| CATAMARAN CLUB SEEKS SUPPORT FROM PUBLIC FOR SAILING SCHOOL PROJECT IN ATLANTIC HIGHLANDS |
SHBCC
A Catamaran Sailing School project.
Help us by showing your support.
Do you know us? If not, here is who we are and what we want to accomplish.
The SHBCC:
The Sandy Hook Bay Catamaran Club, incorporated since 1978, rents a beach front property from the town of Atlantic Highlands on Center Avenue. The property is fenced in, has electricity, night lights and running hot and cold water for the showers. The club facilities include a club house and two storage sheds.
Our membership has reached 250 people with about 140 privately owned catamarans stored on the beach.
We offer an extensive race program for all levels of sailors. On the social side we have fun sails to locations such as Coney Island or the Verrazzano bridge.
Our annual flagship event is the Statue Race which will happen this year on July 2nd. With around 100 boats racing from AH to rounding the Statue of Liberty, this is a classic event attended by sailors from all over the country.
We also host various organizations like the scouts, environmental associations for their events on the beach.
Atlantic Highlands and the Sandy Hook bay.
The Sandy Hook bay is particularly well adapted for catamaran sailing:
This is a semi-sheltered area which offers a guarantee for good and technical sailing but also in safe conditions. The sailor can actually choose his level of practice and conditions by navigating on different parts of the bay. The open sea is also accessible for the ones who desire.
Catamaran sailing.
Sailing is a very rewarding challenge to physically and intellectually master all the elements involved in it. As a matter of fact, there are no limits in learning and practicing, and sailing can be performed in a hundred of different ways.
The beach catamarans are a category of boats which are giving a superb return on investment in term of sensations, versatility and seaworthiness.
The Sailing School project:
The SHBCC has now a sufficient infrastructure and experience to provide all the elements needed to create a good Sailing School.
We want to create a public (i.e. open to anybody) Sailing School operating from our place, on a seasonal basis (june-september).
Goals and objectives:
• Need of new members: The club is in need of new blood to guarantee its future (especially youths).
• The town of Atlantic Highlands: The Sailing School will be a powerful tool to connect better the club with the town and the town with its shorefront.
• Optimization of the public beach usage: We have a great location which could easily handle this kind of activity, in addition to the others.
• Promoting the sailing activity in general and the Sandy Hook Bay as a fantastic sailing place.
• A complementary activity to the AH Yacht Club Sailing school which will focus on Catamarans and propose a complete follow-up toward a full sailing practice for a very affordable price.
• A sport where all the members of a family can gather and practice together.
• An environment friendly activity.
• Helping to protect this waterfront place against private and exclusive usage by opening it to more public through water activities.
The initial investment would be:
5 Hobie cats Wave catamarans
An inflatable watercraft with a 15 HP engine
Safety and educational equipment (life jackets, marks etc…)
Which represent a sum of $30,000.
This sum cannot be covered with our functioning budget which currently fits our expenses and beach rental.
The Sailing School operations would be performed by paid certified sailing instructors, operations would be self financing.
In the future, the Sailing School will be expanded to more boats/categories.
There is no specific task (except the school management itself) to be accomplished for this activity creation: In other words, once the initial investment is secured, the school could start in a very short delay without any infrastructure work to do.
This is where you can help us:
We are applying for a IBOAT grant (NJ D.O.T) to finance this investment. To reinforce this application, we want to collect support letters from people living in the area, showing their interest in such activities for their children or themselves.
Letters can be sent to:
Jacques Pierret
32 2nd Avenue
Atlantic Highlands, NJ 07716.
If you want to know more about the club, we have a brand new website: Fleet250.org. More details about the project: jPierret@earthlink.net.
Thanks for your support.
Jacques Pierret
SHBCC Staff Commodore
Atlantic Highlands, NJ
