SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Summer for kids these days can be full of video games, the Internet and TV, but the open lake awaits those willing to venture outside, and the Great Slave Cruising Club is offering courses for them to learn to sail and kayak.

Gillian Waugh, back, skipper of the Waugh family sailboat – the Tullibee, a 21-foot San Juan – puts skills she learned in last year's sailing summer camp to use during a sailing run in July 2010, with friend Kevin Rattray. - photo courtesy of Gillian Waugh

The summer camp will run from July 18 to 22. In the mornings, children ages nine to 14 will learn how to sail down the shore of Yellowknife Bay on an Optimist sailing dinghy, and then switch to kayaks in the afternoon.

"We want the kids to have fun, not school," said Kate Tompkins, organizer of the summer camp.

She said the goal is to train future sailors to take over the wheel of the club.

"We wanted to train more people to take over for us old farts. Training the youth is how you keep an organization vital."

Last year, 30 young sailors participated in the course, including 18-year-old Gillian Waugh, who has her sails set on now learning to be an instructor herself.

"We learned about all the parts of the sailboat, terminology, took turns skipping and setting up the sails. It was a crash course but I learned a lot in a short time," said Waugh.

She said she loves to be on the water and is using this year's instructor course, also offered through the club, partly as a means to broaden her sailing skills.

"I really love sailing. My parents surprised us and bought a small sailboat for family outings. With the course I have taken, I am definitely confident in skipping my family's sailboat now," said Waugh.

Ten Optimist sailing dinghies designed for kids up to 50 kilograms will be available during the summer camp as well as four kid-sized kayaks. Peter McDougall and another certified instructor from the Alberta Sailing Association will be coming up to instruct this year's course.

With the Great Slave Cruising Club's membership reaching about 60, Tompkins said the club is in good shape and has the interest in its membership to also run a number of other courses.

There is a sailing course for adults running from June 24 to July 6 with a focus on sailing on Great Slave Lake. There has already been a lot of interest, with the course now full. There are two positions left for the club's sailing instructor course, Tompkins said on Monday.

The club will also be offering one-day courses on how to use a GPS, how to predict weather, where to find anchorages, and harbours on Great Slave Lake, how to be a good captain and to obtain one's personal craft operator's licence. To sign up for any of the courses, contact the Great Slave Cruising Club.

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