Annual Campaign 2021; College Offshore; Junior Offshore
1. Please Help COSC’s Annual Campaign by Donating Now!
COSC is an IRS designated 501c3 public charity and thus all donations are tax-deductible to the donor. Our goal for our 2021 Annual Campaign is $90,000.
We ask you sailors, who love your sport and want to see it thrive, to help us bring offshore sailing to many more young sailors, at both the college and junior levels, by supporting our COSC initiatives below (by check or online). In advance, many thanks for your generous support!
1. Our fundamental COSC mission is “to expand the pool of offshore capable mariners in the USA”. Our original plan targeted colleges where we saw the need to fill a big gap between college dinghy sailing and later adult sailing in larger keelboats for coastal or offshore cruising or racing. 6 of our 11 boats are currently deployed at Webb, Mass. Maritime, USMMA, and SUNY.
2. A second target has become summer community sailing programs where we have found great interest to train high school students in offshore sailing. See SailMaine’s concept here . This past summer 2021, four community sailing programs in Portland, Bristol, Noroton, and Stamford ran highly successful junior offshore training programs. We anticipate expansion of these summer junior community programs next summer 2022 building on 2021 foundations.
Read more on each of these initiatives below! And please help offshore sailing now with your generous donation! Thanks!
2. COSC & College Offshore Training
Although Storm Trysail Club’s Intercollegiate Offshore Regatta (IOR), college sailing’s biggest event with 40 teams participating, had to be abandoned due to high winds, the colleges sailing our 7 Figaro 2s that were on the starting line loved sailing the boats in the big breeze. The Figaro 2s, with their twin rudders, easy mainsail reefing, and overall sea kindliness were at home in the conditions.
Despite the abandonment of the IOR, the Figaro 2s at Webb, USMMA, SUNY and Mass Maritime sailed many miles in offshore overnight training, and multiple shorter distance day, or distance overnight, races. To get offshore overnight is key to gaining experience, as everything changes at night, and one’s knowledge of the boat and safety protocols for sailing the boat must be at a higher level than day sailing.
3. COSC & Junior Offshore Training
With the imaginative team at SailMaine, led by Executive Director Michael McCallister, we developed a program template that found great interest in Portland and among other summer high school programs. The SailMaine program was five weeks of on and off the water curriculum, sailing two of our COSC Figaro 2s (Raga & Douze Etoiles), and targeting the Monhegan Island Ocean Race (140 nautical miles) as a capstone voyage.
Additionally, in Bristol, RI, two Figaro 2s hosted by Herreshoff Marine Museum (thanks Bill Lynn), and orchestrated by Richard Feeny, conducted a terrific program with nine students (mostly high school, mostly females), where they sailed over 1300 nautical miles in 8 overnights. Their capstone voyage was to be the Ida Lewis Race, which was cancelled due to the impending Hurricane Ida. The program was extended to include the longer Vineyard Race as the culminating goal. Both teams made it to the starting line which necessitated two 100-mile deliveries to and from Stamford. The race was successfully completed by both crews – well done!
COSC Figaro 2s were also in action with two traditional yacht club junior programs in Long Island Sound. Noroton and Stamford Yacht Clubs each ran dedicated big boat programs. These young sailors participated not only in the Beach Point Overnight Race but also in a number of local short overnights and in the weeknight buoy racing at their respective clubs.
See below: 3 photos for SailMaine; 6 photos for Bristol; 1 for Noroton YC; 1 for Stamford YC. Happy new offshore sailors!
Raga is the former boat of Alain Gautier, winner of the ’92 Vendee Globe.
This boat was formerly Michel Desjoyeaux’s boat, 3x winner of Solitaire de Figaro, 2x winner of Vendee Globe.
The success of these four summer junior offshore training programs, at SailMaine, Bristol/Herreshoff, Noroton YC, and Stamford YC, makes us look to next summer for expansion among other community sailing programs.
4. For Summer Community Sailing 2022 – Program Templates
COSC’s goal for summer of 2022 is to expand our junior offshore program base from four organizations to six. Our program template is: 5-6 weeks, two COSC Figaro 2s (more effective and fun to train with two boats) with at least two offshore overnight training sessions on weekends (4 students plus 1 coach) before an overnight culminating distance race. Two weekday evenings each week would include one evening of maneuvering training and one evening to complete the US Sailing Online Offshore Safety-at-Sea seminar. The non-overnight training weekends include more sailing, plus provisioning and safety training.
For your review and planning toward summer 2022, here are our:
Summer 2021 SailMaine Figaro 2 Offshore Program Template (downloadable PDF).
Summer 2021 Bristol Figaro 2 Offshore Program Template (downloadable PDF).
If you are a community sailing program and are interested in chartering Figaro 2s for such a program for next summer, please contact Rich Wilson at info@cosc-usa.org .
