The Amateur Team Building Toward the Top of the Sport

Why This Program Exists

I didn't grow up sailing. I didn't know sailboat racing existed until I showed up at the College of Charleston and wandered into a club fair. I joined the sailing club on a whim, the coach told me to try out for the offshore team, and two weeks later I was racing on the number one college sailing program in the country — a world I didn't know was there until I stumbled into it.

That was pure luck. There was no pathway, no program, no one pointing the way. And here's the thing — even now, with America's Cup experience and years of offshore racing behind me, there's still no clear path forward in this sport. High-performance racing infrastructure barely exists in the United States for anyone who isn't independently wealthy. If I can't find a straightforward way up, a kid growing up today has no chance of even knowing this world exists. That's what this program is building — the on-ramp I never had.