Editor’s Log
Want to talk about a coincidence? When I first spoke with Spike Lobdell, president of New England Science & Sailing, he’d just accepted US Sailing’s Outstanding Community Sailing Program Award for 2013. We met during a break at a US Sailing summit in San Diego and chatted about the program he helped launch in Stonington, Connecticut, how it had begun as an idea for a different sort of inclusive yacht club, and how it had evolved into a community sailing center with a strong emphasis on science, technology, engineering and math education for kids, as well as learnto-sail programs for adults.
Then this spring, out of the blue, I got an email from him offering an update on the program, which this summer will mark the 20th season of community sailing in Stonington. And when we chatted again—this time via Zoom, of course—local papers were reporting that he’d just been named Citizen of the Year by the Ocean Community Chamber of Commerce, which represents business communities along the Rhode Island-connecticut border. It was yet another feather in his and NESS’S already feather-heavy cap.
Funny, huh? But the real story is about NESS and the remarkable course it has steered. It all began when a small group of sailors in Stonington got together in 2002 to create the Stonington Harbor Yacht Club. The founders envisioned a clubhouse and bar, of course, but also a community-focused sailing program. That first season, 14 kids set sail in a fleet of eight secondhand Optis.
Lobdell took over as commodore of the club two years later, and the New England Science and Sailing Foundation was created to accept donations. From there, let’s just say that things took off. NESS soon moved into its own quarters down the street from the SHYC, renting the space at first, and later buying it in 2011, thanks to a couple million dollars in gifts. From the start, Lobdell says, the core belief was that being on the water is an excellent platform for teaching kids STEM skills, along with people skills such as teamwork, communication, leadership and self-control.
“Getting the kids together and thinking about how they get the boat back safely and work together is something that’s really unique,” he says.
By the time I met Lobdell, NESS had expanded its programs, and was working with a school in nearby New London. During the school year, NESS staff went into the classroom, and summers, inner-city kids came to NESS, many to go sailing for the first time. All told, Lobdell says that in 2013, some 2,700 people got out on the water in one of the center’s 140 sailboats.
As it turns out, Lobdell and his team were just warming up. By the end of the decade, NESS had expanded its programs to include STEM classes taught using surfboards, powerboats and fishing expeditions. Year-round staff included 27 full-timers, and swelled to 75 or so during summer. In 2019, some 9,000 people took part in NESS programs, and the center was partnering with 70 schools and organizations.
Then COVID-19 came calling. Thinking back to March 2020, Lobdell says that he wasn’t sure they could survive. With schools closed, funding disappeared. But rather than throwing in the towel, the team began a little problem-solving of their own. By May, they came up with 18 online courses that kids could pursue at home, including two involving the US America’s Cup team, American Magic. Soon, students were researching, designing, and launching homemade boats in their bathtubs and sinks. Or they were pacing across the room, learning how to calculate speed using time and distance. And come summer, kids were sailing. Though numbers were down—lobdell reports that about 1,400 took part in summer camp, community programs, and in-school and online learning—ness was able to avoid any staff layoffs.
So what’s up for season No. 20? Lobdell says he and the team are hopeful that numbers will return to 2019 levels. NESS, he says, became a more agile and adaptable organization because of the pandemic, and now has an online platform to add to its quiver of educational services. Looking ahead, they are in the early stages of figuring out how to work with other community sailing programs that would benefit from adding a STEM curriculum in conjunction with their local schools.
And they’re planning a party. Not for this summer, but for 2024, when NESS officially celebrates its own 20th anniversary. Lobdell stumbles a little when he explains how the anniversary math works. “Maybe I should take one of our courses,” he says.