About This Activity
Spend a full week on the water building real sailing skills, confidence, and independence—while earning your US Sailing Basic Keelboat Certification. This 5-day teen sailing camp is designed for motivated sailors ages 16–19 and welcomes all experience levels, from first-timers to teens looking to formalize their skills and take the helm with confidence. Throughout the week, students will work as a crew, rotate leadership roles, and learn what it truly means to sail safely and responsibly. You’ll start with the fundamentals—boating terminology, points of sail, steering, sailing upwind and downwind, basic knots, on-the-water safety, and crew-overboard drills—then build toward more advanced skills such as sail trim, tacking and jibing, rules of the road, basic navigation, reefing, line handling, outboard engine basics, and docking. This is a hands-on, immersive experience, with time split between classroom learning and real-world practice on the water. Instruction takes place aboard our J/80 keelboats, modern performance boats that are stable, responsive, and ideal for learning. Their deep keel and balanced design provide confidence as students learn to skipper, while the spacious cockpit allows everyone to stay actively involved. Classes are limited to 8 students or fewer, creating a supportive camp environment where teens get plenty of individual coaching, build teamwork skills, and form strong connections with their peers over the course of the week. At the end of the camp, students will be tested for the US Sailing Basic Keelboat Certification. Successful participants receive a US Sailing Membership, Logbook, and Certification Sticker, recognizing them as qualified to skipper a tiller-steered keelboat up to 27 feet—an important step toward independent sailing, leadership roles, and future maritime opportunities.
Map & Direction
Classroom at Northwest Maritime/on the water
•
431 Water St
Port Townsend, WA
98368
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