The primary objective of the Space Coast Sailing Education Foundation is to benefit the residents of Florida’s Space Coast by educating the public about sailing. The Foundation is a nonprofit 501(c)(3). Together with our home club, the Melbourne Yacht Club, we are able to provide youth and adult learn to sail classes, as well as youth competitive sailing . The Foundation also offers deserving individuals, including disadvantaged youths, veterans, and the disabled, the opportunity to learn the sport. Specific activities will include offering scholarships to allow underprivileged youth to enroll in youth sailing education courses, and arranging events to allow residents to have the opportunity to experience sailing.
Handbook
Our sailors and parents have a handbook that provides information and guidance about the programs offered through SCSEF.
Code of Conduct
We also have a Code of Conduct that provides our sailors with expected behavior standards when they are participating in our programs.
Our Board
The Space Coast Sailing Foundation board consists of five members, with one position dedicated to the MYC Sailing Education Director. Our board members bring a wealth of experience along with a diversity of backgrounds to the board. They can all be reached through our contact e-mail (listed at the foot of each web page).
- Nicole Dooley, President
- Timothy Williams, Vice President
- Christopher Allen, Treasurer
- Christopher Mohrman, Director
- Fenny Csaszar, MYC Sailing Education Director
Head Sailing Instructor/Coach
We employ a full time Head Sailing Instructor/Coach who is responsible for the Operation and growth of our sailing education programs. Coach Gonzalo Crivello is also responsible for our fleet of sailboats and support boats and equipment. He plans the class curriculum’s and spring/fall regattas. He leads a small support staff of assistant Instructors and volunteers.
Coach Gonzalo brings almost 25 years of coaching experience to his position. He started sailing in 1983 at the age of 9. Throughout the years he has have been part of the Argentinean national team at the 1992 Snipe junior worlds and the USA team at the 2006 and 2010 Snipe Westerns Hemisphere and Orient Champs. He also has several other top 10 finishes at National level Snipe championships. As a youth he won multiple Opti championships.
As a coach he has taken multiple youth teams to National and International level championships. This includes Lasers, 420s, and Snipe boats.
Safety
Safety of our students is absolutely our first priority! Like any sport and in life, sailing can have risks. Through careful monitoring of the students and the weather, established procedures both on the off the water, and clear communication among Instructors and sailors, SCSEF works to minimize any risks.
We follow multiple authorities for guidance, such as US Sailing, US Coast Guard, NOAA, and regulations in the State of Florida for our instructors, sailors, and equipment. All our Instructors are at least US Sailing Level 1 certified.
Our Safety Protocol documents the procedures our Instructors and Coaches follow. It may be found here:
One thing to be aware of is that dinghy type sailboats can flip over / capsize. And it’s not uncommon for this to happen with beginning sailors. So we practice it in a controlled environment to get sailors used to it if it happens, and so they know what to do. We call this capsize and recovery training.
In the majority of cases, no outside assistance is needed because our sailors learned the techniques for how to “right” the boat and resume sailing, thanks to their earlier training. However, our coaches are nonetheless paying close attention to any capsized boats and standby to assist should the sailor be in distress.
The Foundation has its roots in sailing education activities at the Melbourne Yacht Club (MYC), our host club. We grew out of that long history of teaching area youth and adults how to sail and race. A history of that follows.
Youth Sailing at MYC, a Short History
This history was compiled by then Director Brian Gilcher, after 16 youth competed as a MYC Team in the first Florida East Coast Series regatta of fall 2023. That was a big milestone in the youth sailing program’s growth from a program that was basically doing summer camps to a larger and more vibrant group led by the clubs first full time Sailing Instructor, Gonzalo Crivello.
Several of the club’s ‘old salts’ provided the information from which this history of not just our competitive youth program, but of Sailing Education in general was compiled. Many thanks to Dave Noble, Hasty Miller, Phil Spletter, Harry Stapor, Jan McNally, Ross, Herbert, and Rob Downey for their great insights!
Prior to January 1995, going back to the 1960s, the only sailing vessels owned by the Club were prams. In fact the Club owned two distinctly different fleets of prams over time. The first set (vintage the ‘60s) were of wooden construction. Charlotte Tuttle was the Junior program instructor at the time. Then in the early ‘70s the wooden prams were sold off by the Club and a second set of fiberglass construction (6 Red “single bottom” and 6 White “double bottom”) Prams were obtained. Both Pram sets (wooden and fiberglass) were donated to the Club by the local Power Squadron in appreciation for being able to use our Clubhouse (along Front Street abutting the East Side of the Harbor, just south of where Icabod’s is) to hold their meetings. Sometime later a 14-foot aluminum skiff with 4-Hp outboard were also donated to the Club by the local Power Squadron.
Harry Stapor and Hans Scharla-Nielsen taught the Pram class several times in the early 1970’s using the aluminum skiff as the “Chase / Recovery” vessel.
From 1980 through 1998 (an amazing run of 18 years!) Jan McNally worked most Saturdays to teach the youth the fundamentals of sailing. All lessons were free and the Club only had 6 or so prams. At that time, although none of our Prams could be accurately characterized as “competitive”, they were none-the-less adequate for instruction of youths — especially the younger ones.
After the untimely passing of Bert McAllister in October 1994, a modest collection was solicited across the membership to purchase a Sunfish in Bert’s name and donate it to the Club as the first step in realizing a long held belief of Hans Scharla-Nielsen (1969 Commodore and long time Pram Instructor) that the Club needed a fleet of vessels into which the Pram Graduates could transition. (Note: the collection solicitation was so enthusiastically embraced by the Membership that enough funds were raised to purchase not one but two Sunfishes which were donated to the Club in memory of Bert and Walter Hall, another long time Club member whose passing was far too soon.) And while the Club subsequently acquired several more Sunfish and Laser vessels, it was not until the Club purchased six 420’s (circa mid-2000’s) that the Club was ever in a position to be able to sponsor the participation of a “group of youths” in a regatta — either locally of out of town.
Back in 1999/2000, Kyle Noble, Charlie Silverman and Sam or Mitch Miorelli (maybe both), and possibly Michael Ervin, all part of the MYC Junior Sailing program, would travel to the US Sailing Center in Jensen Beach for their annual USODA regattas. Kyle Noble trophied in one of their regattas. Jensen Beach had their races on the causeway as they had not yet broken ground on their current facilities. Two of our families would go on to compete in larger regattas but no longer as a team.
Prior to 2004, Ethan Bixby and Larry Tuttle sailed at MYC, and also traveled to different venues as part of the sailing program. To say today’s 420 sailors are the first to compete at regattas for MYC is not strictly true, but you can say they are part of the most advanced and established of the programs.
Since around 1999/2000 the Club has offered some sort of Junior sailing education. It may have been just a night during the week and all day (or ½ day) on Saturday, and maybe sailed in beat up Clearwater Prams and Sunfish. Whenever and however, it was always supported by at least one MYC volunteer. At one time it was the Past Commodore who led the program.
Starting in 2001 with Dave Noble, a specific Director of Youth programs position was created. Following Dave were:
| 2002-2003 | – | John MacNeil |
| 2004-2005 | – | Simon Koumjian |
| 2006-2007 | – | Marlene Sassaman |
| 2008-2009 | – | Andy Forman |
| 2010-2011 | – | Lynde Edwards |
| 2012 | – | Gary Briand |
| 2013 | – | Suzanne Dunphy |
| 2014 | – | Phil Spletter |
| 2015 | – | Margaret Knepper |
| 2016 | – | Eckart Schneider |
| 2017-2018 | – | Melissa Tribou |
| 2019 | – | Rob Downey |
| 2020-2021 | – | Corey Small |
| 2023 | Brian Gilcher | |
| 2024 | Nicole Dooley |
Transition from MYC to Space Coast Sailing
Coming soon….