…Devin Wyant, Age 14

• This summer’s sailing season overall has been one of my favorites. We have had a little more wind then we normally do. My favorite boat to sail is the Laser with the full-sized sail. However, I also enjoy the Lidos. This season we have done capsize drills with the Laser, as well as having a couple other boats capsize unintentionally. I have had fun this season and I hope to for many more years to come.

…Reid Henry

• Great weather, great boats, and calm seas; what more could you ask for. This summer is off to a great start. The boats look nice and are in working order, and I can’t wait to start. The SBJYC has many members and is still growing.. This summer we hope to enjoy the extended and more frequent sailing times. It’s a lot of work to keep this club running, and we always need more members and help. The parents and advisers spend their weekends and evenings just to let us sail. Only with your support, have we been able to make it this far. Thank you.

…Austin Henry

• Having been a member of the Junior Yacht Club for the past seven years, I have been in a unique position to watch it evolve and grow. The club’s Lido 14s that I learned to sail in still perform better than ever. The kids who sail with the Juniors continually build skill and expertise every summer. My brother Reid and I share our own boat. While the boat is not exactly a high performance vessel, we do enjoy the opportunity to continually push ourselves when sailing, as do many of the Juniors. A few weeks ago, an unfortunate set of circumstances almost led to me almost losing said boat. With some quick thinking and teamwork, fellow juniors and supervisors all pitched in in a heroic effort which culminated in nothing more than a few silty sails and no broken or lost hardware. Had I been sailing alone that day, things would have turned out differently. This summer has been the last that I will sail with the Juniors. Starting in September, I will be beginning classes at the University of Victoria. I will be racing with the university team soon, and I will hopefully crewing on larger boats for duck dodges and other races. The years I have spent with the Junior Yacht Club will undoubtedly aid me in the future. To that end, I would like to thank the Sequim Bay Yacht Club for their continuing support of the Junior Sailing Program. Without your help, this program would not be possible. Furthermore, I would like to thank all of the parents, our supervisors and organizers, who volunteer their time to assist and watch over us. My final thank you goes out to all of the other Juniors. It has been a pleasure to sail with you all these summers. I wish you all well in your journeys.

..Grant Shogren (Age 12)

• On August 22, 2009, I had definitely the most fun of any sailing day yet. That was the day that we sailed down to Sequim Bay State Park to have a picnic. On the way there, we had to be towed because there was not enough wind. But once we got there, there was an awesome sandwich buffet, and we played around for a bit afterward. We then had to go back out on the bay to start heading back to the marina. Once we were out, Sarah noticed that there was much more wind out in the middle of the bay. We sailed out to the middle of the bay, and once we were out there, the sailing was awesome! We had a great day! Thank you SBYC!

...Preston McFarlen (age 16)

• I have been in the club for eight years. I was brought in by Dennis Richard because I was friends with his son, Luke, and he thought that I would like sailing. It turned out that I not only like sailing but I love it. There is nothing like sailing. It is so quiet since you have no motor. You can make it exciting or nice and easy depending on your mood. The most thrilling thing that I did with that group was taking Dr. Richard’s boat down to the Sequim Bay State Park for the end of the year party where we had a picnic and played and came back to the marina. Also, we took the boats out to Lake Crescent and sailed on the lake. That was fun because the wind came into the lake differently than it does on the Bay so it was a different way of sailing.

…SBYC Junior, Sarah Henry (age 12)

Capsized Adventure

• The way I see it, life can be serious, funny and both. The thing is, sailing is both. Last week, we were about to go sailing and then my Dad, who was leading the session, talked to us what to do when you get caught it a big puff. “Don’t cleat in the mainsheet” he told us. “You’ll capsize”. “How can you capsize a Lido?” Reid, my brother, asked. “It hasn’t ever been done with one of ours!” We set up the Lidos and pushed them off. I was sailing with an experienced sailor named Devin. Suddenly the newest member and his skipper zoomed past us in another Lido. We said, “Hi”, and then tried to get out of the marina. The other skipper had cleated in the main sheet and suddenly, a big puff came in! They still had the mainsheet in and the boat capsized. Then it turtled! We all got back to the dock, except for the two juniors who were still turtled and in the water. The adults pulled them out. Austin, my other brother, looked over at Reid and Devin and said, “That myth was busted!” In the background of the capsized Lido, we saw a wedding photo shoot taking place in the park - we would be in the pictures. “Oh dear!”, I thought. Eventually we had to bail out the Lido because it held so much water. We ended up spending the entire session bailing it out. Our newest member, who felt sorry about the catastrophe, ended up bailing the most. See what I mean? It was both funny and serious in the end. This was our capsized adventure on the first day of sailing.

…SBYC Junior, Sarah Henry

• My name is Sarah Henry, I am 11 years old and I am in 6th grade at Sequim Middle School. I think Junior Sailing is wonderful because of the experience. You can learn so much from sailing - things such as science, the environment, and just having fun! During sailing season, we had water gun wars, played follow the leader, and raced! In water gun fights I usually sailed with two other boys, Devin, and Grant. Devin steered, and Grant helped me shoot the other boats with water! When we played follow the leader, we just picked a single boat to make complex moves and we would try to follow them, making sure not to capsize. When we go sailing we always see jellyfish floating around in the water, we sometimes see eagles in the trees, and we usually see new types of seaweed and plants. I learned to really like the marine environment! I really like Junior Sailing because it offers a lot of experience. Plus you just can’t avoid having fun!

…SBYC Junior, Laurie Miller, Age 13, 7th Grade

• Looking for a fun new way to spend you’re summer? Sailing is a fun way to spend warm sunny days and it’s a pretty good workout. Some people may think sailing is just sitting on a boat not really doing anything but there is much more to it than that. You can have races and use the buoys for obstacle courses. And, on really hot days you can have water fights with other boats or go swimming. Sailing is a great way to get out of the house and into the sun!!!

…SBYC Junior Hayden Wickham, Age 9

• I started sailing with the juniors two years ago. My third time out in a Lido the mast fell while I was sailing with my brother. It was windy and the waves were big and I was surprised. The funniest thing this year was the time Devin forgot to tie the laser up and it drifted away. Then Rudy pushed him in (wearing his wetsuit and lifejacket, of course) so he could go get it. I’m looking forward to sailing the Laser someday. I’m nine years old and in 4th grade.

…SBYC Junior Devin Wyant, Age 13

• On one windy Saturday afternoon whitecaps were starting to form. My brother Hayden and I took out a Lido. All was well with the wind filling our sails and pushing on our faces, until the starboard shroud broke and the mast fell forward. The chase boat hurried over and we were told to bring the sails in. After that happened we had to lift the mast and bring it to the stern. We have had more wind this summer than we have normally had. A week after that the outhaul broke, we were quickly towed in and it was replaced. Overall the season has been good. We have been having fun.

…SBYC Junior Michael Cullinan (Age 15)

• I recently joined the Sequim Bay Junior Yacht Club and I had a lot of fun this summer. It is a great program. While lots of people enjoy sailing, they lack the materials and experience to do so. The Junior program provides all of the necessary assets to give valuable experience to any new sailor. I learned a lot and was quickly accepted into the group, which made my sailing experiences a lot more enjoyable. I was constantly looking forward to the next sail during the course of each week, and with each sail I learned more and more of the practice of sailing.

…SBYC Junior Grant Shogren

• Wow. I can’t believe it’s already November. I’m Grant Shogren, and I’ll be 12 this month. This past summer, I had a lot of fun in my first year with the Junior Yacht Club. I joined late so I only got a month and a half of sailing. I think it’s really great that the Sequim Bay Yacht Club is supporting the Junior Club, and they should continue their support as long as possible, because I want this to last forever. I really enjoy getting to sail different types of boats and being able to sail so often, unlike the YMCA camp. The Lidos are really great boats to sail because they’re wide and have a lot of space to move around as well as being stable. They also sail fast. It was great of the Club members to fix them up! The evening sails I really enjoy, especially the time we sailed down wind of the Marina in some really odd wind conditions, but we still had a lot of fun. Actually, every time I’ve been out sailing with the Junior Club has been fun. I want to stick with this Club! I had so much fun in the Club that I made a poster on sailboat racing so I could get into the Clallam County Fair, and it got high marks because this Club has taught me so much about racing and just having fun in boats.

…SBYC Junior Preston McFarlen (age 15)

• Sailing is one of my passions, but this year I was unable to sail since I dislocated my shoulder during baseball. One of the many things I miss about being on the water is on days that were not windy we would go out and capsize my boat and then take turns righting it. Also, I miss racing to see who could get to the opposite shore or to Pirate’s Cove first. Even though I was unable to sail this year, I have a lot of great memories I am holding on to. I am really looking forward to sailing next year.

…SBYC Junior Austin Henry, Vice Commodore Age 18 - Running Start Student

• As the new sailing season begins, we look forward to a successful summer of youth boating. With our fundraising efforts, we have begun to restore our Lido fleet, and we expect a large turnout of new members. Through personal experience, I have found the summer sailing sessions are a fun way to make friends and enjoy the beautiful weather Sequim offers us out on the water. One of our continuing goals for this season is to have the junior and senior members of the Junior Yacht Club become successful racers. Furthermore, our start of official off-season activities (which is currently in full swing) has prepared us for the summer sailing season, giving us time to grow both on and off the water. As membership and participation grows and our fleet is restored to prime condition, we look forward to the exciting possibilities that the summer offers us.