Skipper Maxine DeHavenon from East Hampton High School and crewman Liam Kenny from East Hampton Middle School sailing off Sag Harbor on Monday

By Gavin Menu

Far from any video game, smartphone, house chores or homework, students from the Ross School, Pierson and East Hampton High School gather on fall afternoons to rip across the water in Sag Harbor Bay. Just outside the breakwater and beyond Sag Harbor’s fleet of multi-million dollar yachts, the sport of high school sailing is alive and well.

“I practically live here,” said Wyatt Moyer, a student at Ross who is on both the fall and spring sailing teams and participates in the Breakwater Yacht Club Junior Sailing Program during the summer months.

While many of their friends play more traditional interscholastic sports like soccer or field hockey, members of the local sailing teams call Breakwater their home base and travel to competitive regattas across Long Island.

Moyer and four other Ross students, along with five sailors from East Hampton and two from Pierson, currently make up a collective team from the East End. They also compete, at times, as individual schools depending on whether a regatta is structured as a team event or designed for individual boats.

“More are welcome and recruiting is in process, possibly with sailors from Southampton, Bridgehampton, Sagaponack, even Riverhead,” said Sean Elliot, the sailing director at Breakwater. “High school sailing at Breakwater is open to anybody middle school and up who is interested in getting involved.”

Sailors on Monday took advantage of 18-knot wind gusts and jockeyed for position during a series of practice races, which take place daily from 4 to 5:30 p.m., rain or shine. Watching from the club’s usual race committee boat, Elliot spoke about a student who walked into the club cold a week ago, said he was tired of sitting around after school every day and hasn’t missed a day of practice since.

“A lot of the kids who come out stick with it, and that’s basically what the club is all about,” Elliot said about Breakwater, which charges junior sailors just $30 per year to become members, with no additional costs to be a part of the sailing team. “Rather than sitting around on the couch, they’re out here on the water learning to sail. It’s an amazing experience.”

Breakwater also serves as host for the high school spring season, which is much larger, according to Elliot, with about 25 sailors expected to compete starting in March of next year. The fall season runs until Thanksgiving, even as temperatures begin to plummet.

“You’d be surprised what some of these kids can endure,” Elliot said, adding that the club helps with equipment and foul-weather gear.

The team this fall will attend regattas at The Stony Brook School and The Waterfront Center in Oyster Bay, with Elliot and two other coaches— Martin Monteith and Dwight Curtis, who are both from Ross—hoping to compete with The East End Youth Sailing Foundation, which is based out of the Old Cove Yacht Club on the North Shore and is the home base of the Mattituck High School sailing team.

“High school sailing is booming nationwide and we are glad to help promote it to the fullest extent,” Elliot said. “Besides being a great sport for young sailors, building confidence and team unity, it is also great for the their college applications. College coaches are consistently checking on local high school events and we have some great connections at that level.”

Students interested in getting involved can call Breakwater at (631) 725-4604.

Skipper Cole Colby and crew Veronica Ko, both from the Ross School sailing on Monday.

Adults on The Water Too

Breakwater’s Wednesday Night Fall Series will come to a conclusion next week as the club’s bigger boats continue to battle for local bragging rights. Fred Stelle sailed Witchli to a win in Division 1 last Wednesday, September 17, posting a corrected time of 47:28. David Betts and Charlene Kagel, aboard Instant Karma, finished second in 49:24 and Lee Oldak, aboard Purple Haze, finished third in 50:22.

In Division 2, it was Jim Smyth and Derrick Galen sailing White Lightning to victory with a corrected time of 50:07. Osprey, captained by George Martin, finished second in 51:28 while Wave Equation and captains Bruce Dinsmore and Joan Worthing finished third in 56:46.

The Sag Harbor-based Skoot won last week’s J/109 North American Championship in Newport, Rhode Island.

By Gavin Menu

Sag Harbor’s Breakwater Yacht Club was well represented at the 2014 New York Yacht Club Race Week in Newport, Rhode Island, last week with captain Jim Vos and his crew sailing Skoot to victory in the J/109 division.

The victory came with an added and significant honor since the event doubled as the J/109 North American Championship.

“We are elated, but we’re not going to gloat, because there are some very good boats that had a tough day today,” Vos said in a release, giving a nod to his tactician, Danny Cameron, a resident of Sayville who helped bring Skoot from behind to claim victory. “The J/109 fleet is stronger now than it has ever been, so if you’re behind at any point during a race it is very hard to come back. The outcome could have gone many ways this week.”

Caminos, another boat based out of Breakwater and captained by Donald Filippelli, finished second overall in the event, which consisted of nine separate races over a three-day period from July 17 to19. Caminos finished first in four of the nine races, but fell short of the championship after finishing toward the bottom in two of the last three races.

Skoot, by comparison, had just one victory but was steady across all three days, finishing no worse than sixth in all but one of the nine races.

“You can’t afford to have too many bad races,” Cameron said when reached by phone on Tuesday. “It’s not about finishing first. In these regattas, especially if there’s enough good boats, if you can have your average around 4 or 5, you’re going to do well.”

Skoot and Caminos, both based out of the Breakwater Yacht Club, finished first and second in last week’s J/109 North American Championship.

Skoot finished with a score of 39, representing the total of its finishes in all nine races (4.3 average). Caminos was second with  43 points (4.8 average) and Emoticon, captained by Jonathan Rechtschaffer, finished third with 44 points (4.9 average). Emoticon won three of the first five races, but finished 11th, 10th and 7th in the final three to fade back into third place in the overall standings.

Three other J/109’s out of Sag Harbor also competed, with Greg Ames and Steve Kenny sailing Gossip to an eighth-place finish, William Rogers sailing Big Boat to ninth and Ray Pepi sailing Cleo to 13th overall.

The race was held at the New York Yacht Club’s Harbour Court clubhouse in Newport, and featured entrants from as far away as Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland.

Cameron on Tuesday credited the crew of Skoot with an outstanding performance over the three-day event.  Liz Joyce, Luke Babcock and Brett Morgan, all of Sag Harbor, Chris Mangieri of East Hampton, Jim Ryan from the North Fork and Madeline Clarke of Indiana helped accomplish what Cameron described as “one of the biggest accomplishments in sailing I’ve ever had.” He also praised Vos, who was at the helm and graciously gave Cameron the “trophy” Rolex watch after the races had ended.

“We had long days, leaving the dock at 10 a.m. and not coming back in until 7:30 at night,” Cameron said. “Staying on the wheel for that amount of time is exhausting, and Jim did a great job.

“Everyone performed extremely well,” he added. “If all the pieces aren’t all there, there’s no way you’re going to win.”

The crew aboard Skoot.

Alliance Wins Sag Harbor Cup

 Meanwhile back home in Sag Harbor, Breakwater hosted its annual Sag Harbor Cup regatta with a smaller fleet because of the race in Newport. Stephen Guyer sailed Alliance to victory with a corrected time of 3 hours 33 minutes and 27 seconds, besting last year’s winner, Osprey, by nearly 12 minutes.

Captain George Martin brought Osprey across the line with a corrected time of 3:45:01 while Dan Montero, aboard Gracious, finished third in 3:51:56.

Sean Elliott, far right, is the new sailing director at the Breakwater Yacht Club in Sag Harbor.

By Gavin Menu

Jack Reiser was in his second year as club steward of the Breakwater Yacht Club when a young African-American girl from Selden showed up on the club’s footsteps, scholarship in hand, hoping to become a sailor.

“She wanted to learn how to sail, her parents had no clue, but through Head Start they learned about the scholarships, and the kid loved it,” said Reiser, who was one of the club’s first members 25 years ago. “The parents figured out they could turn their kid into a straight A student because they said they would ‘buy’ her the scholarship. The kid went from a C student to a straight A student.”

There are a great many traditions that revolve around the water on the East End, and in Sag Harbor, in particular, with sailing at or near the top of the list. Long considered a sport for the wealthy and elite, community clubs like Breakwater are breaking that mold as they commit to bringing sailing to the masses, children and adults alike.

And Breakwater’s commitment to that pursuit has moved to a higher level as the 2014 season begins. Sean Elliott, who grew up sailing the waters of Patchogue Bay in Bayport and worked as the sailing director at the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett for seven years, will head the sailing program at Breakwater this year and assist Reiser in running the program. In an interview at the club on Tuesday, Elliott said the club has added new sailboats to its fleet, implemented what he believes is a critical Counselor in Training  program and soon will be welcoming campers in record numbers.

Reiser and Elliott estimate that as many as 400 sailing students will pass through the program between now and Labor Day. Also new this year is the acceptance of children as young as 7 years old. In the past, a student had to be at least 9 to participate in the programs.

“We want the kids at the end of their week here to be able to handle a boat,” said Elliott, who talks a great deal about safety and curriculum, emphasizing that the camp is not simply about cruising the harbor but truly learning to sail. “We’re promoting sailing at a very reasonable rate. You don’t have to join a yacht club, you don’t have to join a waiting list. Here, for next to nothing, you can be sailing for the summer.”

A week of sailing camp at Breakwater costs $325, with discounts available for multiple weeks. A camper who attends Breakwater for six to 12 weeks pays only $165 per week. Adults can also join the club for $250 per season, with opportunities to use the club’s boats, take lessons and spend the summer sailing even without owning a boat.

Breakwater also promotes competitive sailing for both children and adults. The club’s Wednesday Night Sailing series attracts dozens of longtime sailors and a fleet of some of Sag Harbor’s most impressive boats. For kids, the club this year has joined the Peconic Gardiners Junior Sailing Association, which hosts regattas across the East End. A handful of high schools also field teams for competitions in the fall.

“Promoting sailing on the shoulder seasons, in the spring and fall, is going to be great for us here,” Elliott said. “We’re hiring more instructors. It’s growing. We have a lot of the bigger boats now that are looking for crew. There’s one boat, a J-100, where almost the whole crew is made up of instructors or kids from the high school sailing program. We’re trying to tie it all together.”

A crucial component to that progression from young student to experienced sailor is the  Counselors in Training program, or CIT, which is designed for students between the ages of 13 and 15. The program was created to ensure that Breakwater has high quality instructors for years to come.

“If we train 13, 14 and 15-year-olds, I have them from their freshman year in high school until they’re done with college,” Elliott said. “And we have the teachers we want to have. It’s a great way to spend your summer, teaching sailing lessons. We want people to come to Breakwater and spend their lives here.”

For more information on the club, which is located at 51 Bay Street, visit breakwateryc.org.

Sailing through Sag Harbor on Friday. Photo by Nancy Greenberg.

By Mara Certic

There’s something about being out on a boat on a sunshiny day in June: it changes your perspective. The water seems different when it surrounds you. The familiar shoreline becomes, at times, unrecognizable when you look at it from a sailboat, a half a mile offshore. Day-to-day problems can be reevaluated and troubles seem to fade, at least momentarily, in the face of the vast blue bay.

This notion is one of the founding principles behind Sailing Heals, a non-profit organization that takes cancer patients and their caregivers on two-hour sailing trips to provide some respite and peace of mind during their times of difficulty.

Twin sisters Trisha and Michele Gallagher founded the organization in Marblehead, Massachusetts, three years ago this month.  Michele was working for Panerai—a quality watch company based in Manhattan—which sponsored classic regattas. She “thought it was great,” according to her sister, but wanted to add a community aspect to the sailing.

The rest is history. Panerai loved the idea, Trisha Gallagher said, and gave her and her sister seed money to get started, and Sailing Heals was born. The organization works in conjunction with private captains who donate their time and boats to give their “VIPs” two-hour healing getaways onto the water.

“We’ve taken over 700 cancer patients and caregivers out,” she said. In September, the organization also took out 37 runners who had survived the 2013 terrorist attack at the Boston marathon. “Everybody enjoyed it so much,” she said. “We expect to triple that this year.”

On Friday, June 20, Sailing Heals joined forces with Sag Harbor’s Fighting Chance to give some of that charity’s members a day out on the water.

Around 16 cancer survivors and their caregivers gathered at Breakwater Yacht Club for a buffet lunch catered by Cavaniola’s.

The captains, organizers and VIPS sat at circular tables; chatting softly amongst themselves as they ate their sandwiches and brownies and waited to be split into smaller groups and assigned to their vessels.

Captain Toby Stull hosted a couple along with their 11-year old daughter on his beautiful 52-foot sailing yacht, Starlight.  The mother was diagnosed with Stage 3 Lymphoma a few years ago. The 11-year-old was excited, chatting with her parents as the launch took them from the dock out to the 52-foot sailing yacht. Her infectious enthusiasm for the afternoon activity spread quickly to her parents as the anchor was lifted and the sails caught the early summer winds.

Starlight was the last of the five boats to set off, not that any of its passengers noticed or minded. The young girl explored the cabin below deck; its comfortable staterooms and “really cool” galley had her thinking that the sailor’s life might be for her.

There was a newfound levity in the air; a carefree feeling that seems only to come when away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, suggesting the truth in Kenneth Grahame’s words: “there is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Conversation drifted from school and childhood to poetry and books, as smiles got wider and the sun warmer. The young girl, a voracious reader, proclaimed “A Fault in Our Stars,”—which she read for the first, second, third, fourth and fifth times last week—her new favorite book.  John Green’s 2012 novel tells the story of a 16-year-old cancer patient who is forced by her mother to join a support group, where she eventually falls in love.  “It’s so good,” she said. “I mean, it’s sad. It’s very sad. But it’s so good, you have to read it.”

As the boat tooled around along the shoreline, Captain Stull pointed out the familiar hamlets and neighborhoods the boat sailed past; places such as North Haven and Noyac looking small and almost unrecognizable from Starlight. As the vessel turned around near Cedar Point, talk shifted quickly as the girl’s mother excitedly pointed out a peninsula as “where we used to camp.”

The afternoon was tranquil and beautiful, and though thoughts of doctors’ appointments and future plans occasionally fogged the pleasure of the outing, these moments passed quickly. “We’re in a state of perpetual advent,” one of the women said somewhat despondently as the boat made its way back to shore, back to reality. But her face lit right up again when she saw her daughter joking around and sunbathing on the bow.

The boats returned to port at around 3 p.m., and as the VIPs and captains disembarked, it was with a lingering sense of wellbeing.

New friends shook hands, hugged, promised to stay in touch as the words of Jules Verne’s Captain Nemo came to mind: “The sea is everything. It covers seven tenths of the terrestrial globe. Its breath is pure and healthy. It is an immense desert, where man is never lonely, for he feels life stirring on all sides.”

Last Wednesday the Breakwater Yacht Club Summer Cup Series continued its season, with a clutch victory by Purple Haze, piloted by Lee Oldak and Dan Kalish. They took the Division I race with a corrected time of 1:53.43. Donald Filipelli’s “Caminos” took second with a time of 1:53:58, followed by Bruce Tait’s Buckaroo, which crossed with a time of 1:57:10. Bud Rogers’ “Big Boat” came in fourth. Jim Vos’ “Skoot” came in fifth, followed by Steve Kenny and Greg Ames’ “Gossip”, with Wayne & Carol Morse’s “Roxanne” in last.

In Division II, George Martin’s “Osprey” took first place, with a corrected time of 1:55:02, beating out second place Scott Gaeckle’s “Kingfisher” by a full minute. In third place were Jim Smyth and Derrick Galen’s “White Lightning” with a time of 1:56:41. David Betts and Charlene Kagel’s “Instant Karma” took fourth. Mark Webber and Matt Ivans’ “Loki” took fifth, followed by Chris DiSunno in “Swans’ Way”, Barry Browning in “Skidip!”, B. Dinsmore and J. Worthing in “Ridin’ Point” and Jody LoCascio in “Boogie Van”.

Sag Harbor Softball

The Sag Harbor Mens Modified Fast Pitch Softball League had a rough opening day this  Tuesday, May 29. The early game, between Liquors and The Immaculates, was called off after the umpires were a no-show. The teams decided to play a scrimmage instead, during which the sprinklers on the field turned on, dousing the players in the third inning. The Immaculates won, 17-13. The late game was cancelled as well when The Hysterical Society dropped out of the league. A new team is expected to step in and take Hysterical’s place.

Breakwater Yacht Club

Lee Oldak and Dan Kalish took the fourth race of the Breakwater Yacht Club’s May Cup on May 23, after their boat, Purple Haze, finished with a time of 1:27:52. Big Boat, skippered by Bud Rogers placed second. Steven Kenny, and his boat Gossip, placed third. The final May Cup race was held on May 30. The results were unknown when this paper was put to bed.

Collegiate Baseball

Opening day for the Hamptons Collegiate Baseball League is set for Sunday, June 3. The Sag Harbor Whalers kick off the season at Mashashimuet Park against the Riverhead Tomcats at 5 p.m.

Breakwater Yacht Club: Gossip leads the pack, but it ain’t over yet.

by Andrew Rudansky

For decades some of the most exciting sporting contests in Sag Harbor have not actually taken place in Sag Harbor, but instead just beyond the breakwater.

Each Wednesday, during the sailing season, members of the Breakwater Yacht Club test their piloting skills in the May Cup and Summer Cup spinnaker racing series.

The 13 skippers in the May Cup, along with their crews and boats each battle the elements to catch that little extra bit of wind.

“One of the most important things in any of these races is having a good, dependable crew,” said Chris DiSunno, the current chairman of the Breakwater Yacht Club racing committee, and former BYC commodore.

In addition to organizing the races this year, DiSunno competes with his boat Swan’s Way.

Each race is plotted out by DiSunno with the help of the racing committee and principal race officer Gordon Ryan. The tracks vary in size and location for each race due to the character of the wind.

Every race begins with the boats sailing into the wind, reaching a turning point and then finishing at the entrance of the breakwater.

“The start of the race really is the majority of the race,” said DiSunno, who described how each boat jockeys for position before the pistol fires, signaling the start of the race.

Midway through the Breakwater Yacht Club’s May Cup spinnaker series, and the race at the top of the leader board are tight.

Gossip, skippered by Steven Kenny and Greg Ames is currently leading the pack with 7 points. Kenny and Ames have consistently placed high, and won the May 16 race.

George Martin, and his boat Osprey, is right behind in second place with a total score of 10. Martin has finished in the top five in all three races so far, but has yet to capture a win.

Lee Oldak and Dan Kalish take the third spot with their boat Purple Haze. After winning the first race on May 2, the pair have faltered and now have 13 points.

The current leader board is by no means static, as the division still has one more race in the series. In addition after the series is over, all of the skippers throw out their two worst races and calculate only their top three performances.

DiSunno said that the May Cup is just a tune up for the real competition in the annual Summer Cup Series starting in June.

The Summer Cup, first run in 1987, is a 20 boat, 12 race series held throughout the months of June, July and August.

The first Summer Cup race will take place on Wednesday, June 6.

Last Saturday, November 26th the Breakwater Yacht Club ran its annual frostbiting race.  Ten racers showed up on a warm almost perfect Fall day with bright sunshine and, well, very little wind. The Noyac Bay Informal But Competitive Laser Racing Association offered up great tee shirts to all contestants, and Phao restaurant awarded two gift certificates.  One to Derrick Galen,the top overall racer and the other to Katlyn Cummins, the top HIgh School sailor.  Second place went to Tavis Moonan and third place went to Mike Gershenson.

Breakwater Yacht Club offers community sailing all during the year.  This years frostbiting season runs on Sundays at 2pm as long as weather permits.

The Breakwater Yacht Club completed its Fall Series of Wednesday night races on October 13 with Lee Oldak and Dan Kalish onboard Purple Haze taking first in the Spinnaker Division 1 that night, followed by Steve Kenny and Greg Ames on Gossip and Fred Stelle skippering Witchli. In Spinnaker Division 2, Osprey driven by George Martin, took first, followed by White Lightning (Jim Smyth) and Bellatrix (Camerino/Gaites/Frizell).

The BYC also announced the top boats in the entire fall series, with Gossip claiming top honors in the Spinnaker Division 1. Skoot, captained by Jim Voss, took second and Jibber Jabber with David Jannetti at the helm, took third. Witchli placed fourth and Purple Haze, fifth.

In the Spinnaker Division 2, top honors went to Osprey, followed by White Lightning, and Wave Equation with Bruce Dinsmore and Joan Worthing in charge. Swan’s Way (Chris DiSuno) and Impromptu (Sean Leary), took fourth and fifth respectively.

The club also announced a correction to its May Series results.

Taking first in the Spinnaker 1 Division was Gossip with Skoot taking second and Purple Haze taking third.