The Northport Youth Sailing School (NYSS) is in full swing this summer, with 190 little sailors enrolled and a scholarship program covering 30 local children, according to Andy Neal, the sailing school’s president.
“We’re humming along,” Neal said. “Our numbers are really good.”
The school, which sails out of South Beach in the village of Northport, serves kids ages 8 to 18 with classes running five weeks, mornings and afternoons, from beginner “little puffs” up through solo sailing and racing skills.
The scholarships are reserved for kids who live in Leelanau Township specifically. The Leelanau Township Community Foundation funds roughly five of those scholarships, with the program’s own restricted and unrestricted donations covering the other 25.
This is the school’s 18th season and scholarships have been part of the program from the start.
“We have people on wait lists, and we do get a cancellation here and there,” Neal said. “We’ve had to turn a few people away, but not so many that we feel like we’re underserving the community.”
The program is nearly full for the summer, with a waitlist and only occasional openings from cancellations in the popular program.
NYSS runs on three full-time instructors and 16 counselors, six of whom have also completed U.S. Sailing certification. Neal said every staff member came up through the program themselves, starting as young sailors before returning as counselors and instructors. Classes typically run six to eight students each, with roughly one staff member for every three kids.
Tuition covers roughly 40% of the program’s annual operating budget, with the rest coming from grants and donations. The school has worked over the past two years to raise staff pay to keep pace with the broader labor market without seeing any drop in enrollment demand or losing ground to other sailing schools in northern Michigan.
The program draws well beyond Leelanau County, with past enrollment including students from 17 states and international interest as far as England.
Each week of the program includes four morning classes and four afternoon classes split by skill level, culminating in a Friday picnic and regatta for families. The school held its first family picnic of the summer last week. A separate appreciation event is held at the end of the season for donors and volunteers. The program also relies heavily on volunteers, with a dozen or more regulars plus dozens of parents helping throughout the fiveweek season.
