City Kids Get Taste of Sailing and Salt Air

By Matt Dunning
POSTED JUNE 30, 2008

Sailing instructor Joe DiFranks watched closely as 11-year-old Linan Chen, seated next to him, piloted a small sailboat around the mouth of the Hudson River. On the starboard edge of the boat, three more middle schoolers from Chinatown, Amy Zhang, Katie Liang and Megan Tran, dangled their feet in the water and gazed at the Lower Manhattan skyline. Keeping one eye on the girls and the other on the glorious view, DiFranks couldn’t help but remark on just how quiet Manhattan seemed a few hundred feet offshore.

“That’s what’s nice about being out here,” he said. “It’s kind of like a little vacation. You can come into the water and leave all your troubles on the island, if you have any.”

DiFranks, a former oil tanker captain, works part-time as an instructor with the Manhattan Sailing School at the North Cove in Battery Park City.

For eight weeks, beginning in April, he and scores of sailing instructors, boat captains and assorted other seafarers have been giving Lower Manhattan elementary and middle schoolers a chance to experience the tranquility that awaits off the shores of New York City by way of the Young Sailors Program.

“The program was created to provide an opportunity for kids to learn about navigation and sailing, and for them to experience something outside their everyday experience,” said Julie Smith, the director of Project City Kids, which founded the program.

Beginning in April, about 120 elementary and middle school students from Community School Districts 1 and 2 participated in a range of activities, from learning sailing basics to lessons in the sounds of the harbor and the history of sailing aboard the clipper ship Pride of Baltimore, docked at the North Cove.

It all culminated with a week of sailing aboard the club’s 24-foot-long boats, which was how Linan Chen found herself navigating Hudson Harbor last month. Once DiFranks hoisted the sail,  he turned control of the boat over to Chen for the duration of the ride, coaching her through the delicate art of turning the boat and dodging harbor traffic, which at 4:30 p.m. on a weekday is no beginner’s feat.

“One thing that this program does is give kids who, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t have access to sailing a chance to see what it’s like on the water,” said Andrew Sarfaty, a sailor for more than 30 years. “It can be a lot of fun. If the kids have access to the activity, it can be the beginning of a lifelong hobby for them, or maybe more.”

After an afternoon on the water, the handful of Middle School 131 6th graders said their appetite for sailing had indeed been whetted. Chen, who had never before set foot on a boat, let alone piloted one, was especially eager to return to the water.

“Now I want to sail more,” Chen said as she climbed from the little sailboat after steering it back into North Cove. “I want to sail something bigger.”

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