“A sailing program serving Pittsburgh area high school students and others”
NEWSLETTER AT A GLANCE: While the Point of Pittsburgh Sailing League's 2022 sailing season came to a close at the end of September, the month included multiple sailing sessions and our annual Wind Down event.
A September 17th event highlighted our second year of high school sailing; the accomplishments of our sailors, contributions of our instructors and support of our sponsors.
PPSL's river channel procedure continued to keep our sailors safe.
Even as we prepare to put our boats away for winter, our thoughts turn to ideas for the 2023 high school sailing season.
Our contributors put "The Wind in our Sails". Please see the contribution links at the bottom of this newsletter and consider making a donation to support high school sailing in Pittsburgh. And also check out the link below for a video on the PPSL sailing program.
Sailing season Wind Down event
Our September 17th sailing session was followed by a recognition event for our sailors, sponsors and instructors. ALCOSAN spokespersons Jeffery Houser and Mark Medrano provided an engaging presentation on operations of the regional wastewater treatment authority, future projects to expand their wastewater treatment plant and plans to further address CSO (Combined Sewer Overflow) issues in the region. ALOCSAN was PPSL's first corporate sponsor.
Our sailors were recognized at the event for their accomplishments in the 2022 sailing season. Sailors received framed certificates noting their achievements (sailors who could not attend the event will receive their certificates at a later date).
We really appreciated ALCOSAN hosting a pizza party following the program. There was even some pizza left for sailors to take home.
Photos: ALCOSAN representatives speaking to parents and sailors; long-time PPSL supporter Jim Roddey speaks about his love for sailing and the value of participating in the PPSL sailing program; Instructors Geoff Wells and Alan Finkelstein receive sailing bags for their service (all our instructors will receive sail bags); Alan, Geoff and program director Joe Kirk stand with our sailors holding their certificates.
Channel clearance procedure keeps sailors safe
Safety is the top priority of the Point of Pittsburgh Sailing League. In addition to safety practices common to other youth sailing programs, the Point of Pittsburgh Sailing League has a clear and practiced navigation river channel clearance procedure.
PPSL operates on a navigable river and as such is required not to impede or create safety issues for commercial river traffic. Navigation buoys mark the channel.
In the photo above, Lindsay Silver, one of our safety boat operators, shows how we use a VHF radio to communicate with area commercial river traffic approaching the sailing area. The safety boat operator then blows a horn informing sailors to leave the navigation channel.
Stickers on our sailboats ensure that our sailors understand what to do when they hear a specific horn sequence (see photo).
We are pleased to report that our three years of operations have been incident free. Communication with area commercial vessels and a practiced channel clearance procedure as kept our sailors safe. This includes two years of high school sailing and one year of sailing during the coronavirus pandemic that was limited to working with sailors from the Sailing Club at the University of Pittsburgh.
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First look to next year
This has been a great year for our sailors - our second year of high school sailing and our first without Covid restrictions. Enrollment continues to grow, and our sailors continue to increase their sailing skills and confidence.
In 2023, we will be implementing a Spring and Summer sailing session registration option. Sailors can still sign up for the full sailing season. The potential of a regatta in October is being explored. There will be more on the sailing regatta in future newsletters.
A number of additional ideas are being considered including working with our current sailors to establish sailing discussion groups or sailing clubs in their schools and adding video presentations to our pre-season program. We are also exploring the use of VR googles with sailing simulation software to our pre-season program.
While the cold months of winter will soon be upon us, we are already looking forward to when we'll be back on the water in 2023!
Our corporate sponsors
To learn more about our corporate sponsorship program, email us at sailpittsburgh@gmail.com
Please use the PPSL donation links below to contribute to local sailing in YOUR community!
