Scenes from Englewood Sailing
Association youth classes.
For a 12-year-old, there’s nothing
quite like steering your own boat and
trimming your own sail to manifest
your own sailing destiny. If you can
learn how to take what nature’s winds
give you and make the most of it, you
can do the same with your life. If you’ve frequently
been down to Indian Mound Park in old
Englewood, there’s a good chance you’ve
seen the water dotted with brilliantly-
colored sails on small boats fi lled with
youngsters.
For more than 17 years the Englewood
Sailing Association has provided
lessons about sailing and life to
kids from all over Southwest Florida.
They offer beginner, intermediate and
advanced lessons that start in Lemon
Bay and end in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Learning to sail can reach kids in ways
that other youth activities and sports can’t,” said
Mike Basch, vice president of the Association. “For
many, it will trigger their desire for more control over
their technology-fi lled world; their desire
to learn how to deal with what life
throws at them … with confi -
dence.”
Many of the kids who
graduate from the ESA go
on to teach others how
to sail … sometimes even
at the same location. ESA
teachers are all volunteers,
and according to some of
the older sailors from the
graduating classes it’s as much
fun to teach as it is to learn.
“I’ve forged lifelong friendships and
learned teamwork,” said Leandra
Allbrook, a teenaged intermediate
sailor with the group. “I like to be in
control, and sailing gives me control. It’s
unique, it’s exciting, and it really gives
me something to look forward to on
Saturdays.”
“We’ve had kids come to us from all
walks of life,” said ESA President John
Riehl. “Because we’re all volunteers,
THE ENGLEWOOD
SAILING
ASSOCIATION
- Englewood, FL
58 GASPARILLA MAGAZINE March/April 2020