A monthly read-through of sailing and marina news from Canada and the US. Second edition. Earlier: 26.09.22 and 26.09.06.
I've been watching community coaches and access stories this month, because that's the ladder this site is for.
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This edition · lead
Nicolas Tosi of Gatineau, Quebec, is Coach of the Year. Guylain Noël of Lévis, Quebec, is Instructor of the Year after more than 35 years of teaching.
The praise in Tosi's nomination, that young sailors feel they belong, is a fair test for any first coach or club you're looking at.
Nicolas Tosi of Gatineau, Quebec, is Coach of the Year. He co-founded the Montreal Youth Sailing Team in 2019 and was Quebec's provincial coach from 2022 to 2025. A nomination said he "makes young sailors feel that they belong." Guylain Noël of Lévis, Quebec, is Instructor of the Year after more than 35 years of teaching. He is the Director of Training at Formation Nautique Québec, a school that Sail Canada says has about 40 instructors and 14 boats.
The praise in Tosi's nomination, that young sailors feel they belong, is a fair test for any first coach or club you're looking at.
Sources: Sail Canada on Tosi; Sail Canada on Noël.
The event, in Portimão, brought together world championships for sailors with disabilities across eight disciplines. The classes include a one-person keelboat (a boat with a fixed weighted keel), a two-person boat, a multihull (a boat with more than one hull), and a class for visually impaired sailors. World Sailing said on September 10 that more than 200 athletes from over 40 nations had registered. Barbados, Jamaica, St Kitts and Nevis, and Vietnam were among the countries sending sailors for the first time, after taking part in World Sailing's Inclusive Development Programme. Para sailing last appeared at the Paralympic Games at Rio 2016, and in December 2025 World Sailing asked the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) to bring it back for Brisbane 2032. That announcement gave no decision date.
If you or your kid sails with a disability, para sailing has its own world championships. Whether it returns to the Paralympics in 2032 depends on the IPC's response.
Sources: World Sailing on the Inclusion Championships; World Sailing on Brisbane 2032.
Sixteen skippers left Les Sables-d'Olonne on September 6 for a solo, non-stop trip around the world without electronic navigation. Scuttlebutt and race reporting named Selim Yalcin as retired in late September, and Guy deBoer as moved into the Chichester class after a stop. The race's day-22 report, dated September 28, had Damien Guillou of France leading at 6 knots (about 11 km/h) in the southeast trades, with Pat Lawless of Ireland second, and expected light winds and calms for a couple more days. Each boat carries emergency GPS units in a sealed box and satellite phones for up to four short messages a day. Those are the September 28 standings; check goldengloberace.com for current positions.
A solo, non-stop trip around the world asks a lot of a boat and a skipper. Retirements and class moves happen; the live standings are on the race site.
Sources: Golden Globe day-22 report; Golden Globe rules.
The Seattle community boating center uses Seattle Parks & Recreation's income eligibility guidelines. Its scholarships page says the 2026 application is closed and the 2027 application will open in January 2027. Its youth camps cover ages 5 to 17, and it says scholarships apply to all camps and classes. The page warns that it's possible the scholarships will run out by summer, because many camps and classes sell out in the spring.
Aid applications can open months before camps do, and this center recommends applying early when its 2027 application opens. If your family needs help, ask your own club or sailing school this fall when its aid application opens.
Source: Sail Sand Point scholarships.
Nothing this month that changes the rules on your water.
Seven short reference profiles of boats named in these editions are up at /boats/, from the Club 420 to the Formula Kite. The guides on how a boat works, what the rules mean, and how to read the water are still to come.
Nothing this month that makes starting out cheaper.
The US Youth Championship ran October 9 to 12 at Alamitos Bay Yacht Club in Long Beach, California, in six classes: the International 420, the 29er, the ILCA 6, the ILCA 7, the iQFOiL (windsurfing), and the Formula Kite (kitesurfing). Results are linked from the host club's site through US Sailing's event page. Boats discussed: International 420, 29er, ILCA 6, iQFOiL, Formula Kite.
The Annapolis Sailboat Show runs October 15 to 18 at City Dock in Annapolis, Maryland. As of early October the show's page lists general admission at about US$32, children 7 to 15 at US$10, children 6 and under free, and a US$22 military price on Sunday only.
For the racing calendar, the two standing links from the first edition still apply: Ontario Sailing's regatta schedule for the Great Lakes, and 48° North's Seattle Area Racing Calendar for the Pacific Northwest.
The first edition said children under 6 get into the Annapolis Sailboat Show free. The show's page says children 6 and under are free, so six-year-olds get in free too. The first edition also said that breaking the seal on a Golden Globe boat's emergency GPS means retiring from the race. To be exact, the race's rules page says a skipper who breaks the seal is deemed to have retired and moves to the Chichester Class.
Not open yet. Crew matching, mentor matching, and gear-swap listings are planned, launching after a few news-only editions prove the format works. Write to hello@sailcommons.com if you want to be first in line when it opens.
No reader mail for this edition yet. If you teach young sailors, or you learned this way yourself and remember what was missing, write to hello@sailcommons.com. Whatever comes in shapes what's in the next one.
