One Week Until Spring

Yes...despite a long and hard New England winter spring is 1 week away and the snow is finally beginning to disappear! That means it is time to think about the AYCJP!

The winter has been busy as we have had some changes to our 2010 staff.

Unfortunately, our sailing director Kate Sundquist has decided not to return to AYC this summer. As a new teacher she felt that she needed to focus more energy on her career and advancement and could not recommit to AYC...we wish Kate the best and hope she will find time to visit us this summer!

We have been very fortunate to have Cara Vavolotis, our Opti Coach last year, return to our staff as our sailing director! Cara has spent the winter coaching in Florida and training for a possible Olympic run with her crew mate Lara Dallman-Weiss. Speaking of Lara, Lara is going to join our staff as the new Opti Coach this summer. Lara is completing her senior year at Eckerd College as a nutrition major and is excited to share her sailing knowledge with the young AYC sailors. Look for Team Cara-Lara to race some of the AYC veterans over the summer!

The club is also happy to report that we will have a new 420 coach this summer. Will Felder is an education major at the University of South Florida, where he races on their nationally ranked sailing team. Will comes to us after many years experience at the Vineyard Haven Yacht Club, where he learned to sail and more recently coached. Will is going to bring a lot of positive energy to coaching our 420 sailors and we are pleased to have him on staff.

We are happy to report that Todd Nolen and Kathy Clunie will once again be heading up our respective tennis and swimming programs. It is always great to see a couple of familiar faces at the start of the JP and Todd and Kathy bring wonderful experience to our program.

As we continue to hire...we will update the blog! Looking forward to summer and perfect wind!

Joe