In honor of the year’s longest day, the international sailing community has christened the summer solstice as Sailstice.
The Park City Sailing Association will celebrate the turn of the season and trimming of the sails Saturday on the Jordanelle Reservoir, its home port. The global event is dedicated to promoting sailing in all its forms. The non-profit’s day-long open house begins at 11 a.m. with boat rides, demonstrations, games and food for seasoned skippers and landlubbers fresh on the water alike.
Scott VerMerris has been involved with PC Sailing for over 15 years and is the group’s director of sailing and community engagement. He grew up sailing with his family on Lake Erie, came to Utah for skiing and work in wilderness therapy, then was thrilled to find conditions on the Jordanelle make Park City a unique ski town with a sailing culture, albeit a little less upscale than the ski resorts.
“We’re not a yacht club,” VerMerris said. “This is a community sailing center, so there is a difference there. Our goal is to make sailing accessible, affordable, inclusive and it’s not exclusive in that way. We don’t have a restaurant. We don’t have a bar. It’s not that kind of place. We do a lot of social events, but it’s truly a community sailing center.”
Summer activities at PC Sailing include children’s sailing school on weekday mornings, Monday evening adult group lessons, Laser boat racing on Tuesday nights, Women & Wind Wednesday night social and educational meetings, and keelboat races on Thursdays, along with private adult lessons, an unlimited boat-borrowing program for members, and spectator-friendly regatta events.
“There’s no wrong time to get into sailing,” VerMerris said. “It’s such a healthy, fun activity for all ages. It can bring people together, but it also fosters independence. For kids, it develops a sense of independence and accountability, as well as problem solving and confidence building through doing something new. There’s also a lot of STEM education. There’s physics and math, and there’s the connection with nature and figuring out how to make your boat move and navigate and figure out the wind as well as how to take care of your equipment.”
Their 100-craft fleet is situated on a mooring field near the Jordanelle campgrounds facing south toward the dam, over which thermal gusts blow to provide the wind in their sails.
“We have a beautiful building and a boat yard, we have great facilities, but we do not have the protection of a marina,” VerMerris said. “We teach people how to manage sailing on a lee shore, meaning we have the prevailing weather from the south, so the wind will push you onto the beach and ramps. Making downwind landings on the ramp or landing certain boats with the kids on the beach requires some skill and it also requires that we have really good moorings. In terms of boats and facilities, we’re really diligent about how we structure things so we can manage this place.”
PC Sailing partners with the National Abilities Center, Park City Recreation and Adventure Camp, Deer Valley Resort and the Utah Olympic Park to provide engagement opportunities that may engender lifelong passions.
“There’s no gender bias in sailing,” VerMeer said. “It doesn’t necessarily require brute strength. It can be attractive to a lot of different types of people, even for people who haven’t gravitated to traditional sports. There’s different types of sailing that one can go towards, whether it’s racing or cruising, and then there’s big boats and small boats, wet boats and dry boats.”
PC Sailing provides life jackets, and all that newcomers need to wear is clothing appropriate for exposure to sun and water.
“It’s really incredible to see kids who were drawn to video games and not organized sports gravitate toward sailing, and I see the same in adults. We treat a lot of veterans, so its a fantastic form of rec therapy because of the camaraderie that it offers, the ability to be outside, find peace on the water and learn a new skill.”
Also, Rosie Chapman, who has previously worked as the Olympic director for US Sailing, has joined the teaching staff as the center aims expand its training program.
While other lakes in Utah offer their own experiences, Park City Sailing’s space on the Jordanelle is the state’s most established collective, and last year it hosted the 2025 U.S. Adult Sailing Championship. The group will be hosting its inaugural Jordanelle Boat Regatta circumnavigation race on Aug. 1.
“We are the center for sailing in Utah,” VerMeer said.
For more: SailPC.org.