Sailing Club Hosts Visit from Optimist Sailing School

The Fort Peck Sailing Club will be hosting a Mobile Optimist Sailing School Aug. 9-14 at the Fort Peck Marina.  The classes are targeted for youth ages 8-14 and will be taught by two certified sailing instructors from Alberta, Canada. 

FPSC has secured 10 optimist boats for use in the course from the Alberta Mobile Optimist Sailing School. An optimist is a smaller sized boat measuring between 8 to 10 feet long. In addition to the sailing school the program will also feature a kayak safety course with two kayaks also provided by the Alberta Mobile Optimist Sailing School. 

We are lucky to have such a versatile lake in our community, not only is it prime for great fishing, but the prairie it rest on in the middle combined with the sheer mass of coast line, makes it perfect for sailing.  Prairie winds are almost always present across Fort Peck and generally stay pretty consistent with both speed and in direction, which is a sailor's dream. If anything there are probably more days with too much wind than not enough, the sweet spot is typically anywhere between 8 and 15 miles per hour.   

Sailing on Fort Peck in recent years has gained a lot of steam, as it should. In the three short years since the inception of the Fort Peck sailing club their membership has grown to about 10 members and is growing.  Their numbers may seem small but when you think about it being around a 1,000 miles inland that is a decent number considering the local population.

For registration forms or information about scholarship requirements on the sailing school contact Julie Burke at 406-939-0280 or Rafe Sigmundstad at 406-263-2468 . The cost to enroll is $250, and there are still a few scholarships available.