by BURKE THOMAS

High School sailing coach

It has been a busy summer for junior sailing lessons on the waters of West Sound, with many kids learning to sail for the first time.

This was the 16th season for the summer junior sailing program, which started in 1996 under the direction of former Orcas Island Yacht Club commodore Ray Jarecki. What a wonderful gift Ray and many others gave to the community by starting the sailing program that has now come full circle with the instructors, who were once junior sailors, now teaching their love for sailing to the next generation.

The lessons are sponsored by Sail Orcas in partnership with host OIYC and run for eight weeks in the summer. Sail Orcas board member Betsy Wareham headed up the summer program and supervised Taylor Smith, Annalies Schuh and Jules Mann, who provided great instruction. Smith and Schuh are OIHS 2011 graduates and Mann is a senior this year. They all are U.S. Sailing certified instructors who have been members of the high school sailing Team.