Speakers
Anna Tunnicliffe
The Thrill of Victory and The Agony of Defeat
Saturday keynote speaker
Two-time Olympian and gold medalist in 2008 in the Laser Radial. Born in Doncaster, England, Anna grew up taking part in many different activities, swimming, soccer, netball, ballet/dance, music – cello, and initially learned to sail with her parents on their boat. But as she established herself as a ‘helm’ personality, and clashes with Dad became more common, she branched out on her own, into Optimists. She sailed and raced on both the open ocean and inland lakes.
At the age of 12, she immigrated to the United States with her parents and moved to Perrysburg, OH. She joined North Cape Yacht Club, La Salle MI, on Lake Erie, and soon established herself as one of the top skippers at the club and then the area, working through the Optimist, Club FJ, Club 420 and Laser (full rig) fleets. At the age of 14, she helmed for a team at the Rolex Women’s International Keelboat Regatta. Towards the end of her junior sailing, she qualified, in full rig Laser, for the national Smythe Cup. Quite an achievement, seeing as she was the only girl and weighed only 130lb. Anna had several offers from colleges asking her to run track and cross country for them, but she decided to follow her sailing goal, set back when she was 12/13; that was to bring home a medal from the Olympics.
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA and Mitch Brindley provided the next 4 years of her sail training and development. The college sailing circuit is very grueling and unforgiving. Mistakes are seen by many and forgotten by few. So one quickly learns not to make them. At college, Anna brought back several national titles (see below), and struck up a professional coach/athlete relationship with Mitch, that extended well past Anna’s university years.
Anna competed in the US Olympic Trials in 2003 in the Europe dinghy, finishing 4th and opening many eyes to her future potential. The 2007 US Olympic Trials were more successful, as she qualified to represent the US in China at the Olympic Games in 2008. In a regatta that came down to the last 2 legs of the final race, Anna was triumphant, winning the gold, and bringing home the first US women’s Olympic Gold sailing medal in 20 years.
After the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Anna decided to focus on match racing. The new challenge is quite alluring to her because of the intense pressure before, during and after the start, pitching one's own tactics and wit against one other boat, rather than a fleet, and also because of working with a team on a much larger boat than the Laser Radial.
Anna has just returned from the 2012 London Olympics and will have some great stores to share.
Dave Perry
Dave Perry on the Racing Rules & Their Tactical Uses, Including the Changes for 2013
Dave Perry grew up sailing on Long Island Sound. Learning to sail in Sunfish, Blue Jays and Lightnings from his parents and in the junior program at the Pequot Yacht Club in Southport, Connecticut, he won the Clinton M. Bell Trophy for the best junior record on L.I.S. in 1971. While at Yale (1973-77) he was captain of the National Championship Team in 1975, and was voted All-American in 1975 and 1977. Other racing accomplishments include: 1st, 1978 Tasar North Americans; 5th, 1979 Laser Worlds; 3rd, 1982 Soling Worlds; 1st, 1983 and 1984 Congressional Cup; 1st, 1982, 2006, 2008 and 2011 U.S. Match Racing Championship (POW); and 1st, 1994, 1999 and 2003 Ideal 18 North American Championship.
Dave has been actively working for the sport since 1977. He has led hundreds of US Sailing instructional seminars in over 50 one-design classes; directed U.S. Olympic Sailing Committee Talent Development Clinics; coached the 1981 World Champion U.S. Youth Team; and given seminars in Japan, Australia, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil and Canada. He has been the Youth Representative on the US Sailing Board of Directors and the Chairman of the U.S. Youth Championship Committee, and has served on the following other US Sailing committees: Match Racing, Olympic, Training, Class Racing and O’Day Championship. He is currently the Chairman of the US Sailing Appeals Committee and a US Sailing Senior Certified Judge.
In 1992 he was voted into the Sailing World Hall of Fame; in 1995 he became the first recipient of US Sailing’s Captain Joe Prosser Award for exceptional contribution to sailing education; and in March 2001 Dave received the W. Van Alan Clarke, Jr. Trophy, US Sailing’s national award for sportsmanship. He was the Director of Athletics at Greens Farms Academy, a K-12 coed independent day school in Westport, Connecticut from 1986-2006; and has served as the Rules Advisor to Victory Challenge (the Swedish 2007 America’s Cup challenger) and Artemis Racing (the Swedish 2013 America’s Cup challenger), Coach for women’s match racing for the 2009-2012 U.S. Sailing Team Sperry-Topsider, and Rules Advisor for the U.S. Olympic Sailing Team in 2008 and 2012.
Carl Blackwell
CMO & SVP Marketing & Communications, National Marine Manufacturers Association
Promoting the Boating Lifestyle
Carl Blackwell joined the National Marine Manufacturers Association as Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Marketing and Communications in September, 2003. Blackwell oversees all association marketing and communication efforts including boat shows. Carl was appointed President of Grow Boating, Inc. which produces the industry funded Discover Boating Campaign in July 2011.
Prior to joining NMMA, Blackwell spent 8 years with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, best known for their “Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner” campaign as Executive Director of Marketing. He also has worked in various marketing and public relations capacities for General Mills, Little Caesars, Dean Foods and Bentley Barnes and Lynn Advertising.
Carl Blackwell graduated with honors from St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Indiana with a BS in Management. He grew up in southern Indiana near Lake Monroe, where he enjoyed the water on several family and friend’s boats. He docks his boat at Diversey Harbor in Chicago.
Greg Fisher
20 Coaching Strategies to Get Yourself a Bigger Fleet
Attracting Young Adults/ The College Connection
Greg Fisher is presently the Director of Sailing at the College of Charleston, presently ranked the number one college sailing team in the country. Formerly with North Sails One Design, Greg is a 21-time National Champion in seven classes, including the J/22, Lightning, Thistle, Flying Scot and Highlander classes. He is also a past chair of the One Design Class Council and Championship of Champions Committee for US Sailing.
Skip Dieball
The Top Ten Most Innovative Things Classes are Doing
From the Experts: Essential Go Fast Tips
Skip Dieball came into his own in the early 2000’s, as evidenced by his nomination for the ROLEX YACHTSMAN OF THE YEAR. In his sailing career, Dieball has earned 31 major one design titles (Continental, National & Midwinter). In addition to these achievements, he actively pursued an opportunity to represent the United States in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games, won the prestigious 2009 US Sailing Championship of Champions and was nominated for US Sailing’s Van Allen Clark Sportsman of the Year in 2010.
Dieball continues to build on the success that brought him the Rolex nomination. His annual racing schedule includes participating in Interlake, Thistle, Lightning and J/22 Midwinter and National Championships as well as the Lightning World Championships every two years. Dieball owns sailmaking lofts in Toledo and Cleveland and has been in the industry for over 20 years. His relationship with the industry’s major players and state-of-the-art technology in sail design, means that Dieball Sailing is a company positioned for growth. His extensive sailing experience also keeps him on the cutting edge of one-design sailboat racing.
Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Dieball graduated from Eastern Michigan University. He lives in Mason, Ohio, with his wife Laurie and their nine-year-old daughter Meghan and six-year-old daughter Mallory.
Mike Ingham
The Top Ten Most Innovative Things Classes are Doing
From the Experts: Essential Go Fast Tips
Mike Ingham works for Quantum Sails as a one design expert designing sails, racing, and helping customers. He has about 15 National/Continental championships and countless regional championships in a variety of one design boats such as the J24, Thistle, JY15, Tornado, IC, and J22. Mike invests a lot in helping fellow sailors excel in the sport by putting on clinics, hosting seminars, private coaching, and writing article for publications such as Sailing World. Mike lives in Rochester, NY and was brought up racing in Long Island Sound.
Jack Gierhart, US Sailing Executive Director
US Sailing & One-Design: A Strong Partnership
Jack is the Executive Director of US SAILING. Jack has over 20 years of sales, marketing, and general management experience in the technology and marine industries. In his 5+ years at US SAILING, Jack has lead the Marketing, Membership and IT departments, focusing on growing the organization’s membership base, marketing US Sailing’s broad array of services and products, growing sponsorship and licensing programs, as well as and improving the overall information technology infrastructure, content management and outgoing communications initiatives. Jack was also the founder and CEO of MessageSherpa, an online communications company, and the executive vice president of Nautor’s Swan USA responsible for developing strategies and implementing sales, marketing, and customer service plans in the U.S. Jack served for as a global sales and business development manager for IBM where he developed worldwide sales strategies and enablement programs.
An avid sailor, Gierhart sails both competitively and recreationally. In addition to circumnavigating Alaska and sailing much of the east and west coasts of the US, he has participated in the Fastnet race, numerous Bermuda races and enjoys racing Lasers, H12s, Shields, J/105s, and J/80s. He lives with his wife, two daughters and son in Marion, MA.
Tom Hubbell, US Sailing President
20 Coaching Strategies to Get Yourself a Bigger Fleet
Tom was introduced to sailing by the Sea Scouts in X-boats when he was young. Tom went on to drive the winning boat in a MORC fleet during medical school. With the first paycheck, he and his wife began actively racing Thistles and he has served twice as class President. Tom leads a racing seminar during Thistle Midwinters (Coach-TCA) and wrote an accompanying book, Sailboat Racing with Greg Fisher. Tom has added C-Scow racing to his sailing activities and looks forward to stormy days on a Laser. He enjoyed racing the Chicago-Mac in 2008. As Vice President of US Sailing for nine years, Tom led the 2005 reorganization to a smaller board with direct election by the members. Other interests include playing the piano and fitness training.
Laura JeffersAttracting Young Adults/ The College Connection
Preview: The Lightning Boat Grant program has helped bring new youth sailors into the Lightning Class. Laura talks about how this program can work for your class or fleet.
Laura has been actively racing Lightning's for over 20 years in the New England Area and more recently in Florida. She sails at the Fleet, Regional, National and International levels within many one-design classes. She has volunteered and worked for non-profit organizations over the past 10 years and she is the Executive Secretary for the International Lightning Class Association.
Patty Lawrence
Symposium Moderator
Patty Lawrence races Thistles with her family and would like to share that should one find the sailboat racing growing stale just add children to your crew. They’ll add zest to any race course. Patty serves as secretary on the US Sailing Board of Directors, as the One-Design Class Council Chair and Thistle Class President. She is the current Secretary–Treasurer of the Thistle Class Association.
Candace Porter
Success in Scow Country
Candace Porter is the past commodore of Inland Lake Yachting Association, and only the second female commodore in 110 years! She is editor of Scowlines (weekly e-newsletter to scow sailors), previous chair of ILYA Optimist class, Youth Development Committee, Promotion Committee , Communications Committee, Youth Boat Selection Committee. Served on US Sailing Youth Championship committee.
Dave Rosekrans
U.S. Sailing Foundation President, past US Sailing President
Dave’s interest in safety developed over 20 years with the National Ski Patrol including patrol director and as an Outdoor Emergency Care instructor. For three years, Dave was Chair of the Cincinnati Chapter of the American Red Cross First Aid Committee, which provided first responder care to 100 events each year including Riverfest with 500,000 people attending. The committee also covered the many courses taught by the Red Cross. Dave, a retired product development engineer from Procter & Gamble, is a Past-President of US Sailing and current President of the US Sailing Foundation. Dave is a 45 year Thistle racer at Cowan Lake Sailing Association, a small club near Cincinnati, OH. Dave has participated in the ISAF and the US Olympic Committees.
Lon Schoor
Success in Scow Country
Lon Schoor is the current Secretary-Treasurer of National Class E Scow Association (NCESA), chair of the 1999 ILYA E Invitational Regatta proudly featuring 133 E Scows, past Rules Committee Chair for (NCESA), past chair of ILYA A Scow Committee, chair of the 1976 ILYA Annual Championship Regatta. Past Commodore of Mendota Yacht Club.
Justin Scott
One-Design Class Associations Committee Chair
Justin was founding class president of the Viper 640 Class Association from January 2003 until March 2011. The Class Association’s first meeting took place in Maddy's Sail Loft in Marblehead, Mass, with six founding members after production of the Viper had ceased five years previously. Eight years on, the Viper is one of the fastest growing classes in North America, with close to 200 hulls built by a class appointed builder, fleets on the East Coast, West Coast, Great Lakes ,Texas, Canada, and Bermuda, and a vibrant Pan American regatta circuit sponsored by EFG Bank.
Justin divides his time between a summer home in Marblehead, Mass. and his residence in Greenwich, Connecticut. He is a managing partner at Lammergeier Research LLC, a public and private equity investment firm. Justin enjoys all aspects of the sport of sailing. He currently owns a 1958 Carl Arlberg Seasprite 23 and a 2011 Viper 640. Justin grew up sailing dinghies in the UK and moved to the United States in 1988. He is previously North American champion in the Rhodes 19 class as well as the Viper 640 class. Justin is a member of US SAILING’s One Design Council and the House of Delegates. Justin is a member of the Royal Thames Yacht Club and a member of their team racing team. He remains a Governor of the Viper 640 Class Association.
David Sprague
Classes: How to Grow Them, How to Keep Them Strong
David has been a management consultant in Toronto with assignments in Canada, the United States and England over the last 20 years. For the past 17 years, he has been a partner in Management Advice, a Toronto-based international consulting firm. David's area of specialization is executive recruiting and general management consulting. In addition to Executive Search, he has acted as the chief operating officer in a number of companies in Canada and the U.S. on behalf of his clients. Prior to his consulting career in Management Advice, Canadian Marketing Associates and Woods Gordon, David spent twelve years at Procter & Gamble, holding management positions in both the Marketing and the Human Resources Groups. These roles and experiences in various management levels help him to be cognizant of the client's needs and empathetic to their business goals. David has been, and continues to be, active in the community. He has served on the Board of Governors of the Toronto East General Hospital, the Board of Directors of the Boulevard Club in Toronto, the Ontario Sailing Association and the Canadian Yachting Association. He has been a member of Canada’s National Sailing Team and remains very active as a participant and as a volunteer in the sport of sailing, both nationally and internationally. He is currently the Canadian representative on the World governing body of sailing, the International Sailing Federation (ISAF), as well as a Past President of the Canadian Yachting Association, Vice-Chair of the ISAF Class Council and Chair of the ISAF International Measurer’s Sub-Committee. David has a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario and has a Bachelor of Science degree from McGill University.
Nick Turney
The Top Ten Most Innovative Things Classes are Doing
From the Experts: Essential Go Fast Tips
Preview: Nick, Skip Dieball, Mike Ingham will present their secret go fast tips.
Nick Turney heads up the North Sails Cleveland office. His first sail was at six months aboard his parents and grandparents Tartan 33r. He skippered an Opti at age six at the North Cape Yacht Club. His favorite boat is a Lightning and he has three Thistle Midwinter titles under his belt. He sails everything from one-design boats to 52 footers and PHRF boats as well.