Chicago Yacht Club and Columbia Yacht Club Foundations Collaborate to Introduce Chicagoland Kids to Sailing
October 25, 2024
by Megan McNichols Mahon
Getting more kids from underrepresented communities on the water this summer was the goal of a new collaboration between the Chicago Yacht Club Foundation and Columbia Yacht Club’s Chester Kuttner Foundation. Both foundations hosted children from the Union League Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago for a weeklong camp in July that introduced the kids to Lake Michigan and the joys of sailing.
“As our community outreach has grown, we’ve seen a growing demand for our community sailing camps and we’re working hard to meet that demand,” said Greg Miarecki, CYC Foundation President. “That’s why we initiated the first-ever sailing camps at Monroe Station this summer and that’s why we wanted to collaborate with our friends at the Kuttner Foundation.”
Twenty-two kids from Chicago’s Pilsen and Humboldt Park neighborhoods participated in the sailing camps. The CYC Foundation has developed a strong partnership with the Union League Boys and Girls Clubs of Chicago over the past several years and has offered numerous sailing opportunities to kids in the program.
“One of the challenges we have as a smaller foundation is finding underserved kids to bring into our programs,” said Mike Hettel, a Kuttner Foundation Board Member. “When the CYC Foundation offered to help us identify kids interested in learning to sail we were thrilled to participate.”
The kids in this new combined camp sailed on various boats including a J/100 sailboat, a Sonar, and Columbia Sailing School’s Colgate 26s.
“The feedback we got from the Union League Clubs was that the kids really enjoyed both camps,” said Caroline O’Malley, CYC Foundation Community Sailing Manager. “They had an amazing time and learned a lot.”
And that was the goal.
“We wanted to introduce the kids to the joys of being around the water and give them a new experience,” O’Malley said. “Through hands-on lessons, the kids learned everything from weather patterns and how they affect sailing conditions to the physics involved in maneuvering a sailboat. They especially loved just getting out on the water and steering the boat,” she added.
The new collaboration was also designed to build on the platform of cooperation that both clubs have developed over the past 10 years through their cofounding of the Chicago Area Sail Racing Association (CASRA), Miarecki said. “The idea was to expand the collaboration beyond just sailboat racing,” he said.
Both foundations look forward to working together again next summer to introduce more kids from underrepresented communities to Lake Michigan and sailing. “We live on this wonderful asset called Lake Michigan, but many Chicagoland kids never get to the waterfront let alone get on the water,” Hettel said. “The kids in the camp were ecstatic to be on a dock, on the lake, on a boat. We’re excited to get more kids on the water next year.”