Gladstone Sail School seeks construction help
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GLADSTONE -- The Gladstone Sail School, which has been evolving since its rebirth a few years ago, is looking for volunteers to help with a building project this weekend.
Anew building will be constructed at the school's home base next to the Gladstone Yacht Club, thanks to a grant from the Superior Health Foundation and support from the community.
After Troy Drebenstedt revived the Gladstone Sail School in 2021 after decades of the program lying dormant, he and other sailors have developed the courses and brought in modern and accessible equipment to provide a new generation with skills on the water. The 2025 season that recently concluded was the first to have two different levels -- a beginner class and an intermediate/advanced one, each a week long.
"Several of our kids from previous years came back this year and helped teach. So that was really nice, too," said Drebenstedt, calling it a successful year.
Due for a facilities upgrade, the sail school is finally prepared to take the next step in the process.
Two years ago, a cement slab was laid down as a foundation, and a local contractor recently put down a block layer. Architectural designer Paul Smith helped draw up plans, and Dennis Ness engineered the building to be erected -- a 22-by-26-foot structure with windows.
The small shed that had previously housed equipment has already been torn down from its old site next to the new one. Currently, the sail school's boats are outside, and equipment is temporarily stored at the Gladstone ski hill.
"With the expansion of the program, we’ve expanded into bigger boats that are safer, and they just could not fit into that old shed, so we were having to trailer them all the way up to the ski hill and store them up at the ski hill," Drebenstedt explained. “So this will help kind of streamline the storage of the boats and equipment."
The plan is that the building will be multi-purpose during the summers -- while the boats are out and in the water, some class instruction can take place inside, and Drebenstedt hopes the building can even be rented out to other parties to help raise additional funds for the program.
The construction work that will begin Saturday morning will be largely undertaken by the Gladstone Lions Club, but additional volunteers are welcome.
"If they have tools, they can bring their own tools. If not, we can find work for them. We’re just looking for hands to help us with the initial push of the building phase," Drebenstedt said.
Those who plan to attend are asked to send an RSVP message via Facebook to the page called “Sail Glad | Gladstone Sail School” if possible.
Work will probably be underway between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
"I’ve been told by the contractor that it should be a pretty straightforward build," Drebenstedt said. "The goal is to at least get the outer shell up and siding and roofing on (this year), and we can kind of pick up where we need to next year if we need to do anything on the inside."