The level of sailing expertise on Block Island was brought up a notch with the hosting of a US Sailing keelboat instructor certification clinic by BI Community Sailing last weekend. The event, which is only held at a few sailing clubs each year, is in great demand because it is the only way for an advanced sailing school to get its sailing instructors certified to teach in larger keelboats.
The instructor candidates came from all over the East Coast including Meg Degan from St. Croix, VI, Pierre Berthier from Coral Gables, FL, Paul Shashty, from Norwalk, CT, Amy Hubner from Portsmouth, RI, and Andy Connelly and Henry duPont, both on the sailing staff of Block Island Community Sailing. The clinic was taught by instructor and trainer John Alofsin, from Newport, RI, for US Sailing.The clinic assumes that the instructor candidates are already accomplished sailing instructors and serves to verify that their classroom and on-the-water teaching technique meet the very high US Sailing Keelboat Sailing School teaching standards. Each instructor candidate is required to prepare a number of classroom lectures on complex sailing topics that are delivered in a classroom setting for critical review by the instructor and the