Mattapoisett Community Sailing finishes up its summer on the sea this week and instructor Mark Thornhill said the program continues to go strong in its seventh year.

“Every day’s a new adventure,” said Thornhill.

This year the head instructor had 69 kids in his six-week summer sailing class, part of the nonprofits goal to teach youth and adults to sail.

“We’ve got a lot of beginners and a good core group in the afternoon that’s been here for several years,” he said.

Mornings are reserved for the younger students, ages 6 to 15, who are still new to sailing.

Although they take it slow and stress safety, there can be some scary moments on sea.

On the last day of class in his first year sailing with the program, Alex Craig said his boat pitch-pulled sending Alex, his partner, and the vessel head first into the water.

“It was like a catapult, and we went flying,” said Alex. “The other person, the sail came down and fell on her. She got caught on the rigging, and we were drifting towards this big boat. Finally she came up after a minute.”

The experience shook up Alex, but he continued to sail. Now, he’s part of the more experienced group that practices in the afternoon.

Penny Cole, whose daughter Charlotte is also in the afternoon class, said she’s thankful for the program.

“[The instructors] treat the kids like people so they expect them to perform, and they give them respect because they get respect,” said Cole. “The kids come away more confident because if they can do this, they can do just about anything else.”

There’s living proof of that in MattSail’s instructors. Four out of five of them were once students in the program. Others go on to participate in college sailing and compete.

This year Thornhill said the group has been going through a transition as many of the veteran sailors have graduated out of the program, but there are plenty more interested in taking up their sails. And they're sure to learn while having a good time.

“We try to instill confidence in them, but most of all we try to have fun,” said Thornhill. “Fun’s the name of the game.”