One highlight of the day was watching Jian step into the role of mentor for Kenny as they sailed together for the first time. They looked fantastic out on the water, and their teamwork was impressive! The excitement grew when other kids noticed Kenny was set to sail in the RS Feva; everyone wanted to join in! This group is filled with extraordinary, talented, and genuinely gifted individuals!

We captured some fantastic moments, like when Kairi hiked out on the trap for the first time—check out that video….

Today, we had another small craft warning about boating on Biscayne Bay. The wind was forecasted to blow out of the Southeast 10 to 15 kn with gusts up to 20 kn, which is a little bit more than we need, but it is doable. We had a new coach joining us today. Her name is Ella, and she is an L-2 certified youth coach. Today’s STEM class was the second day of module five, water quality, testing part B. The kids were pretty excited about it. First, they were in the classroom on the second floor, then collected water samples in three different locations and tested the water in the first-floor breezeway.

Who does not want to make this a better world and place? Today, we added to our protocol. One of our coaches, who also studies marine biology, encouraged the students to pick up seagrass on her boat. She's an expert in the area and would tell them what type of seagrass it was. A minor problem was that the student didn't pick up the seagrass alone. There was also a Portuguese Man o' War in there. The student got stung badly….

Team Paradise has equipment and other components that make us unique and set us apart from similar organizations. Our Castoldi jet tender 21' is one example. It has an inboard diesel jet engine, water jet propulsion (propellerless), and a capacity of 12 people. It is our flagship! She is a workhorse that we utilize about 60 days per year. Picture us down by the docks….

Despite a challenging day, we delivered on our promises of fun and safe learning! We had thirty-four people on the water fifteen kids in the SYSTEM group, ten kids in the NEXT LEVEL, and nine volunteers participating. The weather forecast called for small craft should exercise caution. South winds, 10 to 15 kn with guts up to 20 kn a chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning high tide was 12:23 PM.

The US Sailing Center is a busy place this time of the year. The US SAILING team has a training camp; there was an Etchells and Viper regatta this weekend. Add a bunch of coach boats and coaches. The good news is that our kids see all these hot, looking boats and the tremendous athletes who sail them. They act as role models for our students!

There wasn't much boat traffic today, and the wind direction and strength were perfect for sailing over to Key Biscayne. I realized we could lay Hurricane Harbor on a long port tack. The wind was supposed to increase throughout the day, making a fast reach sailing back to Coconut Grove possible. The last time we sailed to Key Biscayne was before summer camp. We always stay close because of weather, wind, and safety. When we sail across the Bay, our safety protocol includes a coach boat and the group staying close together, representing a bigger picture to alert oncoming boat traffic.

The conditions were near perfect with about 15 kn of breeze out of the east. The wind was supposed to increase, so we wanted to sail early. A few of our regular sailors were missing, but there were still 27 people out on the water, including students, coaches, and counselors. Chris filled in for Josh, coaching the Next Level sailors using the Boston Whaler. We had both our RS   Ventures out there looking good. The rest of us were in our propeller-less safety boat. Our system sailors started in the classroom with module six, which was about marine debris. 

When learning a new sport, playing with someone more skilled than you is always beneficial. Today, we had the opportunity to do just that. Josh brought along Chris, a student at the University of Miami. Chris sailed with Adrian, and they took turns as skipper and crew. I was impressed with Adrian's performance; he looked fantastic out there. Everyone looked great except for me. I was driving the safety boat and trying to film a video simultaneously, but I didn’t realize my phone was set to the wrong mode. What I thought would be a video turned out to be just a picture. It's okay, though—I’ll do better next weekend.

Sailing can be compared to a simple machine in several ways. Like a simple machine, sailing utilizes fundamental principles to accomplish work. For example, the sail on a boat can be likened to an inclined plane or a wing, using the force of the wind to propel the boat forward. The rudder can be likened to a lever, changing the boat's direction by applying force at a certain point. In this way, sailing shares similarities with simple machines by utilizing fundamental principles to achieve a specific purpose.

What is remarkable is when teaching moments appear out of nowhere in real-time, like turning something that most people would experience as unfavorable into a positive experience. It's not always easy because, as always, the timing has to be correct.

The weather forecast was a bit "iffy " this morning. One parent contacted us, saying, "The weather is bad now. Are we still on for today?"  I responded, "We will have a morning briefing and a chalk talk, and then hopefully go sailing."

Today was special. It felt like the first day of the fall season. The air temperature was perfect, with low humidity and the perfect breeze for what we wanted to accomplish. It was a beautiful day. The next-level sailors took off into the bay with coach Josh. Our SYSTEM sailors stayed closer to shore. We followed them until we had the perfect picture of the two RS Ventures. Then, we sought more shallow waters for the water comfort test three of the new kids had to perform. It was all good. We moved even closer to the port and dropped the anchor again. This is where all of the boats eventually would meet up. The foam mattress was rolled out, and everyone seemed to enjoy it themselves. The pictures and video below will tell you more about our day...

The Team Paradise “SYSTEM” (Sailing + Youth + STEM) program has launched! We will measure the wind, test water quality, analyze marine debris, observe marine life, learn geometry and how to sail, and have so much fun! Biscayne Bay is the perfect classroom for our sailors to take their STEM experiments out on the water.

For our first class we learned about and observed the wind, then took what we learned out on the water and took a little time to splash around and get to know each other better!