Every year Nantucket Community Sailing puts out an Annual Appeal.  Within our appeal we make sure to let those who are new to NCS know who we are and what our goals are and those who have known NCS for a while, we like to show them how far we have come!  Please read our message below and consider donating now to Nantucket Community Sailing!

Dear Friends of NCS,

Now that our boats are put to bed for the season, and it's blowing and frosty on the island, we find ourselves thinking back on fond memories of the warm, sunny days of last summer.  This past season - our 13th year - had many highlights:

• We taught sailing to over 1200 children, including free water sports access to 300 children;
• We provided direct scholarships of over $70,000 for year-round Nantucket youth and established a new program so that all island children are eligible for a sailing scholarship;
• We provided the funding, equipment and staff that made the Nantucket High School Sailing Team a reality;
• Our youth racing teams continued to improve their skills, and competed in off-island regattas throughout the summer - often with great results, but always with a lot of  fun and memorable experiences;
• We established the Alan I. Newhouse Sailing Scholarship Fund  in memory of our beloved co-founder, which will help grow the next generation of young sailors;
• We launched a new keel boat program, featuring the two J105s that were donated to us - providing a great sailing experience for children and adults as well as allowing youth an opportunity to progress their skills from 420s;
• Our fleet continued to grow and improve as we added 4 new 420s, an Opti, windsurfing boards and safety boats, bringing our fleet up to about 150 boats;
• The Jetties Sailing Center was busy every day with children and adults learning to sail and enjoying water sports.

In addition to our sailing programs, we, with the help of 300+ wonderful volunteers, hosted the 5th Annual Nantucket Race Week and 37th Annual Opera House Cup Regatta, with 250 boats participating throughout the week, ranging from Optimists and Rainbows to the 135' schooner Eleonora.  

We know these are difficult times and that many organizations are asking for your support.  We think it is critical to make available to our youth the kind of positive character-building experience and life lessons that sailing provides.  To do all this takes a lot of effort, skilled instructors, and financial support.  Please help us with a donation toward our 2008-2009 Annual Appeal campaign.   

Thank you,

The Board, Staff and Students of Nantucket Community Sailing