Press Release January 24, 2013

Willamette Sailing Club Kicks Off Capital Giving Campaign for Development of a New Sailing Center
PORTLAND, OR—JANUARY 23, 2013—The epicenter of sailing on the Willamette River in Portland, the Willamette Sailing Club (WSC) is thriving and improving services. After 50 years, the space has reached the end of its useful life, and a new facility needs to be built to safely accommodate sailing programs that are affordable and accessible for all Oregonians.
A new sailing center on the Willamette will ensure that the next generation of Oregon sailors has the same wonderful opportunities as the current sailors. WSC offers a sense of community, teaches river stewardship as well as learning sailing skills. Hundreds of kids from the general public are introduced to the sailing life on the river each summer through WSC’s popular learn-to-sail program and other youth sailing activities. WSC also hosts weekly racing for one-design classes, regattas for youth, high school and college sailing teams and several special events each year. Both members and the general public recreate and enjoy the beautiful sails on the river year round at the WSC. WSC’s current membership totals 250, ages 8-80+, including everyone from novice sailors to world ranked champions. WSC is the core of wonderful experiences and lifetime memories for three generations of Portland sailing families so far with many more to come.
WSC received land use approval from the City of Portland for construction of the sailing center. A $1.3M budget has been developed, half of which will be comprised of private donations to provide space for sailing education programs for youth and adults. More than half of the facilities will be dedicated to that purpose. For more information regarding 501c(3) giving to support WSC’s new sailing center campaign, please visit our website at http://www.wsccapitalcampaign.com/ for more details and to view a guided tour and drawings of the proposed building.

About Willamette Sailing Club:
Willamette Sailing Club has been the center for small boat sailing in Portland since 1961. Located five minutes south of downtown Portland on the banks of the Willamette River, the club hosts a busy year-round schedule of racing, cruising, and learn-to-sail programs, as well as a number of river-related social and educational events, all of which are open to the public. https://willamettesailingclub.com/
Contact:
LauraLee Symes, Club Manager
503-246-5345
manager@willamettesailingclub.com
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