The Mission Bay Aquatics Center (MBAC) has been a staple in San Diego for teaching some of the most fun physical education classes around. And yes, participants can actually get college credit for riding waves and sailing Hobie Cats, thanks to the MBAC. Celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, longtime MBAC staff, students and members of the community gathered at the bay May 21 to revive old times, talk stories and peruse old pictures of the institution. “Growing up, this place was my paradise,” said Amit Gorlicki, 31, who first started going to the MBAC as a camper when he was six. Gorlicki later became a counselor in training (C.I.T.), took classes there while attending San Diego State University, then became a part-time instructor and still teaches waterskiing and sailing today. Gorlicki’s sentiments echoed throughout the grassy area off Santa Clara Point in Mission Beach, where the MBAC is located. Not much has changed over the years except for the addition of more boats, more boards, a newer building, newer equipment and the fact that the MBAC is run 100 percent from solar power. What has remained a consistent mission and tenet of the MBAC for four decades is the spirit of having fun on the water and putting safety first. “That’s pretty much been our motto since Day One,” said Glen Brandenburg, director of the MBAC. He started the program while he was a student at SDSU. “Without being safe, it’s impossible to have fun.” Brandenburg also said it’s also hard not to have fun at a place where participants run around in a swimsuit, flip-flops and play on the water all day long. In 1970, while taking a sailing class through SDSU at what was then a dilapidated city boathouse run by some navy chiefs, Brandenburg’s teacher became ill. Rather than cancel class, Brandenburg became the instructor. Soon after, the associated student body at SDSU asked him to help them expand their recreational programming. The timing was perfect. The center, then composed of six broken boats, was the perfect place to have what Brandenburg dreamed up in 1971 as a facility for recreational boating classes and rentals. He convinced the student body at SDSU to give him $1,700 to repair six boats and, in February 1971, the MBAC was born. Just this past year, the MBAC taught more than 15,000 students, youth and people from the community various watersports activities. Now owned and operated by both the associated student body of SDSU and the recreation department of the University of California, San Diego, the MBAC offers college and community classes, as well as rentals, special events and an adaptive watersports program for disabled athletes. The MBAC also helps fund a large chunk of its operations through summer-camp programs for kids. In the morning, campers take a specific five-day class in sailing, waterskiing, kayaking, windsurfing, surfing or wakeboarding; then in the afternoon participate in a mix of those activities with groups of kids their own age. For the MBAC’s adaptive program, guys like Scott Leason, a former surfer who was in an accident that left him blind, the aquatics center has helped get him back on the water. “These guys basically put their arms around me and said I could do it,” said Leason, who has taken waterskiing and wakeboard classes at MBAC twice a week for the last five years. Last year, Leason took home two silver medals at the U.S. Disabled Waterski National Championships. He said the sports have helped him get back in shape. The center has not only introduced watersports to disabled athletes and thousands of students and campers, but it’s made traditionally expensive watersports like sailing — where slip fees and boat maintenance can add up quickly — easily accessible to local San Diegans, as well. “It’s truly one of San Diego’s hidden gems,” said instructional manager Kevin Straw. “Once you take a class through the MBAC, you can rent boats and other equipment much cheaper than you could at a tourist rental destination.” The only catch is participants have to rig it, clean it and put the equipment away — a small price to pay for hours of fun on the water. At Saturday’s 40th anniversary celebration, there were a lot of stories passed on from over the years about what happened before camp, after camp and shenanigans involving college kids. From sailing to the Barefoot Bar, surf trips to Mexico with staff members in the 1980s — each story seemed to get more detailed than the next. There were a few married couples at the anniversary celebration who originally met at the MBAC, and a few successful athletes who had come through the programs, like two-time IronMan World Champ Scott Tinley. He was one of MBAC’s first hires and worked his way from custodian to boat scrubber up to sailing instructor then program manager. “It’s like déjà vu, here,” said Tinley, looking around at old pictures and pointing to his old office. “Some things have changed but there’s so much that hasn’t. I guess what I remember most are the people. There continues to be the most amazing people who walk through these doors.”