SUMMER CAMP!

First Day of Spinnaker Lessons!

Welcome to the Downtown Sailing Center Summer Camp!

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The Downtown Sailing Center (DSC) is a unique sailing school for youth ages 8-16 that teaches the joys of navigating open waters aboard our keelboats in the historic port of Baltimore's Inner Harbor. For every four campers on a boat there is one designated staff member to instruct them personally. We focus on making sure that every program participant gets as much direct instruction as possible from our US Sailing certified staff!

We tailor your child's sailing experience to their skill level!

The DSC offers three levels of programming: Beginner, Intermediate, and Racing. Our programming can accommodate any level of experience, from having never stepped onto a dock before to aspiring collegiate level competitors.

BEGINNER: (Ages 8-16), 1 Week Program

Beginner programming is perfect for anyone wanting to check out sailing for the first time, or for returning campers that want to make sure their fundamental techniques are perfected before moving on. A beginner boat has 4 campers and one instructor on each boat. Beginner programming focuses on wind awareness, parts of the boat, essential knot tying, points of sail, tacking, jibing, basic sail trim, basic skippering, and sailing a basic windward-leeward course. The goal of the beginner programming is to make everyone a comfortable crewmember on the boats, while beginning to showcase some of the skills required to be a skipper.

INTERMEDIATE: (Ages 10-16), 2 Week Program

Intermediate programming bridges the divide from crewmember to skipper in a two week course focused around getting campers prepared to sail a J22 unassisted. In the first week, all intermediate boats will sail with an instructor onboard. During the first week the focus is a closer look at sail trim and crew work, how to use a spinnaker, and skipper essentials such as departing/returning to the dock and Person-In-Water recovery drills. During the second week, campers will put together all of these skills to sail a boat without an instructor directly onboard. From a short distance off coaches will be instructing from a powerboat as they continue to focus on developing intermediate level skills such as spinnaker sets/douses, the basics of racing, sailing backwards, and steering without a rudder. 

RACING: (Ages 12-16), 2 Week Program

Racing programming picks up where Intermediate left off, with campers starting day one sailing with their instructors coaching from chase boats. The focus of racing is not only how to sail, but how to sail fast! Over the two week racing program campers will be match-racing against each other America's Cup style to see who can push their boat the hardest. Programming will focus on fine sail-trim, teamwork, communication, reading the water, tactics of boat-to-boat positioning, the strategy of understanding a racecourse, and a deeper dive into the rules of racing. Racing can be daunting, but we will break everything down into manageable drills to make sure everyone gets comfortable fighting for positioning on a busy starting line.