COASTAL OBSERVER

A fleet of small boats pushed off from the public dock in Georgetown’s Francis Marion Park. It was a sunset cruise, but not the kind where you sit back and relax.

It was race day for the summer sailing camp at the S.C. Maritime Museum, a chance to put into practice what a group of kids ages 8 to 10 had learned during the week. The dinghys, most with a crew of two, were soon weaving through the boats moored in the harbor.

“Not every kid needs to race, we just want them to have a love for the sport,” said Amy Jones, the sailing director at the museum. “It’s a life-long sport.”

The boats are a class called Optimists, or Optis, designed for children learning to sail. They are slightly less than 8 feet long and 4 feet wide because they were originally intended to be built from sheets of plywood. They are usually sailed single-handed, but one sailor can steer with the tiller while the other controls the sail.

Three powerboats shepherded the racers around three buoys set in the Sampit River between Front Street and Goat Island. Michael Benton, who is the instructor and director of the camp, was in one boat. Bruce Watts, who coaches the Waccamaw High sailing team, was in another. Jones was in the third.

“For the most part, we did the racing instruction while we were out there,” Jones said.

Racing, like the camp’s Pirate Day with its water guns, is just a way to help the kids put their new-found skills to use without thinking too much about them.

“It’s just familiarity and comfort out on the water,” Jones said. “Some kids have a propensity for a tiller in their hand.”

Some just enjoy the ride and the thrill when a gust of wind sends the dinghy heeling over.

The museum has held sailing camps for about a decade. Jones became the program director after helping secure a fleet of larger boats for high school racing teams.

“I’m not a sailor. I’m a wannabe,” Jones said.

Her husband, Chris Register, is a sailor. So is their daughter, Sydney, who started sailing Optis in second grade when the family lived in Virginia.

“We moved here and there was nothing,” Jones said.

That has changed. In addition to Waccamaw High, the Georgetown School of Arts and Science has some sailors and Lowcountry Prep is interested in the sport.

The summer camps are evolving into a feeder program.

“In the past, they were here for a summer and sailing was wrapped up and put away,” Jones said.

The regattas were planned to continue into August, but the early opening of Georgetown County schools meant that the camp counselors were suddenly unavailable.

“We’re trying to figure out a way to bring it back for the fall,” Jones said.

She sent out feelers to summer camp participants. Twelve families said they were eager for more.

“It’s a great thing. We’ve never had that before,” Jones said. “Chris and I have been working pretty diligently to staff a program that’s not just for kids who are here in the summer.”

Check for future camps and regattas, or volunteer to help, at the S.C. Maritime Museum’s website.