On Watch

A passionate sailor, a gifted sailing coach and a talented artist, Haley Brown relishes sharing her knowledge with others, whether it’s achieving success on the racecourse or creating a painting. “I grew up on the shoreline in Branford, Connecticut, and skippered my first Opti at six,” says Haley, who lives in New Haven. “My parents aren’t sailors, but they enrolled me in Opti lessons at the club we belonged to. I had a hand-me-down Opti and Phantom…

The former General Manager of Brewer Greenport Marinas in Greenport, New York, Mike Acebo has worked as a backcountry ski guide, a mountaineering instructor, a white water and sea kayaking instructor, an Outward Bound director, and an emergency medical technician. An ardent sailor, iceboater and boatbuilder, he’s showing no sign of slowing down. “I was born in Denver and called Colorado home for thirty years,” says Mike, who lives in East Marion, New York on Long Island’s…

An award-winning author, editor, Olympian and World Champion, Carol Newman Cronin is one of the nicest people in sailing. “I grew up in Woods Hole, Massachusetts (though I spent winters farther from the water),” says Carol. “I started sailing at ten days old, because my parents’ first boat and I (their third child) arrived on the same day. Bob Bigelow was the first guy I raced small boats with. One of my earliest ‘Aha’ memories was when he…

One of North America’s finest sailors in the singlehanded 2.4 mR class, Siobhan MacDonald is a perennial – and popular! – competitor at the C. Thomas Clagett, Jr. Memorial Clinic & Regatta, an amazing event hosted by Sail Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. She also co-founded a sailing club in her Cape Breton hometown, despite being born without a right leg, most of her left arm, and part of her right hand. “I grew up in Mabou,…

A Past Commodore of Atlantic Highlands Yacht Club in Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, Elaine Haher is a longtime member of the organizing committee for the Ms. Race, an amazing charity race for all-women crews that AHYC has proudly hosted since 2005. An accomplished J/24 skipper and three-time Ms. Race winner, she serves as the event’s Principal Race Officer and shares her expertise in pre-race Skippers’ Talks. “I was born in Staten Island and first started sailing at…

A third generation boatbuilder and the newly appointed Curator at the Herreshoff Marine Museum & America’s Cup Hall of Fame in Bristol, Rhode Island, Evelyn Ansel is preserving maritime history and loving her work. Evelyn is the granddaughter of Willits Dyer Ansel (1929-2019) and daughter of Walter Ansel, both shipwrights at Mystic Seaport Museum’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard. “Growing up in a family of boatbuilders had a very direct impact on my interest in boats,” says…

Pro sailor, race boat preparateur and one of America’s finest doublehanded racers, Rob Windsor has competed in every edition of The Atlantic Cup. “I was born in Maine but grew up in Centerport, New York,” says Rob, who resides in Portland, Maine. “I’m adopted and my parents had a Columbia 22 when they got me, so I’ve been sailing since before I can remember. Their next boat was a Pearson 26, and I remember cruising Long Island…

The co-founders of the Foundation for Underway Experiential Learning (FUEL), a non-profit organization in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, Captain Casey Blum, LCSW and Captain Ian Ridgeway offer young people high-adventure voyages of discovery, reflection and growth aboard a sailing ship. “I grew up in Atlanta, Georgia,” says Casey. “My family vacationed on Cape Cod, and my mom was looking for summer camps that I would enjoy. She heard about weeklong voyages aboard Alabama and Shenandoah on Martha’s Vineyard…

An enthusiastic sailor from a very young age, Beth Fleisher leads the race committee at one of the friendliest clubs in the Northeast and co-chairs a uniquely challenging – and very fun! – distance race. “I grew up on the South Shore of Long Island, on the Great South Bay,” says Beth. “My parents took me sailing when I was five weeks old. I was born in September so this was fall sailing, which I still love….

If someone told you they were born in the shadow of the Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, and in the next breath said they were in Newport, Rhode Island the following year watching the America’s Cup, you might scratch your head a bit. Stephanie McLennan was not properly “watching” the regatta, but she was there with her grandparents. There is a picture taken by her grandfather of Stephanie in a state of infant repose on the…