Lake Lanier Sailing Club hires former Olympian sailor as head coach
Summer, third from right, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
With the arrival of former Olympian Summer Song, Lake Lanier Sailing Club has invested in a significant upgrade of its sailing programs for youth and adults. Song, a successful international competitor in several classes of sailing, arrived in June to become the club’s sailing director and head coach. In the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she finished 8th in the Women’s Yngling keelboat class.
“Our search for a permanent head coach and sailing director began about two years ago when we learned that our current sailing director was leaving,” said Warren Collier, past commodore of the club off Old Federal Road. “We developed specific qualifications and goals as LLSC made the decision to bring on a full-time coach for youth and adults.
“Our primary goal was to increase participation in sailing by initially expanding our junior sailing program to start sailing programs at the nearby Hall County middle and high schools.”
An advertisement this spring in Sail1Design.com caught the attention of Song, who was freelance coaching the Chinese National Team in Los Angeles. She applied and after a preliminary interview via Zoom and an on-site visit to Lake Lanier, she was hired.
“Summer’s personality, experience and accomplishments just clicked with us,” said Collier. “And since she’s been here, she’s already starting to build our youth programs, plus private lessons with youth as well as adults. Next summer, we anticipate expanding our junior summer sailing camps to the entire summer.”
Summer grew up in China and began sailing when she was 15 years old and just completing 9th grade. “I had never been on a sailboat before, plus it was my first time on the ocean,” she said. “It was such an opportunity for me to join our province’s sailing team and learn to sail 420s. When I first started I had no idea what sailing was, but in a short time, I knew I was born to sail.”
That was in 1994. By 1997 she was sailing 470s (2-person boats) and competing in the National 470 Championships in Shanghai, where in 1997 her boat placed 7th; the next year her boat placed 2nd, and in 1999, she earned her first Gold. She repeated her success in 2001 and 2004, also taking first place overall in 2002 at the Asian Games in a 420 and in 2005 in the 470. Over the next 19 years she would earn another eight first place medals in various national and international contests.
“I found that my favorite part of being on the water is taking the helm,” she said with a smile. In 2013, I became a sailing coach, starting at the American International School of Qingdao for three years also traveling to Holland and later Clearwater, Florida, as Head Coach of the RS-FEVA World Championships, an annual international sailing regatta for youth and/or parent/youth teams.
Over her career, she has also served as head coach at the Royal Yacht Academy in the UK and several teams in China.
New Lake Lanier Sailing Club Sailing Director Summer Song, goes through onshore drill assignments before junior sailors take to the water at a recent coaching session.
Song has two sons who grew up in China and now attend high school in Boston. “Because of my sons, I was looking for a sailing job in the United States, and I feel very fortunate to now be at LLSC,” she said. “A big part of my job at LLSC is building the Learn-to-Sail programs for youth and adults, plus we’re having some Saturday and Sunday sessions for sailing teams and youth.”
“I’m encouraging both LLSC members and those non-members who are interested in learning to sail to check out our sailing programs, both adults and young people.”
Options – available online at llsc.com/sailing-classes – include Sailing 101 for beginners and as a refresher, Sailing 102 focusing on spinnaker, and Learn to Race 103 Introduction.
In addition to working with those who want to learn how to sail, Song has been participating as crew on the Wednesday night races.
“I’ve been hopping on and off different boats, mostly to get to know the sailors, but also to experience what it’s like to sail on Lake Lanier,” she said. “If people need crew, I can sail with them in club races.”
So how is sailing on Lake Lanier different than her previous sailing experience?
“I really like it here, and I’m looking forward to building a strong sailing program at LLSC,” she said. “How is Lake Lanier sailing different? Well, I can say that it certainly is a lot more relaxed that the competition I’ve experienced in my career. I enjoy that there are many boats that come out for racing, and I’m looking forward to the fall. They tell me the winds will really be much better in the fall and winter.”
For more information about sailing classes and camps at Lake Lanier Sailing Club, visit llsc.com.
Olympic Photo: provided by Summer Song, teaching photo: by Pamela A. Keene
