*Amateur sailors looking to get in a little more time on the water can rent a sailboat for free at the Community Sailing Center on the Burlington waterfront through Oct. 14. Photo by Henry Rood.*

As a way to attract more people to the water before the season turns, the Community Sailing Center on Lake Champlain in Burlington is loaning out sailboats for free on weekends until Oct. 14.

“Discounting it isn’t enough,” said Owen Milne, executive director of the nonprofit organization. “We had to find a way to make it free.”

The goal of the pilot program is to remove financial barriers to sailing and Milne said he thinks it’s the first of its kind anywhere in the country. The sailing center also hopes that growing interest in recreation on the lake will lead to more people taking an active role in its conservation. Unlike other programs that offer free rentals, no membership is required.

“I rented a sailboat with some friends over the summer and being on the lake made me think about all the ways in which we make an environmental impact and how important it is to keep the ecosystem healthy,” said Ethan Putnam, a University of Vermont Outing Club trip leader.

According to Milne, the free-rentals idea was proposed by a 12-year-old at the Community Sailing Center’s New Horizon Summit in June – a meeting of about 50 community members.

At the summit, summer campers, parents, students, teachers, donors, staff and board members discussed the center’s opportunities and goals. Milne said it was important and valuable to engage the public in “collective innovation,” rather than relying on the organization’s leaders and staff.

Castleton artist Angelique McAlpine, who specializes in graphic recording, attended the gathering and illustrated the discussion in a series of murals that now hang on a wall on the center’s deck.

“We will keep them for a long time so we can always be looking at them,” Milne said.

After the summit, Milne approached the Waterwheel Foundation – a Vermont-based nonprofit organization created by the band Phish – for help with funding the free-sailboat idea and received a $20,000 grant.

Owen Milne, executive director of the Community Sailing Center, stands in front of Lake Champlain. Photo by Henry Rood.

“When the Community Sailing Center approached us about the idea for free access to boating on Lake Champlain, we immediately saw this a big benefit to the greater Burlington community and also to the lake,” said Phish Inc. General Manager Beth Montouri Rowles, in a press release. “Access to the lake is essential to the mission of protecting its environmental well-being. We are happy to be able to help provide this opportunity.”

There are a few steps for those who are interested in taking a boat out for a weekend sail. Candidates for the free rentals need to have a little prior sailing experience, too.

Participants are required to take a 10-question survey providing basic demographic information, and a written sailing assessment. Renters need to know the parts of a sailboat, rigging, upwind sailing, rights of way, docking, and capsize recovery.

Milne said the fall program continues the center’s efforts to make sailing accessible regardless of income. The center operates a large summer camp program and offers lessons to to both kids and adults. There is also a scholarship fund that works with individuals on a case-by-case basis, he said.

Scholarships are given to about a third of all patrons, Milne said. “Last year and this year, we were able to fund every request that came in. We will probably need to increase the amount of money that we have in that scholarship fund to meet future demand,” he added.