2025 Annual Appeal
Together, the students, members, volunteers and staff who compose the HRCS community make each other stronger. We learn from each other, support each other and build relationships on and off the water, creating a Ripple Effect that reaches all corners of the organization. Sail Academy students gain experience and career awareness as interns working with membership, fundraising and operations. Volunteers support students, Adaptive sailors and veterans, sharing knowledge while strengthening their own skills.
As 2025 comes to a close, we are highlighting the people and programs that make up our community.
Please take a moment to learn more and consider making an end-of-year gift to invest in the future.
Sail Academy Interns: Learning and Leading
Beginning the summer after freshman year, Sail Academy’s four-year internship program gives students valuable real-world experience working throughout the organization. This year interns worked over 5,700 paid hours, earning nearly $90,000 as they prepare to enter the workforce.
Interns support every department at HRCS, from fundraising events and public programs to driving launch and repairing engines. Combining both social and technical skills, the internship program aims to prepare students to succeed in a wide range of careers.
This year we held our first-ever, day-long Intern and Launch Driver Training for First Mates, our third and fourth year students. Twenty new and returning interns spent a day over Spring Break meeting staff, building a deeper understanding of HRCS, and learning about their roles and responsibilities.
Click below to go behind the scenes in this Spotlight and then continue reading to learn more about HRCS's Internship program.
Empowering New Yorkers of All Abilities
Natàlia Méndez laughed as she recalled her first time sailing with HRCS. She arrived at Dyckman Marina “expecting to lounge and drink champagne for a couple hours,” she remembered. “And I showed up in a strapless mini sundress.”
Natàlia’s expectations abruptly shifted when she saw the long narrow dock she’d have to navigate to reach the J/80 sailboat. And then there was the final hurdle – the Hoyer lift transfer onto the boat. She remembers thinking, “These are all able-bodied people around me and I don't know how often they do this. So it was nerve wracking.” That nervousness didn’t dissipate on the water. “I did not move. I didn't touch a thing. I was terrified.”
Despite the shaky start, Natàlia was impressed by how well HRCS supported the group. Staff and volunteers who work with the Adaptive program receive special training and Natàlia noted how open, supportive and skilled they were. “And that makes you feel safe,” she said. So, she returned for the group’s next event. “I got more comfortable that time, and I even steered for like a millisecond.” By her third sail, she was all-in: “If I think of that moment [steering the boat], I felt proud of myself. It felt freeing.” She also valued HRCS’s culture of learning “It was peaceful. It's calm. It's scenic… But I love learning – the terminology and that there's like a thousand kinds of knots and just learning [to sail].”
As Natàlia, who was injured in an accident in her 20’s, was gaining confidence on the water, she was also building Women on Wheels (WOW), a support group for women with spinal cord injuries.
With WOW, Natàlia took the opportunity to introduce more women to sailing. Remembering her first time, she knew she was in for a challenge. “The best way was [telling them] it's a way to face your fears. Because I was never gonna be able to convince these women that it wasn't scary. The majority of the reception was always like, ‘What? On that tiny thing? Uh-uh. No.’” So Natalia shared her initial feeling of fear, but also reassured the potential new participants of HRCS’s ability to deliver a safe and empowering program. She suggested they come down and check it out and only sail if they felt comfortable. By the time they got to the marina, she said, “they were hyping themselves up to do it.”
Natàlia’s involvement in the community keeps growing, from conversations with the students and volunteers working with the Adaptive program, to joining efforts to keep Dyckman Marina open and attending the Sailing for Scholars Gala. She appreciates the similarities between HRCS and WOW. “They both serve communities that are underserved, that might not otherwise get to have the experiences that they offer if they didn't exist… I feel good that we're involved in a program that allows women to get these experiences. I'm proud about that.”
Volunteers Make it All Possible
Volunteers are vital to HRCS, donating their time and skills across the organization. Last year, over 200 volunteers contributed over 3,700 hours, working in youth programs, event committees, operations and more!
Querebim “Q” Santos is one of those volunteers. Growing up in a landlocked city in Brazil, sailing was something Q only saw on television. But the pull of the water was always there. In 2021, he spotted a J/24 with the HRCS logo and took his first Intro lesson.
Determined to take the next step, he attended a member orientation, expecting a simple introduction to sailing. What he found instead was an organization deeply committed to inclusion, equity, and education. “I wasn’t expecting the sailing universe to have a place so strongly guided by inclusivity and equality. That made me join right then and there.”
By 2023, Q had developed his skills and became a J/24 skipper. By the end of 2024, he had logged more sails than any other skipper! He also found deep fulfillment in the Adaptive Sailing program, volunteering to help modify boats for accessibility and guiding participants as they took the helm for the first time. “The joy on the faces of Adaptive participants is truly priceless,” he says.
HRCS member Dave Rossberg is a volunteer skipper for Soldiers Under Sail, HRCS’s program designed specifically to make sailing accessible for our nation's military veterans. A U.S. Navy veteran himself, Dave was recently honored as NY1’s New Yorker of the Week for his service to the country and New York City.
"I got a lot of help from veterans who had gotten out before me, guiding me, helping me along the way,” he told NY1. "It's always been important for me to sort of pay that forward and give back."
Watch: HRCS volunteer Dave Rossberg is NY1's New Yorker of the Week
Thank you for investing in Hudson River Community Sailing's future. Your support helps power the growth of our programs and community.
