Dear College Sailors, Coaches, Alumni, and Fans, As many of you have heard, the historic Edgewood Yacht Club, home of the Brown University Sailing Team, was destroyed by fire on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 at around 4:00am. Speculation is that lightning struck the club’s roof from a rare snow-thunderstorm. The blizzard produced 8 inches of snow and gusts up to 40 knots. It was truly a sad day for everyone who has been a part of the Edgewood Yacht Club, including the dedicated members who put numerous volunteer hours into restoring the building. Despite the total destruction of the clubhouse, the strong wind direction kept the flames away from all of the boats and docks. Demolition of the yacht club will begin in the upcoming weeks and the members of the club plan to rebuild at some point.
The Edgewood Yacht Club had provided Brown Sailing with three rooms inside the clubhouse for practice and running regattas. These include two locker rooms (renovated in 2009 with 40 new lockers), bathrooms, and a classroom with room for 40 sailors. Everything that Brown Sailing had inside these three rooms was destroyed including boat parts and equipment, uniforms, personal sailing gear, and decades of trophies and awards. Our 18 420s, 6 FJs, Lasers, three powerboats, and docks are all fine. Thousands of people had the experience of sailing in a practice, a regatta, or attending an event at the Edgewood Yacht Club; fortunately those memories will always remain. After a long few weeks of accessing everything and working with the University and the yacht club on our immediate plan, Brown Sailing will continue to practice and host regattas out of the Edgewood Yacht Club. The yacht club has assured us that we will have access to our docks within the next month. We have ordered a modular trailer (24’ x 36’) that will be hooked up to the electric and will provide a classroom/changing area, office, and heat. This will be the new base for Brown Sailing for the short term. It will provide us with a way to function, facilitate efficient practice time, and host our traditional events including the Sharpe, Dellenbaugh, and Sherman Hoyt Trophies. We plan to be on the water in less than a month to prepare for our first regattas which are the weekend of February 26-27. Since this devastating fire, we have received an overwhelming number of phone calls and emails. I want to thank all of you for the support and help that has been offered during this tough time. Despite all that has happened over the last few weeks, Brown Sailing is alive and well and we hope to come out of all of this stronger than ever. In the short term we will be able to remain at the Edgewood Yacht Club. Our long-term vision will come together over the upcoming months and we hope to have more permanent infrastructure in the near future. Thanks again for the ongoing help and support and look for Brown Sailing to remain at the top of the college sailing ranks. John Mollicone, Head Sailing Coach -- John Mollicone Head Coach Men's and Women's Sailing Brown University ph 401-413-1439 ________________________________________________ icsa mailing list [email protected] http://www.collegesailing.org/mailman/?listname=icsa Unsubscribe: Send a blank email to [email protected]
