JP celebrates the Pond

Saturday was a beautiful fall day at Jamaica Pond. The sun shone brightly through a mostly cloudless sky. The brisk chill in the air served as a gentle reminder of fall and winter right around the corner. There was only one problem.

Too windy.

Courageous Sailing hosted its third annual JP Celebration event Saturday, which was dampened only slightly by the fact that the 30-35 mile an hour winds were too much for anyone to do any actual sailing.

"This year we tried to make it not so formal ticket-wise but just open to the public," said Annie Butts, site director for Courageous Sailing Jamaica Pond. "It's a lot more relaxing this year than it has been in the past but they've all been pretty successful."

Proceeds from the event and the boathouse's year-round rentals will help Courageous Sailing maintain the site, its equipment and offer free sailing lessons to more than 2,000 Boston children aged 8 to 18 every summer.

Courageous Sailing, which was started in 1987, has become a popular place for Boston's youth. Butts said that while thousands of children will receive free lessons in the non-profit's five-step sailing program that runs the gamut from first time, "Taste of Sailing" Step 1 through Instructor Training in Step 5, hundreds more will be turned back. The registration form goes up around March or April and literally that day the program will be completely filled.

According to its Web site, Courageous Sailing's mission is "transforming children's lives through sailing programs that inspire learning, personal growth and leadership."

Butts is certainly a testament to that. She started with Courageous at age 11 when her mom signed her up for all sorts of free summer events. Sailing, she says, is the only one she didn't want to do and the only one she truly loved.

"When you first think about sailing you think, 'Okay, a rich, white person sport that's kind of Yuppie' but when you get out there you're out of your element, you're not in your complete comfort zone, you have to trust the other person that you're with," she said. "It's pretty magical. It's very reassuring and you feel very confident and good about yourself."

At 14 she became a Junior Instructor, and eventually went on to run the Charlestown Step 2 classes and the Dorchester site until two years ago, when she became the Jamaica Pond Director. As with many JP residents, she calls the pond "a home away from home."

"Being here specifically … it's the most beautiful spot in Boston and its very chill," she said. "There are the same people that come down here every day that I stay in touch with so it's more family oriented to me."

The Pond boathouse is open year round, weather permitting (roughly April to November). Rentals are moderately priced: $10/hour for rowboats, $12/hour for kayaks and $15/hour for sailboats.

Although they weren't able to sail, a few Courageous students attended yesterday's event, including Ben Geffken, a 13-year-old Roslindale resident who took Steps 1 and 2 at Jamaica Pond last year.

"It's learning to sail, making new friends," he said. "Sailing is a lot of fun. Sailing in JP is a lot of fun."

[Editor's note: Weiland works at BNY Mellon, which is one one of the sponsors of Courageous Sailing.]