SailMaine.org

Welcome To SailMaine!

SailMaine is a state-wide non-profit organization formed to support sailing in Maine at the grass-roots, community level. SailMaine's mission is to open a sailing gateway to the seascape and shore lands of Maine, offering broad access to the educational opportunities to be found there. In the sailing lessons we offer and in all of our work with High School and Collegiate sailing teams, we're committed to promoting the values of leadership, self-reliance, sportsmanship, and respect for the environment that the craft of sailing teaches. Through its programs, SailMaine connects people of all ages to the sea, seeking to share our enduring love and appreciation of the coast of Maine and the ocean beyond. We aim to be a provider for local community access to the water, and a facilitator for the growth of the understanding of our marine environment and heritage now and into the future.

Throughout SailMaine's existence, the organization has promoted the sport of sailing in a manner that offers access to the local community as a whole, not just the few. In the Portland area, this is primarily achieved through the Sail Maine supported Casco Bay Community Boating Center, located at 58 Fore Street in Portland. The CBCBC serves as the physical home to a number of programs supported by SailMaine and the University of Southern Maine, as well as Maine Special Olympics Sailing, Rippleffect, and the Compass Project boat building program. On Penobscot Bay further downeast, SailMaine affiliate Windward Passage offers a scholarship program providing high school students with affordable opportunities for traditional sail training aboard the schooners Nathaniel Bowditch and Bowdoin.

SailMaine also provides logistical support and resources to other Maine sailing organizations, helping to involve our people in sailing opportunities beyond our own programs. Our sailboat racing marks have designated the courses of many a regatta, including the Portland Yacht Club's Pilot Races and PHRF Maine Championship series, the Etchells New England Championships, and J24 Fleet 43's Downeast Invitational regatta. Our sailors have been part of race-winning sailing crews here at home and all over the world.

Please browse through our pages. Discover how you can explore the varied waters of the Gulf of Maine and learn some of the secrets the sea has to tell.