Campaign Purpose 

News update –  The current sails on the Sharon high school sailing team's fleet of sailboats are aging out of peak performance after more than six years of hard use. The high school has paid for new jib sails for the fleet, but new mainsails are also needed.  Replacing old, stretched out sails really makes a big difference in boat handling and speed.

As our sailors know, the wind is free, but sails are not. 

Help keep Sharon's sailing team first rate by contributing to this appeal. The goal is to raise $12,000 for new mainsails for all eighteen boats.  Please check out our donate page.

Background 

Sharon's sailing team started in 2002 with four borrowed boats and a volunteer coach. Over the years, the team has more than tripled in size, it has acquired sailboats, and it has risen from a third-rate team to the top of the A Division in its league. It won several league championships, and in 2017, it was ranked as the best public high school sailing team in the state.  

Unlike private schools, the public schools in this area typically do not provide their sailing teams all necessary equipment, so the students and other community organizations typically fundraise for this purpose. In the past, Sharon’s sailors raised money every year which was deposited in the school’s account and used to pay for various sailing equipment not covered by the school.  The funds they brought in were enough, in combination with proceeds from the sale of existing boats, to pay for equipment and for newer, gently-used sailboats. (Boats are sold in fleets, usually in multiples of six, the number required for a team race event, so that boats are in equivalent condition for a fairer competition.)  

In 2019, in conjunction with a raise in athletic fees, Sharon changed its fundraising policies.  Going forward, students would be prohibited from fundraising for their sports teams directly, but the school would start paying for all necessities for sports teams ...with the exception of sailboats and sails which were to be covered by the town’s Capital Outlay Committee. (A 501(c)(3) public charity like FOSS that supports a sports team is not subject to school policy and may fundraise on behalf of the sailing team, etc.) Two years after the prohibition of student fundraising for sports, however, the school declined to ask the Capital Outlay Committee for sailboat funding so some necessary money must still be brought in by the sailors’ support organization, the Friends of Sharon Sailing.

Contributions may be made on the Donation page of this website.