Hudson River Maritime Museum Sailing School Marks 10 Years, Expands Youth Programs

On a clear spring morning, the Rondout comes back to life—masts knocking lightly in the marina, a breeze moving upriver, the slow churn of working boats threading past the lighthouse. At the Hudson River Maritime Museum , that seasonal shift isn’t just atmospheric; it’s operational. In May, the museum’s high school sailing program launches for the first time, marking a new chapter in a decade-long effort to put Hudson Valley residents—especially young ones—on the water. The Sailing School at HRMM began modestly in 2017, with a two-week pilot program serving just 24 students. For Jody Sterling, director of the Sailing School, the origin story is both personal and communal. A lifelong sailor and educator, she returned to the sport in midlife and found herself transformed by a 2014 women’s sailing conference. “I was completely changed by that experience,” she recalls, describing the sense of connection and possibility she felt among a new generation of skilled women sailors. That spark led to Kingston’s own Riverport Women’s Sailing Conference—and, soon after, an invitation from Lisa Cline, HRMM’s executive director to build something more permanent. “Lifelong sailor, lifelong educator—I think I should do this,” Sterling says. Ten years on, the numbers tell one story: more than 350 students annually, a fleet of 22 boats, and a robust roster of youth and adult programs. But the deeper narrative is about what happens when young people are given real responsibility in a real environment. A young sailor and his parent share the helm during HRMM’s Parent-Child Sailing class, where learning the basics becomes a shared experience on the Hudson. “Sailing teaches so many things—independence and self-reliance, decision-making, dealing with challenges, teamwork,” Sterling says. “There are so few opportunities for young people today to interact with the world in an independent way, to make decisions and make mistakes and deal with the consequences.” That ethos—hands-on, lightly su