Sailing

The best documented family sailing offering in the Thousand Islands, run by a nonprofit museum rather than a club. Kids sail Sunfish and Optimists on the St. Lawrence, rotating between skipper and crew, with capsize recovery and swim safety built into the week. Intro to Small Craft takes children from age 4 who can swim; Beginning Sailing runs 8 to 12. The Adult and Family Sailing course is the rare one designed for a parent and child to take together, using everything from historic Herreshoff boats to modern Sunfish. Free Community Sailing Night every Tuesday evening means a family can sail here for nothing.

Summer sailing camps on Lake Travis that publish a non-member rate right next to the member rate, which is the clearest sign a club actually admits the public. Kids learn on small dinghies, Picos, Sunfish and Flying Juniors, starting with adventure sailing and adding racing instruction as the summer goes on. Days also include swimming in the lake, arts and crafts, games and outdoor STEM learning, so it works as a full summer camp rather than only a sailing course. Each week closes with a show and tell for parents, an award ceremony and ice cream. There is a separate short Saturday session for children aged 5 to 8.

A 47-foot gaff-rigged Hudson River ferry sloop commissioned by Pete Seeger in 1978, crewed entirely by volunteers, running free evening sails on the Hudson out of the park beside Beacon’s Metro-North station. There is never a charge to sail aboard the Woody Guthrie, though donations are invited, and no sailing experience is needed. A different volunteer captain takes her out each weeknight, and reservations are made by phone. The club also puts on three free festivals a year with music and kids activities on the same waterfront.

A publicly supported nonprofit sailing club on Lake Grapevine whose camps register through the City of Grapevine parks and recreation store, which is about as public as youth sailing gets in North Texas. Campers sail RS Zest dinghies, splitting each day between classroom and water time on rigging, boat parts and care, knots, right-of-way rules and boating safety. Every child passes a swim test on day one, swimming about fifty feet to a boat, boarding it, doing a capsize drill and swimming back in a life jacket. Sessions run two weeks, boat use is included, and the last day has a midday parent viewing.

Kona’s longest-running sailing catamaran, a custom 36-foot boat that is 22 feet across, with a wide forward trampoline kids end up sprawled on for most of the trip. The sail runs up the Kona coast to Pawai Bay for snorkeling and a light lunch, then back under sail. Capacity is 24 but they usually carry fewer, so it does not feel like a party boat. The minimum age is 7 on the snorkel, manta and whale trips; the sunset cruise is adults only.

A nonprofit community sailing center on Nawiliwili Harbor with its own two-story open-air facility, dinghy shed and dock. Kids take a swim test and then learn to rig and sail small boats inside the sheltered harbor, working through Toppers, Optimists, Lasers, 420s and O’pen Skiffs depending on ability. The summer youth program runs Monday through Friday, and the association also puts on adaptive sailing, a Girls in Sailing program, and community sailing days that anyone can turn up to. Need-based scholarships are available, which is the whole point of a community sailing center as opposed to a yacht club.

Waikiki’s longest-running catamaran, sailing since 1977 and launching straight off the sand in front of Duke’s, between the Royal Hawaiian and the Outrigger Waikiki. The day sail is a single hour out toward Diamond Head and back under sail, which is about the right length for small children and costs less than most Hawaii activities. There is no minimum age and boarding is a walk down the beach rather than a harbor check-in, so it works as a spur-of-the-moment outing on a beach day. This is the cheapest way to get a family onto a sailboat in Hawaii.

A 44-foot catamaran that launches off the sand behind the Sheraton Waikiki and sails the water directly in front of Waikiki with Diamond Head off the stern. The operator’s own description is that the wind and waves are the engine, and it has a reputation among Waikiki boats for actually hoisting sail. The 11am and 1pm Tradewind sails are the family slot and the cheapest; the later afternoon and sunset departures are built around an open bar and cost more. Children under 3 sail free and there is a child rate through age 12.

A genuine Hawaiian sailing outrigger canoe launched straight off Polo Beach in Wailea, with groups capped at eight people. The family helps push the canoe out through the shore break, which kids love, and then the sail goes up for a run along the Wailea coast. The crew teach traditional navigation and paddling along the way, and there is a snorkel stop where green sea turtles are common. It is the smallest and most hands-on sailing trip on Maui, and the closest thing to sailing the way Hawaiians actually did it.

Cornell’s sailing center on the east shore of Cayuga Lake, which sells youth camps, classes and private lessons to the general public rather than just to the university. Kids aged 8 to 12 do full days; teenagers 13 to 17 join an afternoon-only session. Days mix on-water lessons with water safety and seamanship, plus team-building and shore games when the wind dies. A seasonal membership is also available, which buys a family access to the fleet during open hours instead of a single week of class.

A walk-up livery on Main Street in Lake Placid village renting small sailboats by the hour on Mirror Lake, alongside kayaks, canoes, rowboats, paddle boats, hydro bikes and paddleboards. Mirror Lake bans gas motors, so the water is calm, small and hemmed in by the village, which makes it about as low-stakes a place as exists in the Adirondacks to take a sailboat out on your own. No reservations are needed and no instruction is offered, so this one is for families who already know how to sail. Open daily from ice-out until mid-October.

A nonprofit sailing school on Lake Hefner that runs week-long summer camps for kids, open to non-members with a published non-member rate. The main camp is ages 8 to 15 and covers boat handling, rigging, steering, navigation and water safety in small dinghies, finishing the week with the kids racing each other. There is a separate half-day Pirate Camp for ages 5 to 7 that is really a water-confidence and intro-to-boats program designed to feed the full camp later. Need-based scholarships run through partnerships with the Boys and Girls Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Camps fill early and several sessions sell out each summer.

A nonprofit on Irondequoit Bay whose whole purpose is getting the Rochester area sailing, with classes sold one at a time rather than behind a membership. Kids sail Prams, Sunfish and JY15s with US Sailing certified instructors, and capsize recovery is deliberately part of the beginner curriculum rather than something saved for later. The Group Sail is the easiest family option: an instructor skippers a Flying Scot and four to six family members come along for two hours. The Youth Adventure Sail adds wetland exploration, swimming and games, run alongside City of Rochester and Seneca Park Zoo educators.

An eight-day summer program spread over four weekends in June, open to new sailors from age 8 with an explicitly published non-member rate. Classes are small, eight to ten students, on club-owned sailboats, with instructors on the docks and a motor-driven safety boat on the water. Kids cover parts of a sailboat, knot tying, rigging and de-rigging, capsize recovery, points of sail, sail trim and right-of-way rules, and the final weekend is a graduation day and regatta. Lunch, snacks and water are provided daily and every student gets a US Sailing textbook, a shirt and a certificate. All students take a swim skills test on day one.

An ASA certified captain running crewed cruises and learn-to-sail sessions on an O’Day 23 out of the Saranac Lake Marina, carrying up to four passengers plus crew. The published minimum is age 6 and completion of first grade, which is unusually specific and unusually young for a charter. Lessons pair a shore-side safety briefing with hands-on time at the helm, and younger kids can be put on a Sunfish to sail solo or crewed. For a family of four the group rate works out to fifty dollars each for two hours, which makes this one of the cheaper ways into sailing in the Adirondacks.

A community boating center on Buffalo’s Outer Harbor whose stated mission is public access to the waterfront regardless of income, gender or age, including people with disabilities. The junior camp puts kids on Lake Erie in small groups sorted by ability, working through rigging, hoisting, sail trim, steering, tacking and jibing across the week. It is built around progression rather than racing, and finishes with club racing, a pizza party and a graduation ceremony. Ten weekly sessions run through the summer and siblings get a reduced rate.

Performance sailing catamarans out of Maalaea Harbor that make a point of actually sailing rather than motoring, which is unusual among Maui day boats. Trips run to Molokini, the Lanai coast, or Coral Gardens for snorkeling, and the shorter West Maui and Coral Gardens sails are the easiest sell for younger kids. The boats carry between 25 and 49 guests, small enough that children can sit up on the trampolines between the hulls and watch the water go by underneath. Sail Maui also departs from Lahaina Harbor during daylight hours, though sunset departures run from Maalaea only while Lahaina Harbor lighting is still being restored.

A 1926 John Alden designed wooden schooner, the same boat used in the 1956 film High Society, running two-hour public sails off the southern tip of Seneca Lake. She carries up to 22 passengers, with cushioned seating for sixteen on the cabin top if the weather turns. Water and juices are included. Soft-soled shoes are required on deck, which is worth knowing before you get to the pier with a kid in sandals. Up to four departures a day makes this easy to slot into a Watkins Glen trip alongside the gorge.

Ten acres on Offatts Bayou with a 39-boat fleet, a marina, a pool and a fully accessible waterfront building, run by a nonprofit youth maritime organization rather than a club. Campers spend a week on small-boat and large-boat sailing, kayaking, paddle sports, fishing, an introduction to scuba, oceanography and marine conservation. The Saturday Youth Sailing program is a recurring learn-to-sail track for ages 8 to 18 rather than a one-week camp, so it suits local families who want to keep at it. Formerly known as Sea Scout Base Galveston, which is still how a lot of people write it.

A nonprofit sailing school on the east shore of Seneca Lake, hosted by but separate from the local yacht club, formed to give the community access to seamanship skills. Opti Week takes the youngest sailors from age 7; Adventure Week and Girls Week run 9 to 17 at all ability levels, capped at twelve to sixteen sailors. Private instruction is explicitly configurable for a family, up to two adults plus two children. Best of all, the academy runs free public First Sail days off the Geneva farmers market waterfront, which is the cheapest way in the state to find out whether your kid actually likes sailing.