Mountain Time Maritime

Dark storm clouds stretched out from the Rocky Mountains, shrouding one side of Chatfield Reservoir. Yet to the left, the sun shone brightly through thick white clouds. The light created a rainbow that stretched across the water, making a path for the 40 or so sailboats that darted around.

It was a Wednesday night, which meant members of the Colorado Sail and Yacht Club were out in full force for an evening of racing. A pontoon boat sat anchored in the middle of what looked like organized chaos to a rookie sailor. On it sat the race commissioners.

“You have a Capri 22 coming up on your port side,” said Mike Sotir, who was working the fore deck of the Zulu, a J30 sailboat. “You see it?” Along with being a CSYC member, Sotir was a former student-now-instructor at the Victoria Sailing School based in Denver. And his sailing ventures have brought him all over the world from Colorado’s lakes to the Adriatic Sea.

“Yep, I see them,” said Trey Hegstrom, another instructor at the Victoria Sailing School and commodore of the CSYC. Hegstrom grew up in Minnesota, where he learned to sail dinghies — small, lightweight sailboats. Also aboard were fellow Victoria Sailing School instructors John Ingell, Bob Ratliff, and Tony Cochrane.

The pontoon sounded the first of four horns and flew the “class” flag to designate which boats were going to start (The race was split into three groups by sailboat type.).

“There’s the five-minute countdown,” said Sotir.

“Sailboat racing is the only sport where competitors get a running head start,” said Hegstrom with a smile as he continued to circle the other boats, some of which had already started their racing divisions. Others, like the Zulu crew, were waiting to begin.

Another horn sounded, and the preparation flag went up.

“Four minutes,” announced Sotir.

For the race, the boats had to hit different numbered buoys anchored throughout the lake. Ratliff marked the course on an 8.5 x 11-inch laminated map with a dry-erase marker.

Another horn sounded, and the preparation flag went down, signaling there was one minute left to start.

With less than a minute to go, Hegstrom pointed us to the starting line. The final horn sounded, and off we went.

This is sailing in Colorado.

Sailing in the desert

“There’s sailing in Colorado?”A question every sailing instructor in the landlocked state has been asked multiple times.

Bill Edwards, who joined CSYC back in 1997, is one of the original members, and he is also a volunteer for the club’s races. “I joke that I moved to the desert to learn to sail. But if there is a puddle, we will sail it.”

Melissa Gorchynsky, executive director of Community Sailing of Colorado, who teaches classes at Cherry Creek, Boulder Reservoir, and Standley Lake, expressed a similar sentiment. She sailed in Annapolis, Maryland, known as America’s sailing capital for a number of years. But after moving to Colorado, she thought she had “turned in my sailing gloves for climbing shoes.” Fortunately, that’s not exactly how things worked out. After moving here Gorchynsky reached out to the Denver Sailing Association to see if they needed any volunteers.

“The fleet captain was like ‘What are you doing Saturday?’” And she found herself sailing that same weekend. “It’s really interesting to move to a landlocked state, knowing that there are other people who are water starved.”

Where there is a lake, you are likely to find a club. There is Dillon Marina Sailing School in the high country, Union Sailing Club in northern Colorado, Lake Pueblo Sailing Club in the south, and many others. While the landlocked bodies of water give mariners a place to go, sailing on mountain lakes presents its own unique set of challenges.

Dillon Reservoir, for instance, might seem perfect for sailing along 26.8 miles of shoreline. At over 9,000 feet above sea level, according to the Denver Gazette, it’s “the world’s highest deep-water marina.” High-elevation pressure systems can lead to instant weather changes, with a lake being no exception.

“It’s insane to sail up here because the air is really thin,” said Gorchynsky. “It doesn’t feel like sailing at sea level at all. Whitecaps form on the water at sea level when the wind is blowing at about 13 knots. Whereas in the Front Range, it’s about 15 knots, and at Dillon Reservoir it’s about 18 knots.[15 miles per hour.] So you can look out at the water and think, ‘It’s not that windy,’ and then you get out there, and it’s a completely different story.” She goes on to explain that up at Lake Dillon, the wind can be especially erratic and seems to come at you from all different directions. “I have been on boats where the indicator flags on opposite sides are pointing at each other.”

Tim Geisler, founder and lead instructor of Nautilus Sailing based in Crested Butte, echoes this sentiment. “The changing conditions really keep sailors on their toes. So if you can sail the high mountain lakes, you can sail most places.”

Initially, when Nautilus opened in 2010, they sailed the Blue Mesa, the largest lake in Colorado. But the sailing season is pretty short there, especially when compared to other places, so the school’s focus shifted. They now bring students to different spots nationally and internationally. This aligns with Gorchynsky’s adage, “If you can sail here, you can sail anywhere.”

Getting out on the water in Colorado

For someone who is interested in giving the sport a try, there are ample clubs and schools throughout the state eager to get more prospective sailors out on the water.

Just be careful, though: “Sailing is addictive,” said Sotir.

The Victoria Sailing School offers classes at Chatfield, Cherry Creek, and Carter Lake. “We have been growing each year,” said Tibor Van den Wildenbergh, who co-owns the school with his wife Erica Cook.His father-in-law started the Victoria Sailing School back in the 1980s, making it the oldest sailing school in the state. “We have around 450 kids in our summer programs, and our adult classes have been expanding. And much of our marketing is word of mouth. Our students become champions of the school.”

After completing beginner courses, students can then go on to take more advanced theory, sailboat maintenance, and navigation classes. Along with classes in Colorado, the Victoria Sailing School offers sessions in California and beyond.

“We can train somebody who has never sailed and get them to a place where they can buy a boat and go explore the world on their own,” said Wildenbergh. “We give people the opportunity to start their sailing journeys here and expand out to wherever they want to go.”

Similarly, Community Sailing of Colorado offers classes for both kids and adults. “It’s a great place to quote, unquote ‘get your feet wet,’” said Gorchynsky.

CSC’s camps start kids as young as five, where they learn important skills like water safety and sail on a boat with an instructor. Once they are seven, they can hit the water with their fellow campers with an instructor helping them from a motor boat.

“We have these teeny tiny 6 foot long by 3 foot wide boats that almost look like little floating bathtubs. They look awful,” said Gorchynsky with a laugh. “But the kids have so much fun tearing around the water with them. It looks like a mama duck motorboat being followed by a handful of little duckling sailboats. It’s too cute.”

Adult beginner classes are offered at both Boulder and Cherry Creeks, with two different sizes of boats depending on where you are sailing. The classes are three hours long and meet once a week for a month. Additionally, once students complete the starter course, they have the option to dip their toes in the water, so to speak, and explore racing.

“On Thursday nights, we race at Cherry Creek,” explained Gorchynsky. “It’s run by the Denver Sailing Association who has volunteer skippers such as myself. We invite graduates, so they can see if they want to take it to the next level or have any interest in racing. It’s a really fun social scene. Just show up. We will get you on the water. We have a strict ‘no person left on shore policy.’”

Additionally, CSC partners with different organizations to offer adaptive sailing programs that allow individuals with cognitive, developmental, and physical disabilities to experience the water for a day. CSC also offers low or no-cost spots at sailing camps for kids whose families would otherwise not be able to afford it. And they help promote Able to Sail, which offers programs specifically designed for LGBTQIA+ youth.

Finding community

At the end of the day, “It’s all about the people,” says Ingell. Cruising around Chatfield — when the instructors weren’t talking strategy or making comments about the fishermen who plopped their boats right in the middle of the action — the crew was eager to talk about their love of the sport and what makes sailing in the Centennial State so special.

According to Wildenbergh, just about every major lake and reservoir has a club.“Since everyone is spread out, the sailing community is a bit fragmented,” he said. “But each club’s community is so much bigger than you would expect. If you just show up on a race night and meet people, there are plenty of chances to get on the water.”

Gorchynsky explains that in places like Annapolis, people just assume you sail. When you go out to a bar, it’s not, “Where do you work?” she explained, but “Who do you sail with?”

Out here, maybe one has to work a bit harder to find the community, but once one finds it, they are golden.“I was driving the work van once, and someone started honking at me and asked me to roll down my window at a stop light,” said Gorchynsky. “They just yelled ‘Hi! I sail too!’ And it just speaks to the fact that we are all crazy enough to need to be on the water wherever we can. And we will support anybody who feels that kind of passion.”