Youth Camps & Scholastic Programs

Afterguard Sailing Foundation

Sailing Camps are here! Camps are a great way to stay cool this summer. Summer camp options include:

Intro to Keelboat: Students, 7 to 17, learn to run a 23 ft boat in every aspect of sailing: get away from the dock, raise sails and sail in the flat waters of the Oakland Estuary. Learn what to do when the wind gets strong, rules and safety drills including how to pick up a person in the water

Bay Explorers: req: Intro to Keelboat Sail to different points of interest around the San Francisco Bay and learn about the Bay's rich history and continuing impact as one of the nations largest active ports. The last two days of this course are an adventure - sail to Angle Island, moor at the island and spend the night on the boat.

ASA 110 Small Boat:: Small boats and keelboats are very different. Learn in a boat where only your ability to harness the power of the wind will propell you. Working with a partner use your weight to keep the boat upright, or not, and make it go fast! Great fun in the hot month of August. Adult and Child teams OK.

Scholastic - Afterguard began non-profit education programs in 2003. In 2006 Afterguard Youth programs added OUSD Street Academy High School providing sailing as an off campus Math and Science support with PE credit over a 40 week - 3 trimester elective series for 9-11th grades. This program continues today and is growing. The classes have grown from 9 students to over 20 per Trimester. It has been an inspiration for change in many young peoples lives plus a carrot to stay in, do well and graduate from High School. Some continue to college. We call it 'Destination Graduation', they just call it Sailing Class.

Afterguard organizer Mary SwiftSwan has a history developing new programs for ASA and for youth programs for College, High Schools and youth groups: Mills College, Cal State Monterey Bay, Oakland International High School, Sea Scouts, Boys and Girls Club and Oakland Parks and Rec. Programs can be as short as one day or as long as 40 weeks if held over a scholastic period.

Contact us if interested in a program for your youth group, high school or college courses.

Youth can become ASA certified to rent boats on their own. Some of our students take to sailing like ducks to water, others take time. We watch as students learn to stand tall and take on the mantle of responsibility when in charge of a boat. They learn to cooperate with others in order to crew on the water. Sailing's inherent challenges teach skills hard to create in a standard classroom yet Sailing illuminates and gives real life examples to the theory of physics, fluid dynamics and many areas of earth sciences. Navigation takes Algebra out of the abstract into something fun and exciting.

Students learn how to manage themselves and lead others. They develop a new set of critical choice skills including constant awareness of their surroundings. We make them water safe during the small boat fall series. These new skills collectively make an impact on their school and social lives for years to come.

Our inner city youth get out of their 3 block neighborhoods and really see the world that surrounds them. Among the comments of our young students, one of their most amazing experiences is the friendliness of people on the water. Without hesitation, other boaters wave at them. Being accepted and welcomed by the boating community brings full face grins for many students.