Come sail away

By KERRIE L. MILLER

Mark Upham has been sailing most of his life. He said he started when his father organized a small sailing club in Ohio.

“They set me in the boat and gave me some comics and said I could read comics if I didn’t want to sail,” he said.

It didn’t take Upham long to look up from the comics and find himself bitten by the sailing bug and addicted for life. Since then he has sailed in high school, in college and around the world with his wife and their children. He believes the sport is growing in popularity is because sailing has such a strong family component and it appeals to people of all ages. The local sailing club has people ages six years old to in their 80s.

A number of local people have gotten their start sailing in a sailing school formed several years ago. Upham said there is a young man who started in the local fleet, sailing on Thunder Bay, who is now a professional boat captain. Another young man, who grew up on a farm in Herron, read about sailing in Popular Mechanics Magazine. Upham said the young man had no experience or equipment, but he did have the desire to sail.

“He showed up on the docks one day and said, ‘I don’t know a thing about sailing, but it looks like something I would like to try,’” Upham said.

The next summer he was designated Crew of the Year and is now in Maine, studying to be a yacht designer.

Similar to the sailing club Upham’s father started, a local group of sailing enthusiasts have been growing a sailing club for the past several years. For a number of those years, young people had the opportunity to learn to crew a boat and were then matched up with skippers.

“Kids learn very quickly and tend to be very loyal crew,” Upham said.

Upham said one thing that makes the area sailing club unusual is that a number of boats are skippered by the youth with their parents as crew. Upham’s daughter sails with him and his son crews with other people in the fleet.

One thing Upham hears over and over from sailing enthusiasts who visit the area is how underutilized the bay is.

“They comment on the beautiful sailing, the wonderful scenery and how few boats there are out there,” Upham said. “Thunder Bay is a big bay so there’s room for a lot of boats.”

The Alpena area sailing club continues to grow and be active. Upham said nine or 10 teams plan to attend the North American Championships in Toronto in August of 2005. Members of the youth team have been offered a boat for the European Youth Championship and the group is working to raise funds and organize that trip.

Out of the sailing club has come a sailing school. Each summer a number of young people learn either to said Sunfish boats in the river or the more advanced sailors learn on Ynglings in the bay. There also are opportunities for adults to learn how to sail on a semi-private basis with certified sailing instructors.

The Alpena area fleet sails every Wednesday of the season, leaving the dock at about 5 p.m. and sailing until 7 or 8 p.m., before having dinner together at the yacht club. Every Sunday the fleet races, leaving the dock at 10:30 a.m. Anyone interested in sailing with the fleet or learning about sailing is invited to be at the dock at sailing time.

“Just show up, bring your interest and a good attitude,” Upham encourages.

For more information on the sailing club or sailing school call Pete Wilson at 989-354-2175 or Mark Upham at 989-471-3545.