IOD Celebrity Invitational

IOD Celebrity Invitational Sponsored by Program 5:45 PM Registration/Check-In 6:00 PM Cocktails and Hors D’oeuvres on the Lawn 6:30 PM Welcome Martin Wayne, Commodore GHYC Liz Ann Sonders, Windhaven Investment Management 6:45 PM Introduction of Celebrity Tacticians Tom Whidden, Honorary Chairman NRW International One Design Celebrity Invitational Regatta 7:15 PM Assignments of Tacticians Chris Gould, Zenas Hutcheson, Peter Goulding 7:30 PM Nantucket Community Sailing and Buffet Dinner Diana Brown & Martin McKerrow Nantucket Community Sailing Honorary Chairperson Tom Whidden Tom Whidden joined North Sails in 1986 and became President/CEO of North Marine Group when it was established ten years later. A graduate of Colby College in Waterville, Maine, Whidden has earned many accolades throughout his sailing career including the "Carl Nelson" Award (for Athletic Achievement After College) from Colby College in 1989, and the University Club "Man of the Year" award in 1987. Tom’s leadership in the design and manufacturing of superb, technologically advanced sails at North Sails is significant. Since he became president, the art and science of sail making has advanced so completely that every Volvo Ocean Race competitor in the upcoming around-the-world race is currently using North sails and eleven out of 12 America's Cup teams in 2006-07 raced with North sails. Tom began sailing at age ten at the Cedar Point Yacht Club in Westport, Connecticut, and went on to become one of the most experienced America's Cup sailors in the world. "When I was 16, my dream was to become a sail maker and race in the America's Cup," Tom says of his years as a junior sailor on Long Island Sound. He has sailed with Dennis Conner in a total of eight America's Cup campaigns, beginning in 1979 as Conner's trial horse skipper. He has raced as tactician in five America's Cup series races and has won the America's Cup three times (1980, 1987 and 1988). Along with Conner, he was given a key to New York City from Mayor Ed Koch in 1987 after bringing the America's Cup back to the United States from Australia. Tom was inducted into the America's Cup Hall of Fame in 2004. We are honored to have Tom Whidden return to Nantucket Race Week as honorary chairman of the IOD Celebrity Regatta. Principal Race Officer Eric Robbins Eric started sailing Widgeons at age 9 at New Bedford Yacht Club, graduating to Rhodes-19s and Junior Commodore. He sailed for UPenn in the 70s, then moved on to Lasers for which he organized and ran regattas for clubs in Atlanta, San Diego, and Connecticut. He served as RC Chairman for four years and Rear Commodore at Cedar Point YC while racing his J-30 before moving to Tampa in 2007. There, he races a J-105 when not serving as PRO, Judge or Umpire at regional events. This year he became a certified US Sailing Umpire. Eric has served as PRO for the US Youth Championships, the Venezuelan National Championships, and US Nationals for several classes. This is Eric's fourth summer as the Professional Race Officer at the Nantucket Yacht Club. He has been a US Sailing National Race Officer and Judge since 2007. Eric has been racing Lasers for 31 years. Celebrity Tactician Bios Josh Adams Josh was a standout college sailor and a three-time ICSA All-American at Tufts University, where he graduated from in 1994. He led the team to two ICSA Team Racing National Championships. He is also a Team Racing World Champion. As an elite competitor and member of the US Sailing Team in 1995-96, he finished second at the 1996 Olympic Trials in the 470. Adams was a sailor and coach for New York Yacht Club’s America’s Cup Challenge, Young America, in 2000. He was the publisher of SAIL magazine from 2006-2012. In 2012 he was named Managing Director of US Olympic Sailing. Jim Allsopp Jim has been active in the sailing community for 40 years. He recently left North Sails after 35 years serving in several management positions. Jim was the last of Lowell’s original “Tigers” to leave North. “In the early days of North Sails, if you won the Star Worlds, you qualified to be a North “Tiger,” said Jim. After winning the Star Worlds in 1977, he travelled to Sweden and won the Star European Championships the following year. Soon after, a spot became available on Lowell’s 12 meter Enterprise. From then on there has been lots of Americas Cup sailing. With Mike Toppa’s help we soon were involved building spinnakers for almost all of the Americas Cup groups. It kept our little loft “North Sails Chesapeake” very busy. Jim serves as tactician on several Super Yachts in Europe and actively campaigns a Farr 30 and a J/70 with his sons James and Cole. Peter Bromby Peter has represented his island home of Bermuda in four Olympic Games (1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004) sailing in the Star Class. His highest finish was a 4th place in the 2000 Sydney Games. He is a 3 time Miami Bacardi Cup Champion, 3 time Miami Rolex Star Class Champion and 3 time IOD World Champion (1989, 90 and 91). Peter has won multiple National Match Race championships and has twice been a semi finalist in the Bermuda Gold Cup. His other wins include Kieler Week in Germany and the Spa Regatta in Netherlands – both in the Star Class and numerous Bermuda National Championships in Etchells and IODs. He continues to race Etchells regularly at home. Robbie Doyle Robbie is the president of Doyle Sailmakers, a company he started in 1982 in Marblehead, MA. He is also the co-creator of the e33, a 33’ performance daysailor being produced at Lyman Morse in Maine. He has been winning sailboat races since he was 7 years old, starting out in the Turnabout class in Marblehead before graduating to the Finn class. As a teenager, Robbie was a two time Sears Cup winner, a member of the 1968 Olympic Team and two time winner of the O’Day North American Single Handed Trophy. At Harvard he was an All American as well as winner of the collegiate single handed title. Robbie has spent much of his life racing one design classes, including the IOD and the Etchells. As an offshore racer, Robbie has participated in most of the major races around the globe. While working with Ted Hood in the 70’s, Robbie was a member of Ted Turner’s crew who won the 1977 America’s Cup aboard Courageous. In 2011, he did a memorable Newport to England race aboard Maltese Falcon, for which he has been making sails since 2005. Most recently, Robbie was the winning statistician aboard Shockwave, a RP 72, which won her division in the Bermuda Race for an unprecedented second time in a row. Robbie is happy to return to Nantucket for this year’s IOD Pro Am Regatta in support of Nantucket sailing. He is here with his wife, Janet. Neal Fowler Neal lives in Dennis, MA with his wife Kathleen and two sons. He grew up sailing on Long Island Sound and was a three time All American at Tufts and won the Dinghy Nationals. Neal is a lifelong frostbite sailing addict and has the won Interclub Dinghy Nationals and Midwinters, Long Island Sound & Marblehead Frostbite Championships. He was a member of US Sailing teams as crew in the 470, and helm in Flying Dutchman. He has extensive one design experience as a member 1980 US Olympic Team in 470 and has US, North American, & mid-winter titles in 470. He has over 20 years of 505 sailing with 4 East Coast Champions, midwinter and Canadian National titles. Neal has participated in the Lightning Southern Circuit and is a winner as both helm & crew. He has extensive Etchells experience along the Atlantic Coast and Long Island Sound—including winning the Verve Cup and placing 3rd at Worlds, mostly as forward crew. In the IOD he placed 2nd as tactician in the 2012 Nantucket IOD Invitational and 3rd as crew for a Nantucket IOD fleet boat in the 2012 IOD Worlds. He has been Sailing Wianno Seniors in the Scudder Cup series for the last 7 years. He is a member of the Hyannis YC. Dave Franzel Dave majored in sailing at Rutgers University. Alright, there was a math degree involved too. He then taught sailing and racing at several schools in the Northeast and the Caribbean. Following a series of seagoing adventures which included an Atlantic crossing and a stint as a fisherman in northern Norway, he founded the Boston Sailing Center in 1977 and served as executive director until 2007. BSC gradually grew to become one of the largest organizations of its kind in the country. Dave established a Soling racing program that grew to 40 teams, and a “Frostbite” racing program using J-24s that entices 100 people out to sail on Boston Harbor every Saturday throughout the Winter. Dave sees great value in public sailing programs and is glad to be participating in a benefit for Nantucket Community Sailing. Dave has raced many classes, but most of his adult racing has been in Soling’s, best finish 3rd in the 2002 Worlds, and Sonars, 9 top two finishes in the North Americans and 1st in the Worlds in 2009. He now sails his J/70, “Spring”, out of Marblehead. Since selling BSC in 2007 Dave has coached a number of teams which he generally finds to involve more fun, less stress and less overhead than owning a sailing center.

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