Rocky's Last Hurrah

The nine graduates of the recent US Sailing Level One Sailing Instructor Training at the Marco Yacht Club have a unique distinction. They represent 81-year-old Rocky Cale’s last hurrah at the Yacht Club. Cale figures he is responsible for teaching over 2,000 students learning to sail in his career. 

"I had a junior sailing program in Ocean City I taught for four years,” Cale said, "and we put about 150 kids in the summer program. And we’ve run this program down here for 15 years. It's been a joy in my life to get the chance to see these young kids learn to sail by themselves in three days to see them overcome that fear and anxiety. It's really rewarding to watch.”

Cale’s last class, taught by Laura Johnson, was a three-day affair.

"They had an online class they had to complete,” Cale said. "It took about six hours. They had a little quiz called Safe Sport. Once they pass that, they qualified to take the three-day in-person part. They have four manuals. There's one on beginner sailing, intermediate sailing, power boat safety, and teaching fundamentals. They had a quiz on each of those books. They had to do it online. They had a swim test and sailing skills they had to demonstrate. They also had to demonstrate their skills and operate the safety boat, perform a rescue. Finally, they each were given a topic they had to do a ten-minute presentation on in front of the whole class."