Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten – August 8, 2023
For the duration of 6 weeks, 144 kids enjoyed sailing summer camp at the Sint Maarten Yacht Club sponsored by Solstice. The sailing camp combines sailing with watersports, informative clinics and of course a lot of fun!
Sailing summer camp provided the kids the opportunity to develop and/or learn new sailing skills. The kids sailed in optimists, RS Quests and RS Zest, and besides sailing there was a lot of swimming, paddle boarding, water games, picknicks and many other fun activities.
Our enthusiastic and dynamic instructor team this year consisted of two head instructors: Wessel and Windy. They were supported by experienced assistant instructors, as well as new 1st year assistant instructors who have joined summer camps themselves as participants and were now old and experienced enough to help as an instructor.
Each week had a specific theme and a mystery to solve; the kids were divided up into teams and could earn points by playing games. With these points they could buy clues to solve the mystery. This created a healthy level of competition. “During the games the younger and older children worked together very well, even though they only just knew each other for a few days. All the teams were very eager to win the games”, said sailing instructor Wessel Tangenberg. The themes of this year were: time travel, under the sea and adventure week.
Solstice’s sponsorship guaranteed that 10 children got a chance to participate in the program, free of charge. With the support from local businesses, like Aqua Mania, the Nature Foundation and 12 Metre sailing trips, the kids got the opportunity to participate in snorkeling, water sports and boat excursions.
One of the big highlights was the field trips with the Sint Maarten Nature Foundation. They provided an educational opportunity for the children to create awareness about the marine life of Sint Maarten and to highlight the dangers of pollution. In those 2 mornings the kids cleaned Snoopy Island and picked up more than 90 lbs of plastic garbage!
With lunch provided from a variety of restaurants such as the Sint Maarten Yacht Club Bar and Restaurant, Lagoonies, Zee Best, Captain D’s and Dinghy Dock, the kids were able to enjoy a well-deserved lunch break.
The Sint Maarten Yacht Club is extremely grateful to the local community, businesses, staff and parents for all the support these past weeks. The Sint Maarten Yacht Club Sailing School will reopen in September to welcome students back for another wonderful sailing season.
