Current Weather

• East Greenwich , US

• Mostly Cloudy (day) 54 ° F

• Feels like: 54 ° F
• Humidity: 80 %
• Wind: 14 mph (From: 330 )
• Barometer: 29.42 in (Rising: 0 )
• Sunrise: 5:24 am
• Sunset: 8:01 pm
• Source: Yahoo! Weather
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Calendar

• Event: Opti Parent Meeting - 05/19/2008
• Event: GBSA Monthly Board Meeting - 05/22/2008
• Event: GBSA Parent Orientation Night - 06/13/2008
• Regatta: NBYA Opti Regatta - 07/21/2008
• Regatta: NBYA Jr Women\'s Regatta - 07/28/2008

The History of GBSA

In the early 1960s, a sailing school was organized by the East Greenwich Yacht Club and it has been an integral part of the Yacht Club's activities ever since.  The Yacht Club hired instructors to teach sailing and consequently boating safety to the children of club members as well as to adults in the communities of East Greenwich, Warwick and North Kingstown, which border Greenwich Bay.

In 1988, five members of the Yacht Club decided to turn the Sailing Program into a tax exempt educational corporation (a 501C3) so as to obtain donated sailing equipment to reduce the fees necessary of running the school.  Those originating Directors of GBSA were James Marshall, Saul Feinstein, William Hamilton, John Marcaccio and Leo Constantino.

The purpose of the school was to:

• Introduce children (and adults) to sailing and the proper handling of small boats
• Teach basic seamanship
• Advance interested students into intermediate sailing principles and then racing techniques
• Foster competitive sailing on Narragansett Bay
• Prepare students for collegiate and/or Olympic sailing competition 
• Provide opportunities for students to participate in local, regional and national regattas
• Prepare students to handle all type of watercraft in a safe seamanlike manner
• Sponsor sailing activities and competitions in Rhode Island and to host regional and national competitions

All of the above purposes are presently being carried out and have been carried out in varying degrees since the 1960s.

 

The Carter J. Buckley Sailing Center Story

On a cool fall day of October 1998 in a small restaurant on Main Street in East Greenwich began the conceptual and dreamlike discussions of a building which would become the Junior Sailing Center for EGYC and GBSA.  The short breakfast meeting with Don Swanson, an EGYC Trustee, Bill Hertel, an EGYC Trustee & Treasurer of GBSA and Stephen Olson, an EGYC Junior Activities Chairman & GBSA President began the process of determining the permitting plan, the politics, the financing and all the associated possibilities of a project that would be time consuming, costly and faced with all types of support as well as concerns from many diverse parties.  As the meeting concluded it was determined that it was our responsibility to push forward and try to provide to GBSA, which had grown to become one of the largest and most successful community junior sailing centers in the United States with All- American Sailors as graduates, a new building and to move from their humble homes consisting of a dilapidated old garage and the EGYC Junior Clubhouse.

 
The development and planning process went through three years of meetings, presentations and negotiations with the City of Warwick, the Town of East Greenwich, the EGYC Board of Trustees, and the GBSA Board of Trustees, architects, engineers and banking institutions.  In 2001, under the leadership of Commodore James Nevins, the EGYC Board of Trustees approved the complete plan of a building which would provide a comfort center for the EGYC members and a junior activities center to be utilized by the EGYC/GBSA Junior Sailing Program.  From this point on, the EGYC Board and GBSA began substantial fundraising efforts with the construction beginning on the building in January 2002 and ending in October 2002. During this construction period and volunteer efforts, the GBSA staff worked extra hard to keep the fun meter high that summer as they utilized a temporary tent in the parking lot and the EGYC Junior Clubhouse but still provided a summer of laughs and friendships that will last forever in many of our memories.

 
As the construction and program continued to run that summer of 2002, a young man and GBSA student continued with his fight with a terminal illness. To this student and accomplished sailor, named Carter J. Buckley or “CJ” as he was fondly called, the building and seeing its completions became one his top goals as his battle with the illness continued.  And on a beautiful day in the fall of 2002, “CJ” watched as the ribbons were cut by EGYC Commodore Nevins, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian, Stephen Olson and GBSA President Ned Murtha to what would become the Carter J. Buckley Sailing Center in memory of his life and all that he had meant to the GBSA family, EGYC and all of the lives he touched.

 
Carter J. Buckley lost his battle in 2002, but his memory lives on and the building continues to produce sailors and friendships like those which were so important to CJ and to all of those who are fortunate enough to come through the doors of this special place that so many call and have called home and now….THE CARTER J. BUCKLEY SAILING CENTER.