The upcoming 2010 sailing season will have a new look: veteran skippers are turning over the tillers to their crew or others who are interested in learning how to race.

“There are several young sailors and new sailors who are ready to take the helm -- they just need the opportunity to develop their skills in a real racing situation,” says Commodore Grant Moos. “That’s the best way to learn.”

The decision to focus on developing new sailors was made in August 2009 at the annual year-end awards ceremony at Dick Garbisch’s lake home.

The Ten Mile Lake Sailing Club hasn’t had a formal sailing training program since the 1960s and early 1970s when past Commodore Garbisch taught several young people, including Ki Hoffman, how to sail.

“What we’ve come to realize is that even our own children are intimidated by all the wires and lines on a C boat,” says Pete Roberts, a longtime racer. “This will be a good way to transfer all we’ve learned over the years to a new group of sailors.”

The 2010 season will also feature a series of sailing classes. The first will be held on the Fourth of July weekend and the second event will be a week long “sailing week,” beginning Aug. 1, 2010.