Platte Canyon High School Yacht Club Competing in the Seventy48

Our Platte Canyon High School student-run “Yacht Club” is building one 40-foot trimaran canoe in our STEM lab. The students are building this boat as a student-led team with guidance from two teachers, Mr. Steve Hanford and Mr. Kip Otteson.

Like many high schools, Platte Canyon has unfortunately eliminated our wood-shop program. This remarkable project is serving the purpose of reestablishing wood-shop and teaching our students real-world skills to build upon including: discipline, teamwork, and commitment.

The PCHS Yacht Club will travel from Bailey, Colorado to Tacoma, Washington with our project for the Seventy48 Race. It is our goal to show our rural, mountain kids a much larger world. Every student participating will be traveling to the Pacific Northwest for the first time, and each of these students has a very limited experience with boats.

In order to accomplish this feat, we will need apparel, supplies, and tools that neither the chaperones nor the students currently have. It is because of these needs that we ask for donations from the public. Click here for a list of items: www.gofundme.com/pchs-yacht-club-to-seventy48

Thank you for consideration in contributing to this once-in-a-lifetime project! Donors can stay up-to-date on the progress of the boats on our website at www.plattecanyonschools.org or by following us on Instagram @pchsyachtclub.

BAILEY, Colo. — For spring break, the yacht club at Platte Canyon High School plans to spend a lot of time on the water.

It won't be on a yacht. It won't be in Colorado. And they're pretty sure it won't even be comfortable. But, they're betting it'll be memorable.

"This is the first year Platte Canyon High School's had a yacht club," special education teacher Kip Otteson said. "And this is the first event that we're attempting."

Kip Otteson and Steve Hanford, two teachers at Platte Canyon High School, created a "Yacht Club" to create opportunities for their students by making them the first school to ever win Seventy48, a 70 mile boat race from Port Townsend to Tacoma, Washington. The catch... Platte Canyon, is located in Bailey, Colorado and 1000 miles from the coastline. For many of the students paddling in the race, this will be the first time they have seen the ocean.

This documentary showcases the power that one person's vision can have on a community. There are no limits to what someone can accomplish when they take action with a team of supportive people on their side.