Northport Youth Sailing School (NYSS)

About NYSS

The Northport Youth Sailing School's goal is to provide young people the opportunity to experience the lifetime sport of sailing, in a safe and fun environment. As well as learning to sail, young sailors learn teamwork, self reliance, quick thinking, and a love of the environment.

The NYSS was formed in 2009 when a group of local residents got together and talked about teaching their grandchildren to sail. One thing led to another, and before we knew it, we had a sailing school. The Village of Northport helped out by allowing the school to use a building at 204 Rose. Half is used by the Northport Visitor Center and the other half is now the sailing school. The Village also allows us to use south beach to launch our boats and the building now known as the 'NYSS Boathouse.' We expanding the building for our growing fleet in spring of 2011.

Our fleet of boats has grown from 2 Optis in 2009 to 12 in 2011. We would like to thank all of you who have donated money to help make this happen. Special thanks to Easling Construction for giving us space to build Optis and to Inland Seas in Suttons Bay for initiating a program for teaching kids how to build boats. We also have 5 Laser Picos, one of which was donated and the other four were purchased with donated funds. Thanks to everyone who helped make that happen.

Scholarships

In 2011, NYSS was able to provide 44 of our 126 students with full scholarships. The scholarships were funded courtesy of a grant received by the Northport Public Schools from the State of Michigan, the Leelanau Township Community Foundation's Youth Advisory Council and the Northport Bay Yacht Club.

Donations & Tax Status

The NYSS is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax deductible per the attached letter. To make a donation to the NYSS, please send a check payable to 'Northport Youth Sailing School' to 'NYSS, 477 S. Shore, Northport, MI 49670'. If you have any questions, call Donna at (231) 386-7401 or email dchap_99@yahoo.com. All donations are used to buy boats, boat hardware, classroom supplies and insurance. Only the instructors receive a salary.