Hundreds of local school children tour America’s Cup Event Village
December 8, 2011
During the first four days of the America’s Cup World Series in San Diego, over 70 youth group organizations were invited to participate in tours of the event village and team bases. This community outreach was mostly to disadvantaged kids many of whom have never even been on a boat. The groups were from several different parts of San Diego County and included Kids Korp, ABC Youth Foundation, San Diego Center for Children, San Diego Girl Scouts, South Bay YMCA and many more. By the end of the day on Tuesday, over two hundred kids had been inside a sailing simulator, seen a close-up tour of the America’s Cup boats and teams, and then learned about ocean conservation and the science of sailing through hands-on exhibits from the Exploratorium Museum in San Francisco, the Port of San Diego and several environmental groups.
Heading up this volunteer campaign was Julie Servais from SEA San Diego. Julie and her husband, David Servais are new business owners in the area, with their eco-friendly rigging shop, SD Boatworks, located on Shelter Island. Julie started the work of inviting groups over a month ago by contacting the group leaders or supervisors and then booking the tours. “The last four days have been the real fun part” says David Servais, who lead the tours, “The kids just get so excited in the simulator, and then when we tell them they can go see the boats in ‘real life’ they are totally amped!”
The tours were held during the Port Cities Regatta on Saturday and Sunday, as well as the following two practice days. As well as these organized tours, hundreds of youth sailors came with their coaches and parents to a “Sneak Peek” preview event on the Wednesday before the event where they had a talk plus Q&A session with several famous America’s Cup sailors including the skipper of Team Artemis and the design team coordinator for Oracle Racing. SEA San Diego is a local non-profit organization that promotes major sailboat racing events in San Diego for the benefit of the local community.
Full List of organizations contacted on behalf of SEA San Diego:
Barrio Logan College Institute
Boy Scouts of San Diego
Mid-City Community Advocacy Network
Sea Scouts
Ocean Discovery Institute
Somali Youth League
Youth Empowerment Focus
Pro Kids
SAY San Diego/Latino Youth Council
International Rescue Committee Youth Programs Department
Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program
San Diego Asian Youth Organization
Outdoor Outreach
Clay and Rolondo Park Elementary School
San Diego Police Department Multi-Cultural Community Relations Office
