Sailing Club & Racing Team

SJISF provides sailing opportunities three seasons each year. Details vary from season to season, and the most recent information is below. Updates are typically provided in August for the fall season, in February for the spring season, and in May for the summer season.

Summer Season

How

Who

Middle school and high school students living on San Juan Island or attending any school on SJI. Exceptions are possible; see the contact information below to inquire.

What

Summer Sailing Program:

Learn to Sail (LTS), for those totally new to sailing, needing a refresher, or needing more experience and confidence; sailors will be sailing RS Teras, Laser’s and our RS Quest. Some dates will not be availble for LTS sailors depending on coaches availability. Details to be shared after registration.
Development (Dev), for those with sailing experience needing to work on improving technique; this will be for sailors who are beyond LTS and are aiming to improve their skills; sailors will be sailing V15s and Lasers
Varsity, High School Racing team, for those committed to racing in regional regattas and training multiple days per week; sailors will be sailing FJs and Lasers

When you register, please let us know which program you prefer, but know that the coaches will ultimately need to make the final determination for safety and pedagogical reasons, and will also likely move sailors among the groups as the season progresses.

When

The schedule:

Monday June 1st

Monday June 8th

Then, starting Monday June 15th, it’ll be every Monday and Wednesday through Monday August 10th, the Wednesday before the county fair starts.

We’ll start at 4:45 and end at 7:30 unless conditions are great, in which case Ryan wants to stay out with the sailors who are willing and able to stay out. Yes, this is sort of weird, because it’s hard to define “conditions are great,” so what’ll happen is Ryan will radio to on-shore support (usually me) and I’ll send out a message to the WhatsApp group when he’ll be staying out late with the sailors. Parents who need to pick up their kids at 7:30 should let me know at dropoff so we don’t keep them out past then.

Where

Jackson Beach, at the net shed at the far end of the beach. This facility is owned by the Port of Friday Harbor and we use it without charge, which helps us keep our tuition down. Please thank the Port Commissioners for this community service when you can.

Cost

$150 for the season.

Notes:

Financial aid is available. Just ask – no paperwork is required.
Payment can be made by check (to SJISF), cash (in person at the start of the season), or online via the donate button on the home page
For sailors traveling to more than one regatta or invited to the Orcas training sessions, payment of the higher Varsity tuition is necessary regardless of which group they train with. It’s fine to wait and see how this turns out and pay when it’s clear.
For regatta fees, see the Regattas session at the end of this page.

Regattas

There are opportunities for a number of summer regattas, we’ll update this page soon but Ryan will be communicating with the high school sailors about this.

What else

Sign the Waiver

Parents must sign a waiver (or sailors if they’ve reached age 18) here. Note that this has two parts:

2(a) the READ ME part which we actually wrote expecting you to READ it. This isn’t boilerplate. It’s valuable information.

2(b) the SIGN ME part which is boilerplate which we actually expect you to sign (and your lawyer expects you to read and understand).

3. Sailors must Read and Agree to the Code of Conduct, which is also actually important. It describes what we expect of sailors, which is essential for safety, camaraderie, and treatment of the equipment. Participation hinges on full compliance with this.

What to bring

All sailors will need to wear:

Swimsuit
Wetsuit (optional late in the season, replaced with non-cotton shirts, pants/shorts, and a spray jacket)
Booties or water shoes
PFD (Coast Guard approved Type II, not inflatable)

We recommend:

Sunglasses and/or hat
Gloves

We have loaner gear (wetsuits, booties, PFDs) but can’t guarantee that any particular size is available; therefore we recommend purchasing your own. Ask us if you need any assistance with this process, or if you need to come see our collection and claim a particular size.

We start each season with a swim test: wearing a PFD and wet suit, each sailor jumps off the far end of the dock and swims to shore. This is surprisingly popular with the kids.
Parent donations are welcome — cookies, helping the kids launched each day and de-rigged at the end of the day, cash money, private jets, Fabergé eggs.
We do ask that parents volunteer to help with the boats only if they’re familiar with rigging dinghies; keelboat knowledge isn’t helpful.
We also ask that parents help other people’s children, not their own, as we’ve found that goes much more smoothly.
Please don’t come sailing if you or your family members have a contagious disease (covid, flu, plague, whatever) so we don’t all get it.

Parents please be sure your child brings:

FOOD! Kids get hangry and need an after-school snack or even a full lunch and something they can fit in their PFD and eat on the water (protein bar, granola bar, dried fruit, etc.). High sugar snacks can make this worse, so we suggest something with some substance.
Warm and dry clothes, and a towel, for afterwards; early in the spring season they will be cold after sailing, and at any time of the season they’re going to get your car’s upholstery wet otherwise.

Questions?

Contact the Bossy One With The Clipboard at: fridayharborsailingteam@gmail.com