Every summer, the Hudson River Maritime Museum offers kids and teens a chance to experience the magic and history of the Hudson Valley’s rich sailing traditions. The museum, located on the banks of the Rondout Creek in Kingston’s historic waterfront district, hosts immersive multi-day programs that teach practical skills in sailing and woodworking that build self-confidence and forge new friendships.
Little kids will have a blast out on the water in the Parent-Child Sailing Class (ages 5-9) or Introduction to Youth Sailing (ages 7-9), which teach the basics of sailing in a nurturing, fun environment over the course of three days.
For tweens and teens ready to become self-sufficient sailors, the one-week Youth Sailing Program (ages 10-17) dives deep into developing skills on a variety of boats, from eight-foot training dinghies to racing boats and more. The four-day Building and Sailing Boats course offers a well-rounded blend of STEM-focused skills and activities that provide an introduction to woodworking, boatbuilding, and sailing. A limited number of spaces are reserved in each sailing class for scholarship recipients.
A week-long Youth Woodworking class (ages 10-16) draws on the traditions of wooden boat-building to provide an introduction to the craft of carpentry. Participants will learn everything from shop safety to joinery to tool use and care, and complete their own project to take home.
This year also welcomes the first-ever Soapbox Derby class, a group-build course where students work together to create a non-motorized kinetic sculpture for the annual Kingston Artists’ Soapbox Derby in August.
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This article appears in February 2024.
