The people behind the flag.

Four generations of lake knowledge, if you count the campers coming up behind them.

Dale Aho looking out over the lake from the office porch

Founder & Harbormaster

Dale Aho

Dale grew up in Britt, learned to sail on a homemade scow with a bedsheet main, and spent twelve years as a Great Lakes deckhand before coming home in 1987 to open Sand Lake Recreation with his wife Carol, four canoes, and one very used Flying Scot. He has taught roughly two thousand people to sail and claims to remember every single capsize. Ask him about the ice-out pool, the 1998 storm, or literally anything else — but pull up a chair first.

Still races Tamarack every Wednesday. Still wins more than his share.

Carol Aho at the waterfront

Co-founder & Membership Director

Carol Aho

Carol ran the front office of the Britt school district for twenty years, which turns out to be ideal training for running a waterfront: she can find anything, calm anyone, and spot an unsigned waiver from across the parking lot. She built our membership program, keeps the books, plants the dockside flower boxes, and bakes for the volunteer work weekends — attendance at which, not coincidentally, is excellent.

Has watched every sunset of every season-opening day since 1987.

Matt Niemi on the dock

Waterfront Director & Head Instructor

Matt Niemi

Matt came through the summer sailing program in the nineties, taught here through college, went off to run a big-city sailing center for a decade, and came back the moment the job opened. He runs the instructional program, the rating checkouts, and the maintenance shop, and he sets the flag each morning — if Matt says the lake is too rough for 420s, the lake is too rough for 420s. US Sailing Level 3 instructor; certified in more rescue disciplines than he'll admit to at parties.

Holds the unofficial record for fastest capsize recovery: 41 seconds.

Emma Saari by the water

Instructor & Youth Camp Lead

Emma Saari

Emma is a Gerald Cup champion (2016, ages 8–10 division), a three-summer veteran of our instructor corps, and a junior at UMD studying environmental science. She leads Youth Camp, teaches Learn to Sail I, and runs the loon-nest monitoring project that keeps our north-bay buoys honest. Campers universally regard her as the final authority on knots, s'mores, and whether it's about to rain.

Can name every bird on the lake by call alone. Has been tested. Extensively.

Learn from this crew

Meet them on the water.

Our whole instructional program exists to move you one direction: toward not needing us in the boat with you. Adults typically go from never-sailed to rated Dinghy Skipper in four weekends across two courses; kids take the scenic route through Youth Camp and arrive at the same place with better stories. Everything is taught on our fleet, on this lake, by instructors who almost all learned in the same boats. Courses teach the required skills; each rating includes a practical skills check before it is recorded.

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