Chip Baker, president of the youth sailing program at the Southport Yacht Club, has announced that the club’s season will delayed until at least July 6. Staff will begin the commissioning on June 29. The later start mean the program will operate, at most, for only six weeks, as opposed to the typical eight weeks.

In his announcement to members, Baker said for families impacted by the cancellation of the first two weeks, “we are offering full refunds on tuition paid for those weeks. We are also offering the option for families to donate part or all of the tuition they have paid to the foundation. Refunds can be submitted via Camp Doc and we will send a separate email with additional advice on cancellation/refund process later this week- we know Camp Doc can be challenging to use.

“We continue to hope that we can find a way to offer part of the summer program. However, given the state guidance, there will need to be significant modifications to our typical program. One of the greatest attributes of SYC is that we are the very definition of a close community. Therefore, determining how to modify the program, to comply with the state's evolving guidance, will take a few weeks. That being said, we know families are eager to have a decision made, so we have set a deadline of May 23 to provide a notice as to when and ultimately if we are able to open the sailing program this summer.”

Specific questions can be sent to Baker at cfbakeriv@gmail.com