Winds Picking Up Behind RBR Scholastic Sailing Program

A co-ed crew of sailors from has recently made significant headway for their high school program with strong showings in regional and local competitions.

The Bucs finished second among their New Jersey peers and 11th out of 18 schools at the Mid-Atlantic Scholastic Sailing Association (MASSA) Fall Championships held at The Stony Brook School’s sailing club in Port Jefferson, NY and took first at the New Jersey Interscholastic Sailing League's regatta in Brant Beach, NJ (near Manahawkin) last month.

Coach John Garth said the MASSA finish was significant because it showed that Red Bank, which is not currently a varsity program, can compete with some of the best high school sailing programs in the Northeast.

"You had 18 of the top notch sailing teams there from New York down to Virginia," said Garth. "The wasn't a bad team there. When you look at the point totals, the difference between [RBR] and the seventh place team was not that great a distance."

Regattas involve a series of races with points awarded by finishing position. The lower the score, the better the standing.

After 28 races at MASSA, RBR finished with 280 points, with an average finish of 10th in each race. By comparison, the Severn School from Maryland finished first with 176 points, winning four races with an average finish of 6th. The Bucs finished first in two races.

RBR was divided into two teams, with Senior Max Neubelt skippering the A Division races and Freshmen Andrew O’Brien, Robby Gearon and Dominique Neubelt alternating as crew. Junior Caroline Garth and Senior Kendall Van Winkle alternated as skippers in the B Division races, with Junior Gabi Neubelt crewing.

Garth said Van Winkle and Neubelt have teamed up for several years, and represented the area at the US Sailing National Junior Doublehanded Championships Regatta this past summer.

Van Winkle's father, Stuart, a Little Silver councilman and sailor in his own right, acknowledged RBR's position on a peninsula between the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers makes it a good place for sailors.

"You could not find a geographical location more ideal than what we have here for supporting high school sailing because of the fairly large number of kids that come out from sailing programs and the ideal water conditions we have here in terms of relatively flat water and a good breeze and cooperative local clubs that are willing to help out," said Van Winkle.

RBR's team practices out of the Shrewsbury Sailing and Yacht Club (SSYC) in Oceanport, which is also home to sailing teams from Monmouth University and Rutgers. , with others beginning at in Red Bank and the Fair Haven Sailing Club.

Van Winkle said the Bucs sailing team, like many scholastic sailing programs, is fully parent operated, funded, and organized. He said the school has fielded a team fairly consistently for 6 or 7 years running, and some alums have gone on to sail for college teams, such as Andrew Tamblyn, who now sails for Roger Williams University in Providence, RI.

To move up as a program, Garth said the team could use a financial boost from a 'rich uncle' to purchase boats for the team.

"[Severn, the team that won the MASSA regatta] is a fully supported team that practices five days a week and owns their own boats," said Van Winkle. "Raritan recently got 10 boats that were funded by a single individual that was interested in jump-starting a fleet."

A single donor does not have to be the case though, said Van Winkle, pointing to Monmouth University's first fleet of boats, provided by 10 individual businesses that each bought a single boat.

"The interest is twofold: one, you get to advertise, and two, it helps the sport, and I think at this level, anyone who has grown up with sailing knows how much fun it is and what can be learned and what a tremendous sport it is. If many people feel strongly about it and at this point they want to give back to the sport to help make it happen," said Van Winkle.

Aside from the price of boats, Van Winkle said for individuals on the scholastic level, the costs can be contained.

"All you need is a wet suit, dry suit, life jacket, and gloves," said Van Winkle.

Sailing at the high school level has existed for over 70 years and has been growing rapidly over the past 10, with teams in Rumson-Fair Haven, MAST, Middletown South, CBA, Point Pleasant, RBR, RBC, Holmdel, Colts Neck, Raritan and Princeton now all in the water.

Though the RBR team is not currently receiving varsity letters, a sailboat on the back of a maroon jacket in the near future isn't out of the question. Van Winkle said school officials are receptive to the idea.

"It's our goal in the longrun - and a lot of public schools have gotten to this point but it didn't happen overnight - is where they operate at the club level and can get recognition and even varsity and JV letters for their sailors that meet certain criteria.

"It's a new concept, schools having a sailing team. It involves water and people are concerned about safety, so there's a lot of I's to dot and T's to cross for schools that want to formally take part in this and we're in the process of doing so."