THE HISTORY OF SUMMER SAILSTICE

John Arndt, founder of Summer Sailstice, describes his “ah ha” moment which led to the first Summer Sailstice celebration in 2001: “Having sailed my whole life and with over 20 years in the sailing marketplace, I’ve had a lot of fun sailing many miles, celebrating at numerous clubs, attending loads of boat shows and generally enjoying everything sailing has to offer.  I’ve been lucky enough to have learned to sail by commandeering dinghies on the coast of Maine, cruising the Caribbean, racing maxi boats in the Med, sailing aboard the J Class yacht ‘Endeavour’ and racing numerous boats on San Francisco Bay.  I still love everyday I get on the water under sail.

Back at the turn of the millennium, I was attending yet another meeting focused on the various ‘ailments’ afflicting sailing and what can we do about them.  Racing fleets are thinning, once beautiful vessels languish in disrepair in backyards or on forgotten moorings, kids are entranced by the latest digital technology – it’s just hard to get the club, class, fleet or your sailing friends together like the good old days. Or is it?  In the end, it became clear to me that  there’s nothing wrong with sailing today.  It’s a wonderful passion we all share and we should make the time and the effort to all just get together, at least once a year, to celebrate the freedom, wonder, beauty, excitement and adventure of it!

At some point,  I remembered that famous line from Wes ‘Scoop’ Nisker, “if you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own”…so I did. Rallying Michelle Slade, a friend and sailing colleague of mine from the world of PR, we pooled resources and ideas, and Summer Sailstice was born in February of 2001.

We launched Summer Sailstice to bring sailors all over the globe together on the longest sailing day of the year to celebrate why we all love to get out on the water. Clearly, the solstice is not an event that is widely celebrated in the US and is recognized in varying degrees by the rest of the world.  In a busy world it’s hard to find a date available for all of us but  because the solstice, in the Northern Hemisphere is the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, generally after school’s out and is right in the heart of sailing season, this is the ideal time to get out on the water , go sailing and have a massive global celebration!

Since 2001:

A growing number of sailors from all over the world have been signing up and joining us on Summer Sailstice.  This event has become an annual ritual for my family to get together with sailing friends and over the years, it has helped unite us with other sailors across the US, Canada and round the world. We hope you will join us in this annual celebration of sailing and help us keep it growing for years to come.”