BAINBRIDGE ISLAND – The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation has launched a $550,000 fundraising campaign to replace the Eagle Harbor Sail Float, home base for the island's youth and community sailing programs.
The new Sail Float will be attached to the Waterfront Park community dock. It will replace a failing, 30-year-old float that has served a generation of youth sailing programs and adult dinghy instruction.
"The new Eagle Harbor Sail Float is about expanding youth and adult sailing," said Mary Meier, Parks & Trails Foundation Executive Director. "It brings sailing opportunities to more kids and families who would not otherwise have access to sailboats or sailing."
Learn more and give at www.everyonesails.org.
The Eagle Harbor Sail Float – a floating platform where dinghies and other small sailing craft are stored and launched – is essential to the youth and adult sailing programs of the Bainbridge Island Metro Park & Recreation District. Park District sailing programs currently serve more than 800 youths and 75 adults each year.
The new Sail Float is a safe, ecological, and ADA‑accessible design with essential features such as lighting and secure storage. Its Waterfront Park location is close to the Bainbridge schools central campuses for after-school program access.
In addition to being a launch pad for youth camps, adult dinghy classes, family boat checkouts, and the high school sailing team's practices, future possibilities for the new float could include adaptive sailing, powerboat instruction, and docking space for the Park District's adult keelboat classes.
"Everyone in our island community should have convenient access to sailing instruction, and the new Eagle Harbor Sail Float is critical for the Park District's sailing program," says Haley Lhamon, long-time instructor and youth sailing coach. "The District's sailing camps and classes have positively impacted countless youths and adults by fostering lifelong skills, friendships among new and experienced boaters, passion that can lead to amazing cruising adventures or racing, and connection to the marine environment."
Total cost for the Eagle Harbor Sail Float project is $1.9 million. The Bainbridge Island Parks & Trails Foundation is raising the final $550,000, with approximately $1.5 million in funding already secured from Washington state and local sources.
At 35 years old, the community sail float in Eagle Harbor is past its useful life and must be replaced. The new float will be a permanent structure attached to the public dock in Waterfront Park.