Sailing 101

“You should be proud of yourselves,” Rocky Cale told the nine graduates of the Beginner Sailing Class, held on the sandy beach in the northeastern corner of the Marco Island Yacht Club at the foot of the Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge. It was late Friday morning, and the week-long class was wrapping up. “Only four percent of people know how to sail,” Cale told the students, ranging in age from seven to 13. "So it’s a big deal to learn how to sail.”

The Marco Island Yacht Club teams with the Marco Island Community Sailing Center to provide the island with a comprehensive youth summer sailing program.

The sailing school actually sits on land owned by the City of Marco Island. The Yacht Club leases the land from the City, according to Dwyn von Bereghy, the Yacht Club’s fleet captain, sail, and chairman of community relations/marketing sailing school.

“We took over the program from the City Parks and Rec,” said von Bereghy. "We entered into a lease agreement with the city and was told that there was a 501C3 Marco Island Community Sailing Center that had been teaching the program for the city. So I got ahold of them and of course, met Rocky Cale. And we entered into a partnership to facilitate the program. The Yacht Club does all the advertising. Everybody's on our payroll. Basically, I get the kids and Rocky teaches them. It's been a wonderful partnership. We are blessed to have our instructors, Grace and Ginger Roloff and Ava and Elle Richardson as our backbone instructors, and they're absolutely marvelous.”

Cale, 80, who has taught sailing for most of his life, set up the 5013C for the sailing program years ago as Marco Island Community Sailing Center. Much of his experience was gained in Ocean City, New Jersey, at the venerable Ocean City Yacht Club, founded in 1901.

"I ran a youth program at the Ocean City Yacht Club,” Cale said. "The youth program is the lifeblood of any yacht club. All your members come out of there."

Von Bereghy said that while the Yacht Club is committed to growing the youth sailing program, safety will not be compromised.

"The Yacht Club supports this program very well,” von Bereghy said, "The first year that we took over in partnership with Rocky's 501C3 we had 60 students. Last year we had 140. So the program continues to grow. I do all my advertising on social media and we start registering kids in March for the summer program. And many times by the end of June we're almost full. We hope it continues to grow. We know we will have a maximum number of students from not only ability to teach, but safety, where we have, what, seven weeks of classes, and we can really only do a maximum of 10 to 12 children per class. So that's it. You know, there is going to be a finite number unless we get to a position where we can get more boats and hire more instructors. But right now, our instructor-to-student ratio is two or three to one. That's safety first. We’ve never had an accident.”

Von Bereghy also hints that future fundraising could be in the offing for the youth sailing program.

“We're holding our own financially,” she said. "I think we're reasonable with our fees. And we also have a scholarship fund that’s through the Yacht Club. We've done fundraisers. And I’ve literally just said, 'Hey, I need some money for scholarships,’ and then in comes the money. Members at the Yacht Club have been very generous.”

The Yacht Club is currently undergoing a major renovation. After that, von Bereghy sees more funding heading toward the youth sailing program.

“I think it'll probably take a year,” she said, "once we get through all this construction, to really do some major fundraising for this program.”

Von Bereghy feels the youth sailing program is good for the Yacht Club.

"It really has been a lot of fun,” she said. "I think one of the most interesting things is, aside from working with Rocky, who's a piece of work in a good way, I don't care where I go on the island, people stop me. 'Oh, you run the sailing program. My kids love it so much.' And many of them will sign up for one week and by Thursday of that first week end up saying, ‘Do you have any room for this next week? They want to come back.' We have kids that have come two, three weeks, four weeks after their first week because they love it so much. And it’s wonderful PR for the Yacht Club. It's a win-win all the way around for everybody, for Rocky's group, for the Yacht Club, and for the youth on the island. It's a wonderful program for the community."

For information on the Summer Youth Program, contact Dwyn von Bereghy at dvonbereghy1950@gmail.com.