The BOOM instructor: innovative, in vogue, driven.

BOOM stands for Best-ever Ontario Optimist Mobile, a fitting acronym for a mobile sailing school that used to trailer a fleet of Optimists to towns across Ontario.  And while the Optimists have been replaced, the name—BOOM—has remained, and the operation—a sailing school on wheels— continues to introduce sailing to hundreds of people per year.

Not only is the BOOM job unique—how often do you get to live in a van for two months—but it also requires unique sailing instructors.  BOOM needs innovative and in vogue instructors, driven to expand the population of sailors.

Innovative

BOOM instructors are innovative because they have to decide how kids will learn to sail in a mere five days.  And they have to do this without the conveniences of their yacht clubs.  This is fun for the creative-minded.

For example, it is common for a BOOM instructor to find him/herself teaching off beaches or grassy waterfront parks.  I recall once we found ourselves teaching on a lake so small we mistook it for a trout farm.  But ‘Pond Week 2000’ turned out to be a hit because we challenged ourselves to believe that learning to sail can happen almost anywhere. 

I remember another week when we taught the entire week backwards, the typical last day would be the first day and the first day the last.  We started day one with an awards ceremony.  It’s amazing—when you give a kid an award on day one for best upwind sailing, he strives all week to be the best upwind sailor.  It’s possible to learn to sail in five days.  BOOM is for people who have had the slightest inclination that teaching sailing can be done differently.

In Vogue

Not only do BOOM instructors get to design a sailing school; they are also responsible for ensuring that their students will want to keep sailing.  Remember, you aren’t at the yacht club; you don’t have kids who have been raised on sailboats and practice drawing CE and CLR diagrams with mom and dad while watching the latest Stuart Walker DVD.

Instead, you are going to be teaching young people who have never sailed and who probably will treat the sport with suspicion.  But this is your chance to make sailing cool.  Look around.  What makes skateboarding cool?  Snowboarding?  Wakeboarding?  Surfing?

When you do BOOM you are responsible for branding the sport, giving it an image that will make kids want to sail, tell their friends about sailing, and spread the word that sailing is rad.  Be in vogue.  Ditch the Henri Lloyd blouson jacket.  Don the boardshorts.  Work on the tan.  Carry some 29er brochures.  Stress the fun.  Promote soul sailing—rippin’ it up in the breeze on a sunny day.  Avoid the jargon.  Teach competition only to those who are obviously competitive.  Let people know that sailing is more than a Christopher Cross song.

Driven

But the most important quality of a BOOM instructor is the tenacity to get more people sailing. As any instructor knows, there are some people who have that natural gift for sailing—a sixth sense for subtle changes in the breeze and the feel of water flowing around the rudder.  A BOOM instructor finds these people hidden in small towns across Ontario.  In my twelve years as an instructor, the most naturally talented sailors were the ones I found on the BOOM circuit in Cornwall, Little Current, and Owen Sound.

A BOOM instructor gets these kids interested in sailing, teaches them the raw skills, and makes sure they ask for an Optimist, a Byte, or a Laser for their next birthday.  A BOOM instructor ensures that all the kids return for the next summer of BOOM, and that they bring all of their friends, too.  And most importantly, a BOOM instructor remains in contact throughout the future, helping these non-sailing communities develop their own sailing clubs and schools.

My co-BOOM instructor and I have declared our ‘summers in the van’ to be the best ever.  What could be better than driving around Ontario all summer, meeting new people, and chillin’ on beaches?  But the real delight is planting the seed: Because of all the BOOM instructors over the years, there are now towns and cities with active sailing schools.  I call this the democratization of sailing, and it is essential if we want our sport to grow.

-Mike Weber was a BOOM Instructor 1999 and 2000-