Dear Parents, Sailors, and Supporters of the ACMYC Instructional and Racing Sailing Program:

First, the news everyone has been waiting for:  Registration opens March 11, 2023 on www.ACMYC.org! If you do not already have an account, create one now to expedite registration.

Announcements

New Program Structure

After an in-depth look at the numbers of sailors we have in various stages of the program, our historical enrollment levels, and the anticipated needs of our sailors as they grow through the program, we are very excited to announce some changes for the 2023 season. These changes will maintain the unique and positive culture of our sailing program while offering a full range of instructional and race programs from Opti 1 through 420 Race. 

The Instructional Program and Racing Program will now be run as parallel programs - each with its own Head of Program, instructor roster, and schedule. This will allow us to apportion resources across all classes, and provide a safe, fun, educational sailing environment for ALL of our sailors from Opti 1 through 420 Race.

Please read the class descriptions and requirements carefully as there are changes from last year!

Heads of Program

We are thrilled to announce Kaitlyn Gilson as our Head of Instructional Program and Sam Monaghan as our Head of Racing Program. Kaitlyn and Sam are experienced, seasoned instructors well positioned to lead each program through this inaugural year. We are excited that most of our instructors from last year will be returning in either the Instructional or Race Program - so there will be many familiar and friendly faces to greet our sailors!

Class, Schedule and Tuition Changes

After much feedback from parents, sailors, and instructors, we are returning to 3 hour classes meeting 3 times per week, with the exception of 420 Race and Opti Race - Championship, which will meet 4 times a week most weeks (depending on regatta schedules).

We have also re-evaluated the classes in both the Instructional Program and Race Program and made some changes.  Hightlights of the changes are below:

• Opti 4 will no longer be offered; most sailors by this point are either starting to race Optis or ready to move on to two-person boats in the Junior Sailing Program
• Sailors who have completed Opti 3 and are not interested in Opti or 420 racing or who are not ready to race should enroll in the Junior Sailing Program, which will be housed in the Instructional Program.  JSP will focus on advanced seamanship skills as well as developing a lifelong appreciation for sailing in Cotuit!
  • Important Note:  Sailors must bring or have access to their own boats!  We will no longer use borrowed lasers provided by club members.  Laser owners interested in renting out their boats will post availability on the website.  Lasers, Skiffs, or other small sailboats fitting 2-4 people are all acceptable.  420s will sometimes be used, but this class is NOT a racing or pre-racing class.
  • You do NOT need to have arranged a boat to register; boats are needed by the first day of class
• Students who have completed Opti 3 and are interested in starting to learn about racing should enroll in the Intro to Opti (Green Fleet) class in the Racing Program.
• Students who have completed Opti Race should enroll in Intro to 420s in the Race Program.  (Note:  if your sailor has not completed Opti Race but has similar experience, please reach out to Sam Monaghan if interested in moving to a racing 420 class).
• Two new racing-rigged 420s are on order, bringing the number of race-rigged boats to 5. The 420 Race instructors and students will have much more time to work on advanced race skills including trapezes and spinnakers during class time while still sending sailors to appropriate regattas.
• Team racing will also be a focus at the 420 Race level, utilizing our 6 club 420s.
• Our existing fleet of all 420s underwent significant maintenance last year; we have new sails and spinnakers for the existing race boats; and maintenance and repairs will continue on an on-going basis.
• And, thanks to the very good work of our boat committee, we now have 6 working motorboats to support the programs!

We have not made significant changes to our tuition in many years, and the program has been underwritten by donations.  While that will continue to be the case, the time has come to right size our tuition schedule to keep pace with the increasing costs we all have been seeing over the past couple of years. We worked hard to arrive at the new rates in a practical way while trying our best to keep tuition reasonable.  We greatly appreciate your support of the program.  The new tuition schedule is live.   Note that we are offering early signup and sibling discounts. 

The ACMYC Council is very excited about the 2023 summer, and we thank you for your loyalty and support.  We have full confidence in Kaitlyn, Sam, and all of our instructors to provide the best possible experience for your children.

Finally, the parent coordinators for 2023 are Heather White (336-908-4376), Jen Creedon (617-285-0144), Kirsten Scannell Peek (646-831-8527), and Jonathan Chenard (415 -725-8443).  We continue to use the as our centralized email address.

Thank you for your support and we look forward to an amazing summer ahead!