Sander Block remembers feeling frustrated. He can still recall the tears.
Block, a Coconut Grove resident, was just 10 when he competed in his first Orange Bowl International Youth Regatta.
On a windy day, Block’s boat capsized, and he wasn’t strong enough to get the vessel righted. When his coach jumped in to help, Block’s race was over.
“I was sobbing,” Block said. “I was upset. I was inexperienced at the time, and I spent most of that day getting flipped over. It wasn’t fun.”
Credit Block with perseverance, however, as he came back the next day, finishing a race in seventh place.
“That meant the world to me,” Block said. “Somewhere there’s a picture of me smiling with my parents right after that race.”
There have been a lot of smiles since then for Block – now a 16-year-old sophomore at Ransom Everglades School in Coconut Grove – as well as for his contemporaries in the vibrant Coconut Grove youth-sailing scene.
In fact, two local members of the Grove’s Coral Reef Yacht Club have qualified for the 2025 Youth Sailing World Championships, set for Dec. 15-19 in Vilamoura, Portugal.
Elizabeth Xydas and Alexandra ‘Coco’ Kolaya, both 16 and students at Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart, won a national championship last month in the 420 class at the Lauderdale Yacht Club in Fort Lauderdale, qualifying for Portugal.
“It was really exciting to qualify,” said Xydas, a Coconut Grove resident who is also on the U.S. Youth National Windsurfing Team. “Coco and I weren’t the favorites, but we had a strong and competitive boat.
“We probably won’t be the favorites in Portugal, either, but we want to sail our best because anything can happen.”
Xydas and Kolaya have been sailing together for about 18 months.
“We’ve built a special bond,” Xydas said. “Our communication is super important.”
In addition to Xydas and Kolaya, Coral Reef Yacht Club members Harrison Gandy and J.P. Panebianco finished second in the 420, qualifying for Portugal.
Other top youth sailors from Coral Reef Yacht Club who competed in last month’s national championships include Beck Brill, who finished second (ILCA7 class); Connor Karr and Ella Valentina Agnese (fourth place, 420); Block (seventh place, ILCA6); Brayden Zawyer (11th, ILCA6); and Brody Wood (13th, ILCA6).
So, why is there so much sailing talent in the Grove?
Xydas believes she knows at least part of the answer.
“We can sail year-round here,” she said. “There are so many places to get on the water – the Coconut Grove Sailing Club, the Coral Reef Yacht Club, the U.S. Sailing Center… and I also windsurf at the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club.”
Maykel Alonso, the head coach for the Coral Reef Yacht Club’s Green Fleet team, has served as an instructor for all the young sailors mentioned above.
“Yes, these kids have talent,” Alonso said. “Combined with hard work, they become sailing machines.”
Beyond the club programs, there’s the local high-school scene, where sailing has grown immensely over the past decade.
Ransom Everglades, Gulliver Prep and Westminster Christian have had high school sailing – to varying degrees – for years. But, in 2017, LaSalle joined the fray. The next year, Carrollton did the same. MAST added sailing in 2019, and then it was Palmer Trinity in 2021 and Coral Gables this year.
The growth of school-based sailing in Coconut Grove has created a sort of buzz on the bay, say parents, with formal and informal competitions taking place throughout the year. Indeed, Thursdays on Biscayne Bay – with weekly racing between area schools — have become Miami’s maritime version of Friday night high school football.
But Mike Brill, the father of the aforementioned Beck Brill, said no Florida colleges offer scholarships for males to compete in varsity intercollegiate sailing. The University of Miami, for instance, has sailing only at the less formal “club” level.
And yet Beck Brill still hopes to sail in college – continuing what he started eight years ago – at one of the out-of-state schools that increasingly view Coconut Grove as an athletic-recruiting hotbed. Among the colleges Brill is considering are Boston College, Tulane and the College of Charleston.
“While we have the best youth sailors in the country, there’s not a single sailing scholarship available for Beck in the entire state,” Mike Brill said. “Our club sailing programs are so strong that we have families moving down here from New York just so they can sail for the Coral Reef Yacht Club.”
Just ask John Schoendorf, who is the treasurer of the board of directors for U.S. Sailing, which is the national governing body for the Olympic Sailing team. U.S. Sailing helps to manage and train more than 42,000 members.
“I can’t emphasize enough how important sailing is for young people,” said Schoendorf, a Grove resident since 1957. “The sport teaches these kids how to make decisions on the water without mom and dad around. It develops independence in young people, showing them that they can do things on their own.
“It’s amazing how focused they get while sailing.”
Mike Brill agrees, stating that sailing has been “life changing” for his son.
As a young kid, Beck Brill was painfully shy. He tried a bunch of sports, but nothing clicked. Even sailing was not an immediate hit with Beck as he would hide in the bathroom when it came time to get on a boat.
However, once sailing got a hold of him, it never let go.
“For the past eight years, he hasn’t been to a classmate’s birthday party because he’s always off sailing,” Mike Brill said of Beck, 16.
“He doesn’t go out to parties. He doesn’t get in trouble. Youth sailors generally go to bed early because if they don’t they are going to be exhausted the next day.
“When you sail, you’re in the sun for five or more hours, and you can’t do that if you are tired and hung over. It’s hard to be a partier and a competitive sailor.”
Christopher Block, the father of the aforementioned Sander Block, calls sailing “a giant metaphor for life” because it combines physical and mental challenges.
“It’s all about preparation off the water and then quick decision-making while on the boat,” he said. “It’s about perseverance and figuring out how to fix things when conditions are difficult.
“Sailing is a complex sport; because you have to adapt to the constantly changing winds. The sport teaches kids how to focus and fend for themselves.”
Block, who never cared much for sailing as a kid growing up in Coral Gables, said he was surprised when Sander returned from summer camp in Maine one year and announced a newfound love of sailing. The passion grew even deeper after attending sailing camps at Coral Reef Yacht Club.
“And here we are six years later, and Sander has gone sailing all over the U.S. and also in countries such as Germany, Italy and the Bahamas,” Christopher said.
“When my son first told me he wanted to sail, I said: ‘That’s going to take a lot of time and cost a lot of money.’ That opinion hasn’t changed.
“But the truth is that it has been worth every penny. Sander has had a lot of fun. He has built relationships for life. Sailing has given him structure. It has led to a lot of personal growth. He is now focused on sailing in college.
“I never saw this coming, but sailing is a great sport.”
This story was originally published in the Coconut Grove Spotlight, a WLRN News partner.
