Nick Dunphey started in the LYC sailing program when he was 7 years old, attending Opti Camps, learning to race Optis, graduating to Lasers, being part of the local high school sailing team, teaching young sailors at Opti and Seahorse Camps and more recently, sailing on keelboats in Galveston Bay, Lake Travis and Florida. After sailing the Heald Bank and Harvest Moon Regattas last year, Nick realized his love for sailing offshore.
He recently learned about the summer program at Oakcliff Sailing in Long Island, New York which they refer to as "Offshore Acorns." Oakcliff itself is a high-performance training center for sailors who have progressed beyond traditional coaching methods and is a US Sailing National Training Center that sailors apply to. The Acorn program is a 24-day intense program designed by Dawn Riley, based on her experience in two around-the-world races. Offshore Acorns get experience in all-round boat prep and learn every position on the boat, including how to install a new engine!
This past July, Nick and the other Offshore Acorns, sailed approximately 1,200 nautical miles over seven days, including 400 nautical miles in the Marblehead to Halifax offshore ocean race. Nick's team's boat completed the race as the sixth boat over the finish line and the fifth boat in their class. His boat included one instructor and eight other Acorns, all teenagers. Their total elapsed race time was two days, 16 hours, 10 minutes and 18 seconds. They stopped at Mystic, Connecticut on the way there and Newport, Rhode Island on the way back and took part in industry tours, visited boating museums and experienced the culture of these seaside towns. As part of the program, Nick earned his World Sailing Safety at Sea Certificate and completed master advanced navigation to thrive offshore. Nick hopes to sail the Newport to Bermuda offshore race next year and to go to college in the northeast and be part of an offshore college sailing team.
By Amy Dunphey
