KINGSTON, N.Y. – The HRMM Sailing School and Kingston Sailing Club will host the 5th annual Riverport Women's Sailing Conference on Saturday, November 13, 2021, from 10:00am-4:00pm. The event is virtual and will include presentations and panels featuring women mariners. Topics include maritime navigation, safety around large vessels, outboard engine troubleshooting, and more. The event is open to anyone who is interested in sailing regardless of experience. 

The conference will feature a keynote address from Tracy Edwards whose story is chronicled in the documentary film Maiden. Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, overcame the odds to become the skipper of the first all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World sailing race in 1989.

A schedule of topics can be found on the HRMM museum website at www.hrmm.org/sailing-school. Conference participants can choose from a variety of workshops and presentations including sessions from Dawn Riley of Oakcliff Sailing, Deborah Mellen of Impossible Dream, Elizabeth McCarthy from SUNY Maritime, and Haley Lhamon of Team Sail Like a Girl. Workshop choices include weather/wind, rules of the road, basic navigation, safety around large vessels, outboard engine troubleshooting, buying a boat, sustainable sailing, introduction to racing, and more. All sessions will be presented by experienced women mariners. 

Men are welcomed to attend the conference. Organizations such as sailing teams, community sailors, yacht club groups, and school groups are encouraged participate. General admission is $60 per household, and $50 for museum members. The fee for registration as an organization is $150. Advanced registration is required and is available at www.hrmm.org/sailing-conference.

The Sailing School at Hudson River Maritime Museum offers a variety of sailing experiences for youth and adult students. Classes are available for every level of experience and include 1-day introductory sessions, youth groups, and certification opportunities. The school hosts the annual Riverport Women’s Sailing Conference each November and is the only US-Sailing-accredited sailing school in the Hudson Valley. Learn more at www.hrmm.org/sailing-school. 

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Hudson River Maritime Museum is pleased to announce the upcoming lecture “The Orca-Human Bond: The True Story Behind Whaler’s Daughter,” held on Wednesday, November 3, 2021 at 7:00 PM. 

Author Jerry Mikorenda joins us virtually to discuss the history behind his new novel, The Whaler’s Daughter, published in July, 2021. 

In Two-Fold Bay, Australia, Aboriginal people built a symbiotic relationship with orcas, who helped them hunt baleen whales for centuries. These practices were adopted by “station” whalers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In this engaging multimedia presentation, author Jerry Mikorenda will reveal the real-life places, history, and stories, like the “Legend of Old Tom,” that inspired his new young adult novel, The Whaler’s Daughter (July, 2021). Learn about Aboriginal whaling, orcas, station whaling, and the technological wonders of the whaleboat. This presentation also features the sights and sounds of the mythical New South Wales town of Paradise, designed to enhance a live reading from the novel.

Jerry Mikorenda’s work has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Herald, The Gotham Center History Blog, and the 2010 Encyclopedia of New York City. His biography America's First Freedom Rider: Elizabeth Jennings, Chester A. Arthur, and the Early Fight for Civil Rights was published in 2020. His historical novel, The Whaler’s Daughter was published by Regal House in July 2021.
Tickets are $5 for the general public and free for Hudson River Maritime Museum members. To register, visit www.hrmm.org/lecture-series.

The Follow the River Lecture Series is sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank.


About the Follow the River Lecture Series
For more than a decade the Hudson River Maritime Museum's "Follow the River Lecture Series" has hosted historians, authors, and maritime experts for engaging illustrated talks on a variety of regional history and maritime subjects. In recent years, many of the lectures have also been recorded and are available on YouTube. For more information about upcoming lectures and to access recordings of past lectures, visit www.hrmm.org/lecture-series. The series is sponsored by Rondout Savings Bank. 

KINGSTON, N.Y. – The Wooden Boat School at the Hudson River Maritime Museum will host a yard sale of tools, equipment, and various boat building ephemera on Sunday, October 31 from 10am to 4pm. Proceeds from the sale will support improvements to the wood shop at the school which offers a variety of woodworking classes and boatbuilding experiences. Also available for purchase will be raffle tickets for a drawing of the Atkin’s Nymph sailboat which will happen at the end of the day.

The public is invited to donate tools to the school in advance of the sale which may be used in curriculum or sold at the event. Tool donations can be dropped off at the Wooden Boat School from Monday, October 25 through Friday, October 29, from 9am to 5pm. The sale and raffle will take place at the school’s wood shop located on the museum campus at 50 Rondout Landing in Kingston’s historic waterfront Rondout district.

Items will be priced to go and staff are hoping the sale will help make room for new projects. Proceeds from the boat raffle will support youth boat building programs. The Atkin’s Nymph is a 10’ wooden sailing skiff that was built by the 2018/2019 Youth Boat class. Tickets are $10 each or 3 for $25 and will be available on site. Tickets can also be purchased in advance at the museum store, open Thursday-Sunday, 11am-5pm, or by calling 845-338-0071. Winners need not be present to win. 

People can support the school in a number of ways. Staff are seeking volunteers with various skill sets, as well as new equipment including a stationary belt sander, shop vac, work truck, and casters. Financial support is always welcome and donations of boats also support the organization. A calendar of classes and details on how to support can be found online at www.hrmm.org/boat-school. People can also email Wooden Boat School Manager Becky Sellinger at [email protected].  

About the HRMM Wooden Boat School
The Wooden Boat School was founded by the Hudson River Maritime Museum in 2015 to preserve the maritime craft traditions of the Hudson Valley and to teach a hands-on interpretation of the living history of the Hudson River. The school offers diverse curriculum and opportunities which inspire skills in woodworking, boat building, and maritime craft. Also available are restoration services for wooden boats. Learn more at www.hrmm.org/woodworking.