Sailbuzz.net: TWO $1M GIFTS LAUNCH BURLINGTON SAILING CENTER

The tossing of ceremonial anchors on Tuesday made it official: A new home for the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center on Burlington’s waterfront is underway.

A pair of $1 million gifts to the nonprofit, announced at the groundbreaking, ensures that the facility will open as scheduled this summer, officials said.

Local philanthropist Tony Pomerleau delivered a dinghy-sized replica check. So did family and friends of the late Raymond P. Sullivan, an avid sailor and advocate for greater accessibility to water sports, who died in May 2015.

The sailing center opened 22 years ago. Its makeshift headquarters in and around the old Moran power plant lacked plumbing and, sometimes, even electricity.

Roomier headquarters will allow the center to expand its mission of exposing people of all ages to hands-on relationships to the lake, said Executive Director Mark Naud.