rhianna Quinn Roddy, commodore. “And that really drives a huge membership in the program. This year, we have 39 non-member families.”
“That is so important because we want to be welcoming to everybody,” added Aries. “Just come try it for a year and see if you like it!”
The young sailors participating in Race Week competed in three different courses, with varying levels of difficulty depending on their age. The Opti Green course was a simple port triangle for beginners, aged 7, 8, and 9. Opti White, Blue, and Red fleets, with ages up to 15, participate in a trapezoid course. The older sailors who were up to 18 years old raced in the advanced Sunfish and 420s course.
The young Bay Shore sailors gathered in the Junior Yacht Club room on Friday morning as they awaited the day’s races. The walls were decorated with creative chalkboard drawings of the bay, and the names of all the Bay Shore champions throughout the years. The room reflected the children’s energy: equally determined to strive for greatness and have fun.
During the instructor’s meeting, McCreery and Hemeryck reviewed the courses of the day for each fleet. Then, the sailors were off.
One by one—and with the help of parents—children tugged their boats into the water. Through tough competition with 17 to 18 races scored, the results for first through third place for each class of boat are as follows:
Opti Green
Opti White
Opti Blue
Opti Red
420
Sunfish
For further information about the BSYC, visit www.BSYC.com.
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