Sept. 24, 2003

Stanford, Ca - Stanford Community members are invited to take advantage of one more unique aspect of life at Stanford - the availability of learning to Sail and exercising your new skill set through recreational Sailing hours at the new Morrison Boathouse. Many may not know, but Stanford Sailing Program is more than just a top-ranked Varsity Sailing Team, it actually consists of a large education program that involves over 300 students and over 300 local community members per year.

The completion of the Boathouse means a permanent roof over the head of a program that has seen their residence change over the past 20 years. The Sailing Team has progressed from a cinder-block building to a trailer, then a shipping container and now a beautiful facility the team shares with Stanford Crew. "The building allows us to set up access programs that were impossible to host before," commented Director of Sailing, Amy Gross-Kehoe. Beginning her third year at Stanford, Gross-Kehoe supervises all the Phys Ed Sailing Classes, and teaches as many as 8 of the 11 per week herself. In addition she works closely with the Varsity Sailors.

"The Sailing Team is the heart of our program," commented Amy Gross-Kehoe, "they are our instructors and caretakers for all our boats and classes." For example, Cardinal Sailing Team member Jessie Duncan '05 lead the staff that ran the Stanford Sailing Summer Camp for 9 weeks this past summer. The camp reached over 185 youngsters from the surrounding area. Many of the campers come from low-income families and are able to attend at a reduced tuition through a grant program with the California State Boating and Waterways Division.

The Varsity Team Members also take an active role in teaching Physical Education Classes. Over 300 Stanford undergrads & grad students learn to sail through our eight-week Beginning Dinghy and Beginning Keelboat classes in Fall and Spring Quarters. Gross-Kehoe does the bulk of the instruction, but is aided by Assistant Coach Brent Harrill,the Varsity Team and Sailing Team alums who are still on Campus in graduate programs. "Learning to sail from your peers brings a vitality to the program that can't be duplicated anywhere in the Bay Area," commented Gross-Kehoe.

Also impossible to duplicate: the low cost of the classes and rec sailing. "We were able to upgrade our fleet with new boats this year to keep our program growing," said Gross-Kehoe, "and are still able to keep our user fees lower than similar programs around the country." The $100 fee for the Beginning Dinghy Lessons, $200 for Keelboat and $100 to join the Stanford Sailing Association make it cheaper than even Cal's Sailing Program.

Registration for Sailing Classes and the Stanford Sailing Association begin Tuesday, September 23 at 9:00 am in Roble Gym Lounge. Sailing Classes themselves begin September 30 at Roble Gym. Recreational Sailing Hours will be available for experienced sailors at Morison Boathouse Sept 7 at 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm. For more info see Stanford's PE & Rec info on the web.