Students from Belle Isle program build their own boat. Now they look to sail it

Eight middle school students returned to Belle Isle this summer for another year of sailing lessons. But a few months ago, before they hit the water, those students learned a new lesson: how to build a boat.

The Detroit Community Sailing Center launched a pilot program this year that gave students an opportunity to learn how to build a sailboat. In May, they completed 80% of the boat's foundation. On Monday, after having a month off from the project, they put the finishing touches on the boat. On Tuesday afternoon, they attempted to sail it.

With their parents and instructors gathered on the dock to watch, the students pulled their sailboat into the water and took turns successfully sailing their boat.

"I'm proud of them," Harry Jones, president of the Detroit Sailing Community Center, said to one of the parents. "They built the boat."

A hands-on workshop

Brothers Ari and Eli Boyce, 14 and 13, of Detroit, have sailed with the Detroit Community Sailing Center's Challenge the Wind youth program for three years and welcomed the opportunity to learn how to build a boat.

"The experience was really fun," Eli Boyce said. "It really got easier over time, like learning how to use the tools. And it really helped that it was a really hands-on experience, it wasn't really like they showed you it and they just did it."

Learning a new set of skills can come with challenges.

"The hardest part for me, I think, was when we were cutting and like trying to make the shapes of the boat, it's a lot of back and forth with saws and tools and stuff," Ari Boyce said. "And I think that's the hardest part for me, just like, trying to carve out and get the right shape of the boat and different pieces together and all that."

Eli said he struggled most with conversions.

"The hardest part for me was probably the measuring portion of it because, when we were building the boat, instead of using like normal inches, like feet and stuff, we had to use millimeters and it was a rough change for me," Eli Boyce said.

After learning about the pilot program from an email, Laura Thomas, 47 of Grosse Pointe, thought it would be a great project for her 13-year-old son Logan, who already had some experience in woodworking.

"He really enjoyed making something that was something you could actually use and take out on the water and everything. And that experience of creating something that you can go out and utilize was something he really enjoyed."

Future of the program

Jones said the boat building workshop could be the foundation for a year-round curriculum around sailing, so students aren't just involved in the summer.

"For the past couple of years, we've been looking to expand the educational component, STEM component of our program," Jones said. "And we tried some of the conventional things that other sailing organizations are doing. And it was fine, but it wasn't capturing us emotionally."

The boat building workshop, a partnership between the Detroit Community Sailing Center and the Detroit River Stories Lab out of the University of Michigan, is an attempt to try something more innovative and grow its STEM offerings.

Jones first joined the center in 2011, and has served as director of the program for 10 years. When he first arrived, he said that the program "had fallen in disrepair." People had left the organization and there were only two boats to teach sailing. Today, Detroit Community Sailing has drawn donations in dollars and in vessels. The nonprofit has 40 sailboats, and 100 youths and adults learned how to sail there last year.

The organization has operated out of the Belle Isle Boathouse since 2018. The building now faces an uncertain future, as the state considers demolishing the aging structure in need of renovations. Jones said that the Detroit Community Sailing Center "got some reassurance from the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) that we'll be able to continue to program there regardless of what happens," but understands that all could change, and are looking at other locations should they have to move.

"Hopefully, we won't have to," Jones said, "but we know the reality is that we better have an option if we want to keep the program alive."

'And here we are ...'

In May, the students completed 80% of the boat's foundation as part of the first phase of the project. On Monday, they reunited to begin the second phase. They finalized the boat's design details and installed the last pieces of equipment. Jones said that this boat will be added to the organization's fleet and is looking forward to building more in the future.

The workshop has inspired Ari and Eli to learn more about boats and pursue STEM-based hobbies, and it has brought them closer to their uncle, who has his own motor boat.

"I think that being part of the program helped me understand our uncle's boat a little bit more and like, help talk to him about the boat, and what the boat's doing and what direction the wind is coming from and stuff like that," Eli Boyce said. "It's helped me bond with him, definitely."

Their mother, Kenya Lowe, said that she has seen her children's confidence grow since they first joined Detroit Community Sailing Center in 2021.

"Ari and Eli were very shy but the instructors in the program made them feel comfortable and safe," Lowe, 47, of Farmington Hills, said. "Everyone in the program made the learning experience fun and adventurous. So after that summer, Ari and Eli wanted to come back. And here we are, year (three)."

Looking back, Lowe said that program offered her children, "so much more" than she expected.

"It's absolutely worth it to put your child in this program. You will see so much growth and calmness," Lowe said. "It is such a beautiful feeling to sit outside Belle Isle and watch your child sail a boat on their own. It feels good to know they are confident in their ability to manage a boat."

Eric Guzmán covers youth sports culture at the Free Press as a corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support this work at bit.ly/freepRFA.

Contact Eric Guzmán: [email protected]; 313-222-1850. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter: @EricGuzman90.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Students build their own boat and plan to sail on Detroit River