Trophy-winning sailor Jim Koehler marks Dinghy Shop Fall Series anniversary by teaching youth how to sail

Jim Koehler has competed in sailboat regattas around the world — and won his fair share — but on weekends in the fall, he and his team tutor young sailors on how to make their boats go fast on the Great South Bay.

This year, they are marking the 25th anniversary of the Dinghy Shop Fall Series in Amityville. Sailors as young as 6 skipper bathtub-sized boats around racecourses as the air turns crisp and the water cools.

Sailing, he says, isn’t just a summer sport on Long Island.

“It’s nice when you are up against it and the breeze is in your face and you’re getting spray and you might have capsized a few times and it’s really challenging,” he said. “But if you stick with it, you’ll get it.”

The program started in 1997 with 12 sailors and has grown to nearly 70. Besides the Optimist, the races now include Sunfish and Lasers, slightly larger boats sailed by older youths and adults.

The series starts in early September and goes through mid-October. For $180, young sailors can race on six Sundays. They wear special gear to stay as warm and dry as possible in the fall weather.

The most popular boat is the Optimist, which is nearly 8 feet long and accommodates sailors up to age 15. They sail it alone, so they learn all aspects of sailing, from steering with a tiller to handling the sail itself.

One “Opti” racer this year is a 6-year-old girl who has braved winds of more than 20 knots, said Mike DeMarco, a member of Koehler’s team.

“We’re completely shocked,” DeMarco said. “She’s been out there the whole time. She must weigh 40 pounds soaking wet.”

The program has helped train some of the top sailors from Long Island, including Joseph “J.C.” Hermus of Bellport, who recently was captain of the sailing team at the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis.

It also has attracted top talent to help teach the young sailors. Amanda Clark, a Shelter Island native who sailed for the United States in the 2008 Olympics in China and the 2012 Olympics in London, is one of them, Koehler said.

But the program is intentionally not just about the winners. Koehler said it takes a “Mr. Rogers” approach in encouraging every sailor.

“We are really following the Fred Rogers school of ‘every child can be a champion,’ ” he said. “We find something positive. Because without that positive reinforcement, kids quit.”

The program operates out of The Dinghy Shop, a sailboat and kayak business Koehler started in 1992 in a massive former seaplane factory. It is perched on the edge of Kethams Creek yards from the Great South Bay.

For years, Koehler had worked as a biologist-educator at sites that included Fire Island National Seashore, Biscayne National Park in Florida, and Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Then, the Amityville native decided to focus on one of his first loves, sailing on the Great South Bay.

Koehler, 67, won the Sunfish world championship for his age group in Cartagena, Colombia, in 2016, among many other top finishes.

The Dinghy Shop series is not the only one in the fall for kids on Long Island: the Westhampton Yacht Squadron and the Oakcliff Sailing Center in Oyster Bay also keep the kids racing after summer ends.

Koehler’s fall series attracts sailors from all over the tristate region, including some who live in Connecticut but belong to summer yacht clubs in Maine. Even guest sailors from Australia, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland have competed.

“All the sailing world kind of meets here,” DeMarco said. “It ends up being the mixing pot for Long Island. It’s the only real experience where you have North Shore sailors, South Shore sailors and Peconic Bay sailors all competing on a course at the same time.”

Another advantage of the fall series is that it keeps young sailors on the water so they can potentially move on to the next stage: “frostbiting” or winter sailing. That occurs in several locations on Long Island, including Connetquot River in Oakdale.