PRSA Executive Committee

Pat McGee -- My brother, with proceeds from crabbing the Rappahanock River, bought a how-to-sail book, a Penguin and an Aqua Cat. He taught himself, then our family how to sail. I was 10. I suspect he needed more weight on the back of the cat, as it had a tendency to submerge. By 19, I was chartering big boats on the bay. Quit sailing at 22. In 1999 I needed a life change, strolled down to PRSA and crewed for Joe Warren in a lightning. The racing bug bit, the next season I sold the Triumph TR4 and bought a lightning. Thanks Joe. (I do miss the car.)

David Thompson - It was all Frank Gallagher's doing -- David, having wandered down to WSM on a Sunday morning in 1999 just to see what was there, standing around amazed at all the activity, was cornered by Frank and asked, "Can you sail today?"  Not able to come up with a good reason for saying no, David was invited to hop onto Jim Dillard's boat as crew.  The rest is history.  David  crewed for two years with Jim and Nelson Pemberton, then bought his first Lightning, 10745, in 2001, and after having beaten it into the ground, his second, 15228, in 2004. David was elected Lightning Fleet 50 Secretary in 2005 and Fleet Captain in 2006, and he served as PRSA Rear Commodore in 2007 and 2008.  David's prior sailing experience includes owning an inland lakes Class C Scow on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota, 1955 - 1963; renting various day sailboats over the years since; race training on J-24s at the Pacific Sailing School, Sydney Australia, and a crew position as mainsheet trimmer on the Stormy Petrel II, sailing in day races outside the Heads in Sydney, competing with Max 60s that were training for the 1997 Sydney-to-Hobart race.

Robert Bennett - Raised in New Orleans, when I was age 8 I learned at Southern Yacht Club to sail Optimists and I began to race with other Optimist sailors all along the Gulf Coast.  Later I raced 420's for SYC with my brother during high school, then I switched into Lasers when he went off to college.  I then sailed for the University of Texas at Austin sailing team throughout college.  After moving to the DC area in 2001, I raced  Vanguard 15's in Annapolis and eventually began racing Lasers and Lightnings on the Potomac with the PRSA.

Yates Dowell - Yates and his wife Judy started teaching themselves to sail about twenty years ago. Soon after that Bob Laughlin asked him to crew on his Albacore and he loved it. Later on he crewed on a Hobie cat also. Then, Yates went out of town for a week on business and while he was away Judy and daughter Lisa bought a used Hobie as a surprise. So the family had a boat to race and they've been racing ever since.

Jim Graham - Susan and I learned to sail on the White Nile in Sudan at the age of 37!  Subsequently we've sailed 505's, Fireballs, Albacores and Lasers (me), with uniformly mid-fleet results -- it pays to learn to sail young! I served as Commodore for PRSA in 1999-2001 and have rejoined the executive committee as a member-at-large with time on my hands to help out sailing on the Potomac.  We hope to sail as long as we can rig the boat!
 

Eric T. Johnson -- Eric learned to sail on a small lake in southern Indiana while in college.  After moving to less-landlocked New Jersey in the late 1980s, he primarily raced keelboats on Long Island Sound, but bought a well-used Laser to keep in touch with his small-boat roots.  After moving to Washington in 1993, he started frostbiting with the PRSA Laser fleet, and began to devote more time to warm-weather Laser racing as well. At the same time, he managed to maintain his big-boat connections – he raced frequently on a J-30 in Annapolis, and competed several times in the Newport-to-Bermuda, Annapolis-to-Newport, and Marblehead-to-Halifax races on a Baltic 42.   He currently splits his racing time between his Laser and a Jet-14, although he still makes time for the occasional offshore race.  Eric finances his sailing activities by working as a regulatory affairs manager for a biotechnology company in Columbia, MD.

Hap O'Brien started sailing Albacores as crew for his brother-in-law "Hoop" about three years ago. He purchased a used Albacore in the fall of 2001.  Succeeding in destroying his boat in the his first 2002 spring series, Hap has been learning the finer points of boat repair from Barney Harris and Doug Foord. He had so much fun repairing his first boat, he picked up a second Albacore in the Fall of 2002 and has been busy reconditioning that one. Hap has been crewing on Albacores regularly and hopes to do more skippering in
his boat in 2004.

Tom Ballantine -- Tom's Dad taught him to sail in a Dyer Dow dinghy as a child, but he couldn't understand why he kept dumping until he'd messed about in a more easily righted Sunfish. Next, he took lessons at the Woods Hole Yacht Club, graduating to Cape Cod Knockabouts. As a teenager, he ran Mirror Dinghy races at the club as an assistant steward. Working single-handed, out of a 13-foot whaler, he sent the fleet around various lobster pots and government marks. He knows better now. Although Tom would always jump on a sailboat when he could during college and law school, it wasn't until studying for the bar in 1999 that he started down the path toward racing his own boat. That summer he taught Jocelyn to sail in the same easily righted Sunfish, which led to a Hampton One Design when they moved to D.C. in 2000. Tom and Jocelyn honeymooned aboard a Corsair 27 trimaran in 2001. Having now married his crew, Tom looks forward to many years of fun together aboard the Hampton. Along the way, Tom has done a bit of cruising and was crew aboard Venture in the 2003 Marion to Bermuda race. Now that daughter Lillian has arrived, he hopes she will become a master boatbuilder and sailmaker.

Bill Kleysteuber -- Boy gets in boat.  Boy like boat. Old boy buys boat. They live happily ever after.

Dave Teale has been on sailboats since before he can remember. His dad, a skilled one-design racer, was a key influence. Dave bought a Laser after college, but let it sit mostly idle for a number of years before connecting with PRSA. In the winter of 2001/02 he came to the marina to check-out the Laser frostbite sailing. It was a cold day in the 30's and raining. He ran the races and was treated to warm hospitality and socializing afterwards. Dave continues to sail the Laser year round and has enjoyed crewing on Lightnings as well. His wife has been sailing a few times but prefers to go horseback riding.

Past Commodores

Jeff Storck -- Jeff first learned to sail on Oyster Bay, Long Island on his Fathers Lightning #556, Ariel at the tender age of 4 years old. His Dad started putting the tiller in his hands almost immediately and fostered a love of the wind and water that he has never lost. Since then Jeff sailed a number of different types and sizes of boats - Hobies, Lasers, 505's, Rhodes 19, Flying Scott, and Keel boats of verying descriptions, but never forgot that beautiful Lightning he learned on so long ago. Then In 1998 Jeff bought his first very own Lightning - #10215 Black Adder, joined PRSA and started racing. Three boats later, Jeff now is the proud owner of Lightning #15256, named Ariel after the boat his father taught him to sail on. After three years as the Lightning Fleet 50 Captain, Jeff has taken the reigns of PRSA as Commodore.

Nabeel Alsalam - Nabeel first learned to sail in high school when he built a wooden sailfish out of a kit.  He had great fun sailing and capsizing it on the James River and planning like mad as the winds kicked up before a storm.  But he didn’t start racing sailboats until the early 1980s when a colleague at the University of Rochester recruited him to do forward crew on a Thistle.  He has been hooked on one-design sailboat racing ever since.     In 1997, he decided he had enough of crewing on other peoples’ boats.  After checking out the fleets at PRSA, he settled on the Lightning because the fleet is strong and the 3-person spinnaker boat reminded him of his Thistle days.  From day 1, he has been very active in that fleet and just finished a three-year stint as Fleet captain.  He is also one of the crazies who go sailing all winter long on Lasers and if you are crazy too, he’ll find you a boat to borrow.  In his day job, he is an economist at the Congressional Budget Office, but who cares?  He’s married with two kids, but he has failed to get any of them hooked on the sport.  He is still trying.

Christopher Bolton - Chris has been with PRSA since '84 or '85, sailing Hobie 16s and then a Hobie 20. He also sails with the winter Laser fleet. He has served as the Hobie fleet rep,and PRSA Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore, and Commodore. Chris' family has a summer place on Mobjack Bay (very close to the Ware River Yacht Club, well known to the Albacore Fleet), and he grew up loving the water. " I never had the good background of Opti or college sailing, which may be one reason I like the speed of a cat and not the slow tactical boats", says Chris in his bio.