I grew up in Portland, OR. My first experience sailing was on a Santana 20 on the Columbia river. It wasn't exactly an instant passion. I sorta had to grow into it. But, once I got into it I jumped in and went for it. My parents used to race their little boat in weekly club races. We would take occasional trips up the river to Government Island and camp out on the boat.
My first boat was a Laser. I totally fell in love with sailing at that point! I joined the Willamette Sailing Club when I was about 12 years old. From that point on my life was consumed with racing and practicing. I raced 3 nights a week and eventually would start traveling to regattas on the weekends.
My first trip to Seattle brought me to the NorthWest Youth Championships where I got to attend a morning seminar put on by my sailing idol, Carl Buchan! It was amazing, I'll never forget that weekend. I made a ton of new friends while up there that weekend and ended up taking 1st place in the championships. Youth sailing was pretty much non-existent in Portland, so I was constantly racing with the local adults and would travel North every month to compete with kids my age. When I was 14 I got the chance drive across the country to crew on a Thistle for Nationals as foredeck where we won Junior Nationals.
There were quite a few of us that remained pretty competitive at every event. When I was 16, a few of us joined forces and made a run for the Sears Cup (Dalton Bergan and Mike Visser). It didn't take a lot of practice to solidify our teamwork, we just clicked! We made it to South Carolina and in 1994 we took home the Sears cup landing ourselves on the Rolex Youth Sailing Team.
My life was completely consumed with sailing at that point. Every moment was spent focusing on racing and getting ready for the next event. I paired up with a local member of the US Sailing team, Darrel Peck, and tried my hand at the much larger Finn class one design. At that point in time I was extremely undersized for the class but loving every moment of my experience. I got to travel with Darrel and tag along with the other members of the US Sailing team. I never ranked well in the big events but got so much growth out of every event.
My first boat was a Laser. I totally fell in love with sailing at that point! I joined the Willamette Sailing Club when I was about 12 years old. From that point on my life was consumed with racing and practicing. I raced 3 nights a week and eventually would start traveling to regattas on the weekends.
My first trip to Seattle brought me to the NorthWest Youth Championships where I got to attend a morning seminar put on by my sailing idol, Carl Buchan! It was amazing, I'll never forget that weekend. I made a ton of new friends while up there that weekend and ended up taking 1st place in the championships. Youth sailing was pretty much non-existent in Portland, so I was constantly racing with the local adults and would travel North every month to compete with kids my age. When I was 14 I got the chance drive across the country to crew on a Thistle for Nationals as foredeck where we won Junior Nationals.
There were quite a few of us that remained pretty competitive at every event. When I was 16, a few of us joined forces and made a run for the Sears Cup (Dalton Bergan and Mike Visser). It didn't take a lot of practice to solidify our teamwork, we just clicked! We made it to South Carolina and in 1994 we took home the Sears cup landing ourselves on the Rolex Youth Sailing Team.
My life was completely consumed with sailing at that point. Every moment was spent focusing on racing and getting ready for the next event. I paired up with a local member of the US Sailing team, Darrel Peck, and tried my hand at the much larger Finn class one design. At that point in time I was extremely undersized for the class but loving every moment of my experience. I got to travel with Darrel and tag along with the other members of the US Sailing team. I never ranked well in the big events but got so much growth out of every event.