Staying Cool in the Miami Heat

Thursday, June 18th, 2026

This Thursday, Miami had a heat advisory, but we stayed cool on the water and in the shade of our sails. Our sailors are grateful to be able to get outside in the breeze and sunshine instead of the heat of i95. We went on a full exploration of the Bay, and found plenty of new sights to see!

We had five sailors on one Sonar, and everyone had a different job on the boat. From taking the helm, controlling the main sheet, and assuming the position as leader of the jib sail’s trim, there was excellent teamwork between each sailor. The surrounding sailing area showed us different types of boats we share the Bay with: Optimists and Hobies in youth summer camps, barges coming into port from a day of work, and even a dark grey superyacht off the coast of Key Biscayne! Through working on finding a bearing and practicing controlled tacks and gybes, we did a clean rounding around the yacht to get a closer look.

Last week, sailors did a fantastic job staying engaged and constantly watching the telltales on the jib to spot any adjustments needed. They continued this work today and are now able to intuitively change the sails without a coach’s request. It’s really exciting to see how much they’ve grown ahead of our Guardian Cup this November.

The biggest lesson of the day was reviewing how to safely change course in relation to the wind direction. For those that needed to shake off the sailing rust, Coach James discussed the differences between a tack and a gybe: “If you cross this line here - the center of the downwind - the sails switch sides really fast because they never lose power. There will always be wind in them.” This is why we avoid gybes for first-time sailors and in our corporate regattas: in order to keep the boat in control and everyone aboard safe, we always make sure to go through the steps and work together to perform a clean, methodical gybe.

Lesson on Tacking vs. Gybing with Coach James

Multiple sailors said that Thursdays are the highlight of our week. We are so excited to be able to add a second day of the week to the program; Sundays are now open to our frontline community! Bringing in more opportunities to learn and connect with others is what it’s all about. We’ll see you this weekend!