When a sailboat has to turn, the skipper calls, “Prepare to Come About.” At the call of “Hard alee!” the rudder is thrown over, the boat turns, the sail and boom swing across the keel and the boat rolls to the other side.

If the boat is then sailing steadily in a new direction, things have gone well. If you are swimming next to the upturned hull, something has gone wrong.

Either way, it’s educational and builds character.

A generation ago nearly everyone in Mount Pleasant had some exposure to sailing.  Waterfront property was cheap. Used sailboats were cheap too. My Sunfish cost four hundred and twenty-five 1972 dollars. I sailed it for 33 years. So did dozens of other kids. Since the Wando River and Harbor weren’t constantly full of containerships, kids just sailed all over it.

Adults sailed as well. Their sparsely appointed Pearsons, Morgans and Cals could be found at docks in front of their homes and in what would now be considered laughingly cheap marina slips.

All of this was within the means and opportunity of people we would now call “middle class.” Those people built modern Mount Pleasant.

This long, pleasurable voyage lasted from about 1965 to 1995. Rapidly escalating costs for waterfront property and marina slips have put the costs of in water boat ownership beyond the reach of most people. Many of the boats in local marinas belong to people from out of state willing to pay high slip rentals. The endless push to bring more containerships into our harbor makes it too dangerous for children to sail in without expensive, professional supervision in a motorized safety boat.

At 7 p.m., March 27 at Alhambra Hall, the Town of Mount Pleasant has invited the community to participate in a public meeting to decide how to put the tiller over and set a new course for community sailing.

For the past two months, I and members of an informal group called, “Fair Winds” have been studying the possibilities for community sailing in Mount Pleasant. Everyone agrees a Mount Pleasant without boating is merely Summerville with higher prices.

It’s now hard and expensive to sail east of the Cooper. The crowded Remley’s point boat landing is a difficult place to raise a mast; marina slips are expensive; yacht clubs have long waiting lists and it’s hard to connect with other sailors and find crew. Many neighborhoods prohibit home boat storage.  Several people have told us they came to the East Cooper area with a sailboat, but have sold it.

For young people the situation is also discouraging.

Hobcaw Yacht Club offers a summer sailing program in boxy “Optis” for young children, but there is little opportunity to practice their skills after classes are over.

For high school students and older middle school students, Charleston Community Sailing offers an award winning training and team racing program from a twelve boat dock at the Municipal Marina in Downtown Charleston. It’s beyond the reach of many Mount Pleasant kids, who can’t get there on foot or bicycle.

The coaches I talk to tell me Charleston’s struggle to succeed in US regional high school sailing competition is because our kids start sailing too late and sail too little.

Of course most kids here no longer sail at all. Some carry $20 bills to Town Center in July to watch “Spiderman” for the third time and hang out. An unlucky few make worse choices and get sent to prison for a decade with their mug shot on the front page of the Post and Courier as a souvenir.

In 1936, Joseph Lee, Jr., started a small public sailing program designed to keep the local West End children off the city streets in Boston that summer. They began by building their own boats. Today Boston Community Boating is the largest and oldest community sailing organization in the US.  Children and adults sail there.  “The mission of Community Boating, Inc., is the advancement of sailing for all by minimizing economic and physical obstacles to sailing. In addition, CBI enhances the greater Boston community by using sailing as a vehicle to empower its members to develop independence and self-confidence, improve communication, foster teamwork, and acquire a deeper understanding of community spirit and the power of volunteerism.”

You’ll find similar programs around the US.  We’ve collected a Web page full of links you can find at www.wjhamilton.com/fairwinds/.

You would expect great sailing opportunities in Florida.  They have them at award winning programs like Clearwater.  But to see larger regattas than we have in Charleston on lakes in the Arizona dessert and high in the mountains of Colorado is a shock. We are now way behind in an area we once led.

Our community suffers.  Beer soaked political talk about the good old days is irrelevant. The suggestion better parents would surmount the obstacles politicians who sold off four miles of publicly owned shore line for development have helped create is insulting.  Randy Draftz tells me most of sailors coming into his Charleston Yachting business have gray hair. Without year round sailing programs for young people, young adults and young families, we can’t expect sailing to remain a vital part of Mount Pleasant culture much longer. Motor yachts owned by people from Ohio parked in marina slips will be a poor substitute.

Mount Pleasant can’t compete for tax base, high quality employment opportunities and the talent which sustains a high quality of life without making access to our public boating waters available. The gifted 25-year-old or young parent who is a computer programmer, investment expert or consultant will go elsewhere.  In places like Boston, Arizona and Clearwater they and their children can get training and later check out a boat for a few hours. Here sailing can be a day long struggle to manage a few hours on the water.

It’s time to change course. I hope to see you all on deck at Alhambra Hall on March 27.

William Hamilton (www.wjhamilton.com) is an attorney who lives in I’On Village.