Junior Summer Session 3 Recap
These past 2 weeks, July 21st-August 1st, marked our third session of summer camp! The Marine Explorers celebrated Shark Week with plenty of games and crafts. Meanwhile, our Youth Sailors continued to improve their teamwork skills and sailing technique!
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Marine Explorers
Bay Buccaneers
In the first week of our session, the theme was Shapes of Life. To learn firsthand about the different species in Oyster Bay, we spent plenty of time walking on the shore, seining for fish, and sniggling for eels! We even managed to find a mantis shrimp! In between our adventures and wild encounters, we took breaks and played some fun water games to stay cool.
In the second week, we explored the different food webs that exist in marine ecosystems. We learned about how complex the food webs in our local environment actually are, using some chalk to draw our own. We also learned about the roles of specific animals, such as sea turtles, making nests for them on the beach! We finished off the session on the water, enjoying some nice, cool breezes!
This session was filled with knowledge and fun, surprising encounters!
First Mates
Our first week was filled with action! We went kayaking, met face-to-face with a ton of eels while sniggling, and made some arts and crafts! We also learned about deep-sea creatures and designed our own. We also celebrated shark week and learned about different shark teeth, how they fossilize, and made them out of clay. We finished things off with some fun rounds of sharks and minnows!
In the second week, we learned about mammals and how they can stay warm with blubber. We also learned about camouflage and made our own camo fish to hide around the room! We then learned about fishkeeping and how to set up a sustainable tank. Using this knowledge, we put together a small ecosystem of our own with critters from the environment! We ended things on a relaxing note with some fishing.
We all had a wonderful time this session learning about the true beauties of Oyster Bay!
Sound Swashbucklers
In the first week, we watched the water cycle in action using water cycle bags to demonstrate evaporation, condensation, and precipitation in real time! We discussed camouflage and mimicry, and hid some camouflage creatures around the room to simulate hiding from predators. We seined and sniggled, catching silversides, ghost shrimp, and plenty of eels! We finished the week learning about clouds, making our very own puffy cloud paintings!
In the second week, we continued to learn about some amazing sea animals! We began the week with an expedition to Crab Island, where we found a Mantis Shrimp! We also learned about sea turtles. We took an opportunity to go seining and caught a juvenile flounder. Finally, we learned about coral reefs, making some ter-reef-ic crafts along the way!
Everyone had an awesome time this session! Plenty of interesting discoveries were made on the water!
Skippers
In the first week, we learned what keeps boats afloat and built a big boat to see how long one of the skippers (Keeley) could float without water getting in the boat. We celebrated shark week, learning about sharks, their anatomy, playing some trivia, and even building an entire hammerhead shark mold! We also measured the size of different species of sharks next to each other! We finished off the week with some kayaking and learning about natural disasters and mammals!
In the second week, we learned about natural disasters, including earthquakes, tsunamis, and volcanoes. We made models of each of the disasters, testing out how destructive each one truly is. We then learned about snails and sea urchins, making our own urchin molds and snail slime! We also kayaked and visited Crab Island, doing quadrats and observations. We ended the session with some owl dissection, learning about owl pellets!
This session had plenty of learning, but also plenty of exploration and fun!
Youth Sailing
Lil’ Puffs
We spent the first week learning the basics of sailing and identifying the parts of the boat while on a sonar! We worked as a team to sail the sonar, enjoying a light breeze while doing so. We also took some breaks in between the learning to play some fun running games, such as park ranger!
In the second week, we hopped back on the sonars, learning the points of sail, which helped us as we were sailing upwind and downwind. With this newfound knowledge, we were able to sail even further than we did the first week! We also took turns holding the tiller and playing multiple games on the water!
Overall, it was an amazing week on the water filled with adventure!
Adventure Sailing
In this Adventure Sailing session, we learned a ton while having fun! At the beginning of the session, the wind was very light, so we performed some on-land trivia/drills on parts of the boat and went through basic motions we would have to do on the Hobies. By the second week, the wind started picking up. The heavy breezes let the group get a real feel for how to handle the boats. Everyone was very brave and kept calm despite the winds!
This session covered both extremes of sailing — surely one to remember!
Opti Sailing
In the first week, we built on our sailing skills while getting more comfortable in the Optis! We practiced steering, tacking, and gybing. We also learned the points of sail and how to get out of irons (the no-go zone). Even when there was less wind, we found ways to have fun, playing games on the water like tennis ball tag!
In week two, we worked on reinforcing our skills, performing triangle mark rounding and windward-leeward mark rounding drills, sailing past CHRISTEEN along the way! We also improved a ton at staying on track and out of the irons. In between the sailing, we took some breaks to beat the heat with water games!
This was a wonderful week full of improvement. Awesome job to all our sailors!
Opti Race Team
This session, the Opti race team sharpened their racing skills and had a lot of fun! They learned a ton of new things, like how to sail upwind quickly, right-of-way rules, and how to race around a course. All while occasionally running into the hose or sprinkler to cool off, or playing a card game! The weather this session was wonderful for sailing, giving everyone plenty of opportunities to practice and enjoy their time on the water.
This session was a wonderful display of skill! We can’t wait to see how everyone continues to improve!
C420 Open
This session, we made great progress in learning boat rigging, teamwork, and basic maneuvers, like tacking and gybing! The days with lighter wind gave us a chance to focus on technique and land drills, and by the end of the week, everyone was much more confident on the water. We wrapped up with some fun racing, giving everyone a chance to apply their new skills in a friendly, competitive setting!
It was a pleasure working with such great sailors this session! Everyone improved so much!
C420 Race Team
This session, the C420 race team had some awesome breezes! They took full advantage of the weather, sharpening up on their trapezing and spinnaker work. This allowed them to reflect and tighten up their basic sailing skills! They were able to reach some wild speeds, yet did an amazing job at keeping their balance! Even on days where the breeze was lower, they worked on their communication skills, bonding more and more as a team!
This was a session of great improvement! We are so grateful to be working with such a skilled team of sailors!
Specialty Camps
Reel Explorers
This session, we practiced the fundamentals of fishing and how to use conventional fishing gear! We practiced baiting our own hooks and explored how different bait types and fishing techniques attract different kinds of fish. Using clam, squid, and minnow/spearing as bait, we successfully caught and released five different species: Porgies, Fluke, Bluefish, Sea Robins, and sand sharks (dogfish)! We also caught plenty of crabs in a lobster trap we set!
There were plenty of keeper-size fish, making it an exciting and memorable session!
Gallery
Here are some highlights from our Session 3 Photo Album! (Updated daily!)
