Youth Teaching Youth

It’s 8:00 AM Monday, a full hour before this week’s young sailing campers will begin arriving at the Marco Island Community Sailing Center, located on the grounds of the Marco Island Yacht Club. Nineteen-year-old sailing instructor, Liz Patterson, is already hosing the deck.

“I like getting an early start,” Patterson says cheerfully as she fills the water tubs that the students will step in each time they come back from the beach onto the sailing center’s main deck. Sand management is a big thing around here. It’s covered in the ground rules.

Elle Richardson, 16, lays the ground rules for the campers, flanked by her fellow-instructors. “You see this beautiful deck?” Richardson asks the campers. “You’ll notice there isn’t any sand on it. Let’s keep it that way. We have a little water bucket over there, we ask you to step in the water every time you come up from the beach.”

Richardson arrived early too, grabbing a shovel from the shed and leveling the beach in front of the deck. It doesn’t take long to see these aren’t average teens - and this is not an average summer sailing camp.

Rocky Cale, 79, has been the program’s rudder for the past 15 years. He arrives about a half hour later with a boxful of paperwork. He doesn’t have to tell his instructors a word. They know exactly what needs done and don’t have to be told.

The campers, ranging in age from six to 10, begin arriving. They are each presented with a six-foot length of nylon line so they can immediately start learning how to tie knots.

“We’re going to teach you a couple of sailing knots,” Richardson tells the campers as they arrive and say goodbye to their parents. “They’re really, really, easy to tie,” Richardson assures the wide-eyed students. “But they’re even easier to untie. And they’re really, really strong.”

Richardson has an engaging personality that the campers are drawn to. "The first knot we’re going to learn is the figure eight knot.”

Cale, for the most part, lets his young leaders run the show. He’ll step in occasionally to help drive home a point, but for the most part the kids run the show. He understands the importance of knowing how to tie good knots.

“We teach the stopper knot,” Cale starts, "which is the figure eight knot. We have the square knot, bowline, cleat hitch and a clove hitch. Those five basic knots, if you know them, you can survive sailing.”

Cale is a lifelong sailor with over 70 years of experience. Think about that for a second. He raced Hobie Cats against the best in the world, including Hobie Alter, the boat’s inventor and Wayne Schafer, a multi-time national champion who helped Hobie design the most famous of the beach catamarans.

Cale was northeast area champion four years in a row.

"When the Hobie came out,” Cale recalls, "I was one of the first to have a 14-foot Hobie. I started racing it all up and down the east coast. I got pretty good at it. I qualified for the nationals one year in Key Biscayne. I sailed against Hobie Alter and Wayne Schaefer - they were the two who actually invented the Hobie Cat. A couple of years after that I qualified for the Worlds, which was in Tahiti, but I was teaching school then and they wouldn’t let me off work. They said, ‘You’re not taking off two weeks to go sailing.’"

After orienting the campers with the sailing center and the parts of the boat, Richardson asks how many of them want to capsize a boat and right it. Every hand goes up.

"What we do with these kids the first day is we teach them how to capsize the boat and recover it,” Cale said. "The capsize/recovery drill. We try to evaluate the kids while they’re doing this and try to find out what kids are a little timid and who aren’t. About 90 percent of the kids say, ‘Can we do it again, can we do it again?’” Cale laughs.

Cale is proudest of the young staff he has picked and groomed over the years.

“Every one of them is unbelievable,” Cale said proudly. "I handpicked every one of them. They’ve all got impeccable character. They’re just good to be around. I have two other instructors, Marco Distel and Zach Schemei, who work with the intermediate/advanced class in the afternoon. They do a great job. These kids have been with me since they were eight years old, most of them. They know what’s happening and how to do it.”

Elle Richardson shows a lot of leadership in her sailing instructor role. She does most of the talking during the introductory instruction. 

"Elle’s really blossomed,” Cale said. "She’s very good with the kids. She’s very articulate. She's on point all the time. She commands a lot of respect from the kids. She’s going to be something special. She’s also learning to fly a plane.”

Cale feels strongly about his entire staff of instructors and volunteers. Instructors have to be certified.

"All these kids - I can’t speak enough about all of them. I’m really fortunate to have this group of kids. There’s nothing more rewarding than working with these kids. That’s one reason I’m still hanging around here. All our instructors have to obtain a U.S. Sailing Certification, which is a four-day course. Three tests, three presentations. You have to demonstrate your boat handling skills.”

By Thursday morning the kids are rigging their own boats - or trying to at least. The deck best resembles organized chaos as the kids are buzzing around, trying to figure out how to rig their boats. Meanwhile the instructors and volunteers are planning their next move.

“We let them try to rig the boats themselves,” Richardson said. “They need to be able to do it when we’re not around.”

After about ten minutes the instructors jump in and tie up all of the loose ends and work with the campers on their rigging techniques.

On Thursday, the campers sail solo around a course just off the small beach by the foot of the Judge Jolley bridge. The sailing center has two chase boats deployed to assist the young sailors. The wind is light, around two to three mph. Sometimes it feels like there is no wind at all. The instructors prefer a steady five mph wind for their campers. They shout out words of encouragement and caution to the campers.

“Believe it or not, you are moving,” one instructor encourages,” you’re just moving really, really slow. Sheet in until you’re about halfway. Avoid collisions! Sit facing your sail. Switch sides. Keep your hands inside your boat.”

The campers are dead serious as they learn the interplay between the mainsheet and the tiller. They all make it around the course several times, then head back for de-rigging.

Rocky’s sailing program has been life-changing for Richardson.

"Rocky is the closest person I have to a grandfather,” Richardson said, "other than my actual grandfather. He has been around for almost 10 years now. I met Rocky when I was six. I was a beginner. Actually I was a little young to be in the beginner course, but I was here. I stuck with it, in part because Rocky told me it would be good for me. So I listened to him, and I’ve listened to him ever since. He’s probably one of the best influences I have in my life. I go to Rocky for recommendation letters, I go to Rocky for advice with sailing stuff. Whenever he needs something at the Sailing Center I come and do it. I know that he knows that if he needs something done, he can contact me. And I know that I can contact him.”

Richardson also appreciates what Grace Roloff, 19, brings to the program.

"Grace kind of keeps the whole sailing center running behind the curtain with Rocky,” Richardson said.

The youngest volunteer is Alex Gurgenidze, 13.

"Alex was a camper last year,” Richardson said, "but we saw how quickly he learned and how much he likes it. So we took him on the team. He had just improved so tremendously that we asked for him to come and volunteer. He’s been a vital asset for us this summer. I don’t think that we could do it without him.”

Richardson said her sailing comrades are among her best friends. Richardson’s sister Ava is also an instructor at the sailing center.

"My fellow instructors are some of my best friends,” Richardson said. "I’ve grown up with them. Ginger Roloff, for example, is one of the people I met through this program. Now I work with her and go to school with her. I think I spend more time with her than my own sister.”

Cale enjoys watching the youth of Marco learning how to sail.

"The first time they get in the boat,” Cale said, "the boat kind of controls them. Then after a while you can see them get control of the boat. That’s really neat to watch. The parents all go gaga over these kids when they see them solo. They just can’t believe what they’ve learned."