URI Sailing Team seeking funds to replace aging fleet

MEMBERS OF THE URI Sailing team are shown.  The team has received $130,000 in gifts toward its $450,000 fundraising goal to replace its aging fleet.  Gifts will also help support community outreach and coaching. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION
MEMBERS OF THE URI Sailing team are shown. The team has received $130,000 in gifts toward its $450,000 fundraising goal to replace its aging fleet. Gifts will also help support community outreach and coaching. / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATION

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The University of Rhode Island Women’s Sailing Team has received $130,000 in gifts toward its $450,000 fundraising goal to replace its aging fleet.
The team, ranked No. 1 in the United States, wants to purchase 38 new boats with the funds, and pay the salary “of a world-class coach who has elevated the team’s profile dramatically in the past two years,” according to a news release from the University of Rhode Island Foundation.
Long-time URI sailing supporter, Commodore Henry H. Anderson Jr., donated $100,000, and former URI sailor Jamie Hilton, Class of 1983, gave $30,000. Hilton will be involved in helping to raise the remaining funds, along with other former URI sailing team members.
The URI Foundation said URI sailing has produced several Olympians since it was founded in 1935.
Sailing team head coach Rollin “Skip” Whyte, Class of 1972, previously served as head sailing coach at Boston University. Whyte also spent 17 years as an Olympic coach, coaching teams to five Olympic medal performances, including gold in 2004.
A club sport, URI sailing receives limited support from the university’s Student Senate to pay for basic needs. New boats or a coach’s salary are not covered.
The URI Sailing Center on Salt Pond offers a youth sailing program, as well as opportunities for high school students, adults and URI students. The program serves more than 400 sailors each year.
“Part of our goal is to greatly increase participation in all of these programs and add more,” David Livingston, ’91, URI Sailing and Facilities coordinator and Sailing Advisory Council member, said.
Approximately 50 URI students participate on the women’s and coed sailing teams, which compete in 18 Flying Juniors. This past summer, URI Women’s A Division skipper Rachel Bryer, ’17, of Jamestown, a pharmacy major, was named an Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Women’s All-American Skipper, one of only six women nationwide to earn the honor.
Whyte hopes additional funds will help him recruit more sailing talent to URI.
“College is an important time in their lives and sailing is a great vehicle to become a better person,” he said.

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