Queens' Hidden Treasures: Sail Away On Meadow Lake
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NY1 is celebrating Queens Week with a look at some of the hidden gems in the borough. Ruschell Boone navigates her way to a little-known sailing school that's been making waves for decades on the city's largest lake, right in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.It's not like sailing the high seas, but you can learn the ropes on Meadow Lake.
“It's a very beautiful place in the middle of Queens and you don't have to drive to the ocean,” said a sailing school student.
That's just one of the bonuses for New Yorkers who have discovered the sailing classes offered by instructors from the American Small Craft Association or TASCA. Another perk? The price. For $275, students get seven weeks of hands-on instruction on the 14-and-a-half foot boats provided by the Association.
The president of TASCA says the cost is low because they get a lot of their funding from the Queens borough president and the Parks Department.
“These are students who come from so many different backgrounds and they probably normally never would have gotten the experience or the opportunity to sail because sailing can be very, very expensive,” said TASCA president Ana Sanchez.
The sailing doesn't end with the course. Once it's over, students who pass the class can later use the boats for free if they become a member of TASCA. The membership dues are $40 a year.
“The more you sail the more you learn,” said TASCA founding member Patrick Beckles. “You never, ever know it all because the wind changes every day and the water surface changes everyday.”
The classes are given every spring and summer to people 16 and older. Even though TASCA has been around for more than four decades a lot of would-be boaters still have not gotten wind of the classes. Some say that's because Meadow Lake, built for the 1964 World's Fair, is nestled in between the trees and highways surrounding Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
“People have found out about our club by looking out the window one day and they see sailboats floating on the lake and they say, ‘Gee I didn't know about that.’ And that's how a lot of people come to us,” said instructor Vincent Marino.
“For years I sat in traffic on the Grand Central Parkway looking out here at the boats moving along in the sunset and I thought I really need to be one of those people,” said instructor Douglas Russell. “So that's what I did. I came down and I joined up.”
If you also feel the need to sail away, you can contact The American Small Craft Association at www.sailtasca.org.