A world of adventure in our own backyard

Growing up on Bowen, I must admit, living on here has had its challenges: missing that incorrigible ferry has got my mood down more times that I care to admit. However, growing up with the forest and the ocean as my backyard has provided me with more entertainment and adventures than any child could ever dream of.
The summers my brother and I turned 10 (we are three years apart) my parents enrolled us in summer sailing lessons with the Bowen Island Yacht Club Learn to Sail Program. We got to spend our days playing games on the beach, sailing in the bay, and even venturing out to near islands for picnic lunches. It was the adventure I always wanted and dreamed of. I fell in love with sailing and spending my summer days out on the ocean. I couldn’t get enough of it: the sun, the ocean, the sailing, and the thrill of the experience.
Once I completed all my levels of sailing lessons, all I wanted to do was to return back each summer to keep sailing, and that is what I did. Every July and August, I came back as a volunteer coach. I worked along side the amazing instructors who had taught me all my years of lessons. They mentored me into becoming a coach myself. Not only did I get to continue sailing and learning, but I got to carry on with my summer adventures that I loved so much. I watched my older brother become a sailing coach and spend his days out in the sun and on the water all summer long. I knew this was how I wanted to spend my summers, too. Now I am a sailing instructor and I could not ask for a better summer job. What else would allow me to spend my days playing games on the beach or on the water, and exploring or picnicking on islands like a true swashbuckler?
Now as a sailing coach, I get to share this incredible experience with the young members of this island as well. I get to spread my love for sailing and simultaneously explore the environment around me. As someone who grew up on this island, with the ocean as her playground, I am proud to call myself a sailor, and I am incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to share this experience with others growing up here too. We live on an island, why not take advantage of it? I encourage everyone to enroll their child in the BIYC Learn to Sail Program.
Become a sailor, an adventurer, and an explorer of this little West Coast Island we call home.