Tampa Bay · Englewood
Volunteer-run youth and community sailing on Lemon Bay from Indian Mound Park, founded 2002 out of the Lemon Bay Rag Haulers. Summer camps and Saturday sailing for ages 9 to 17, a four-day adult intro course, an ILCA youth race team, and the Lemon Drop Regatta each November.
One-day youth regatta on Lemon Bay off Indian Mound Park for sailors under 19. Optimist Green and RWB, Club 420, ILCA 4 and 6, Pico, RS Quest and RS Zest. Sailed each November since 2022.
The club's youth race team, open to graduates of its intermediate program, sailing ILCA 4 and ILCA 6 dinghies on Lemon Bay.
Improving, intermediate and advanced sessions for summer-camp graduates ages 9 to 17 on the club's RS Zests and Quests.
A school-day program for ages 10 to 14 who can swim, pairing sailing with the science behind it.
Day camps for ages 9 to 17 on Lemon Bay.
An introductory course for adults 18 and over on the club's RS Quests and its RS Venture Connect keelboat, with an instructor aboard every boat. Open to non-members who can swim.
Adult and family social sailing
Member sailing on the club fleet for those who already sail and can rig a boat.
The Englewood Sailing Association began in July 2002, when Warren Spear and a group from the Lemon Bay Rag Haulers, the sailing and social club that had sailed the bay since 1990, set up a nonprofit to teach children to sail. It has sailed from Indian Mound Park ever since, on a county lease it has held since 2011, and the fleet has grown past forty boats: RS Zests as the primary trainer, RS Quests, a Hobie Holder, ILCAs for the racers, an RS Venture Connect, and a Lippincott 30 named Star Chaser for the coastal cruising program.
Lemon Bay is good teaching water. It is a narrow, shallow lagoon behind Manasota Key, sheltered from the Gulf, with Indian Mound Park’s ramp and beach on its eastern shore, so a nine-year-old’s first capsize happens in warm water within shouting distance of the instructors. The youth calendar runs through the school year: three summer camp sessions for ages 9 to 17, fall and spring Saturday sessions for the same ages, and a homeschool sailing-and-STEM program that meets ten Mondays each semester and pairs the boat handling with the physics behind it. Coastal cruising on Star Chaser starts at 12 for youth sailors, with adult trips in the fall.
The instruction is US Sailing’s: the association calls itself a proud partner, several of its instructors hold Level 1, the curriculum is Learn Sailing Right, and youth graduates can earn US Sailing’s Little Red Book certification. Adults get a four-day introductory course on the RS Quests and the RS Venture Connect keelboat, offered in February, March and November from 10 to 2 for anyone 18 and over who can swim, members or not, which ends with most students sailing without an instructor aboard.
Racing is the youth team’s business. The ILCA 4 and 6 squad sails a fall and spring season with practice every Saturday from 11 to 3, and the club’s own Lemon Drop Regatta, first sailed in 2022, brings under-19 fleets of Optimists, Club 420s, ILCAs, Picos, Quests and Zests to Lemon Bay each November for a single day of racing off the park. Membership is by family and open to anyone; the club is run by volunteers and funded by program fees, grants, donations and sponsors, with need-based financial aid for families who need it.
Englewood Sailing Association is open to the public: no member sponsorship required to take part. Class schedules, program fees, and any membership or annual-pass options are posted on its website.
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