Members of the Coconut Grove Sailing Club compete during the Commodore's Cup Juniors Regatta Saturday, Sept. 18. The Commodore's Cup is held every year and allows club members to push themselves in a typical race setting but without the added pressures since they are competing against other athletes within the club. Two separate divisions participated in the event, which included the Red, White and Blue Opti Class, coached by Maykel Alonso, and the Laser/420/Flying Junior Racers, coached by Sara Fox, a University of Miami graduate. Photo by Brittney Bomnin
A deafening horn blast signaled the beginning of the race as 11 sailboats veered off in opposite directions, tacking back and forth, left and right, across the bay.
The two-handed boats, each manned by a youth sailor and a mentor, competed in the Florida State Snipe Junior Championship, an annual event in Coconut Grove.
Such races are a common sight at Coconut Grove Sailing Club, which hosts competitions and sailing programs nearly every weekend of the year.
Since it started in 1946, the club has stood at 2990 S. Bayshore Dr., enduring pounding storms and financial ups and downs to remain a place of pride in Coconut Grove.
“It’s the community of sailors,” said Nick Mansbach, the club’s sailing director and waterfront coordinator. “There are yacht clubs, then there are sailing clubs.”
He said that CGSC, with its local low-key feel, attracts Coconut Grove residents and world-class sailors alike.
“Our goal is not to make millions of dollars,” said Mansbach. “It’s to get people sailing.”
The club sticks to this mantra, not just with its programs, but also with its outreach into the community.
Maykel Alonso coaches the members of the Red, White and Blue Opti Class before they begin the first race during the Commodore's Cup Juniors Regatta. Alonso, a former olympic champion for Cuba's sailing team, has been sailing since the age of seven and now coaches at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club. "I want to teach them everything I know about sailing," Alonso said. Photo by Brittney Bomnin
Each summer, CGSC offers about $10,000 in scholarships for students to attend a week of sailing camp.
“We try to focus our efforts locally, mostly in West Grove,” Mansbach said.
The club faces a hurdle, however, as many students who express interest in the scholarships are unable to swim, a prerequisite for all CGSC programs.
Solution: The club is planning to partner with Ransom Everglades School to create a “Learn to Swim/Learn to Sail” program.
“This is one of my dreams, here at the club,” said Mansbach, who projects using half of the $10,000 scholarship fund to promote swimming classes to create a program that devotes two months to learning to swim followed by two months of learning to sail.
Mansbach, who lives in the Shenandoah area, grew up in Florida and graduated from Coral Gables Senior High. While he did not grow up a sailor, Mansbach used to deliver boats from Miami up the east coast and said he always had a place in his heart for Coconut Grove’s sailing club.
Mansbach said CGSC strives to foster a love for sailing and provide outreach to the Grove community, which makes the club a highly accessible place for young sailors.
Out on the water, Alex Valdes-Pages, a junior at Coral Gables Senior High, demonstrated a capsize drill. He first tipped his 13.4-foot, 130-pound Laser, a faster one-person sailboat, then used points of the boat to apply pressure to the side and tip the boat upright.
He spoke fondly of the Lasers, describing how, on a particularly windy day, he could maneuver his boat to travel faster than a motor-powered boat.
Mansbach explained that young sailors like Alex begin working in Optimist Dinghies, or Optis, which are seven feet, nine inches long. These 77-pound sailboats, he said, allow beginners to hone a wide range of skills, from handling the sail to righting a capsized boat.
“There’s a lot of emphasis on safety and respect,” said Antonio Bejarano, who runs the Opti racing program. “There’s a lot of emphasis on safety and respect.”
Sailing, he added, is about “teamwork and making decisions. Decisions on the water, no one can make for you.”
Bejarano worked in information technology before joining the teaching staff at CGSC after his son went through the program.
CGSC offers four different levels of youth sailing, from the beginning racing program to the red, white and blue fleets, which are more advanced and geared towards ages 13, 14 and 15, respectively.
Edgy Aramayo, 12, maintains second place during one of the races Saturday, Sept. 18, at the Commodore's Cup Juniors Regatta. Behind him, fellow sailing club members and twin brothers, Alejandro and Santiago Holz, follow. Aramayo finished third overall, losing a points for having a bad start during the second race. In sailing, an athlete may be knocked down an entire place for making mistakes during a race. Photo by Brittney Bomnin
While it takes degrees of skill to pass between racing groups, the club does not measure skill based on the number of classes each sailor has taken.
“We let them tell us when they’re ready,” said Mansbach. “I’m the guy that puts it all together,” he said, adding that the young sailors tell him what they want to do.
Biscayne Bay, home to a number of other sailing and yachting clubs, serves as a perfect training ground for beginners up to Olympic athletes. CGSC places great emphasis on the former.
Mansbach played a key role in expanding the club’s programs for youth sailors, and explained that the beauty of the bay attracts sailors from around the world.
“We have a beginning racing program that runs from September to December and January to April,” said Mansbach, who personally runs the youth “learn-to-sail” program.
“When I started here about five years ago, there were three kids in the program,” said Mansbach. Now “there are typically anywhere from 20 to 30 participants in youth programming.”
Part of CGSC’s allure involves not only its goal of training young sailors but also its long-term appeal. Many who now help direct began sailing here when they were younger.
“Our goal is to get the kids interested in the racing program,” said Dr. Nick Martens, a cardiologist and former Commodore of CGSC. From there, he said, they often move from small boats to big boats, then stay on and volunteer. Sometimes they end up managing the club.
“I’m the perfect example,” he said.
Martens began sailing with his father at Coconut Grove when he was about 10 years old, where he gained an interest in racing. He went on to college and took with him the skills and independence he gained from sailing.
The club is a “safe place for kids to do something healthy,” he said, adding that the youngsters spend all day at the club, and end up spending much of that time with friends, learning the sport and finding independence.
Martens now owns his own 45-foot boat, which he keeps at CGSC.
“It’s an affordable place to keep a boat,” said Doug Hanks, Rear Commodore of CGSC, who is also a business writer for the Miami Herald.
The club attracts many locals, as it does not require people to become members to moor boats or to participate in the programs, Hanks said.
Hanks spoke enthusiastically of the feeling of community at the club, describing the benefits of mooring his first boat there.
“Someone will come up to you and offer you advice,” he said, “And chances are, it will be helpful.”
CGSC teams with Ransom Everglades students in a continual project to clean up Island E, one of the spoil islands surrounding the club’s mooring area.
Many kids who participate in CGSC sailing programs grow to serve as instructors for the beginning youth groups.
Kristi Townsend started sailing at the club when she was 11.
Now 16, she serves as a certified instructor, teaching life vest-adorned youngsters the basics of sailing.
“I really like sailing just to sail,” Kristi said.
Mansbach added, “These kids can take care of their own boats, clean them, rig them and put them away.”
He said he hopes to continue building interest in the club’s sailing programs, through scholarships and outreach.
“Each of these kids has a special place in my heart,” he said, exemplifying the community-minded feel of the club. “I’m like Uncle Nick.”
Three middle school students, Santiago Holz, Alejandro Holz, and Edgy Aramayo, share a quick lunch between races during the Commodore's Cup Juniors Regatta Saturday, Sept. 18. The three boys are members of the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, which meets every Saturday in the Grove to practice. Lunch time provides the boys a time to reenergize and socialize. Here the boys voted another member, James, to be in charge of picking up all the lunch trash. Photo by Brittney Bomnin
Santiago Holz, 12, converses with the other boys in the Red, White, and Blue Opti Class at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club during their lunch break. Four boys, including Santiago's identical twin brother, Alejandro, competed in the Opti Class during the Commodore's Cup Juniors Regatta Saturday, Sept. 18. Photo by Brittney Bomnin
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