E. Kennedy, Waterfront Manager
Kennedy is a recent UVM graduate who will be leaving her home state to attend law school at the University of Washington in the fall. Between sailing, the Saturday farmer’s market, camping, and spending some spectacular time outside with her jack russell terrier, she is looking forward to an absolutely fabulous last summer in Burlington.

Torrey Paquette, Waterfront Manager
Torrey, who recently turned 28, is very happy to be back amongst friends, for this, his third year at the Sailing Center. A graduate of the University of Vermont, Torrey is currently pursuing his M.A. at the Bread Loaf School of English in Middlebury. He began sailing in the fall of 2005, under the tutelage of UVM Sail Coach, Justin Assad. A former children’s book editor, Torrey has been to, among other places, Iceland.

Waterfront Coordinators

Sam Rubinoff
Sam comes from the great state that is home to Sinatra and Springsteen. He is a recent graduate of the University of Vermont and is currently pursuing interests in green building. Sam’s other interests include drinking coffee, reading, critiquing Vermont’s pizza, collecting vinyl records and road biking. In previous summers he was a whitewater rafting guide in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Jake Raisanen
Jake is a recent transplant to Burlington from Minneapolis. He’s married and preparing to have his first child in the fall with his wife Christina. Jake digs music, Ultimate (the disc sport), camping, the Minnesota Twins and is really excited to learn how to sail this summer!

Kira Schmiedl
Kira hails from suburban Boston, where her love of the outdoors was born and nurtured while exploring the natural beauty of New England. She has previously worked at the World Wildlife Fund and the Boston Natural Areas Network, encouraging others to understand and enjoy our fascinating world. After a stint in Washington DC, she recently relocated to Burlington where she is looking forward to enjoying Vermont’s local food, watching sunsets over the Adirondacks, and helping others learn about beautiful Lake Champlain!

Jamie Wellman
Jamie is from Champaign, IL and has an AA degree from Landmark College. He is currently finishing up with his BA in Public Relations from Champlain College in Burlington. Jamie learned to sail at the National Outdoor Leadership School in Mexico and has not stopped since. He enjoys anything outdoors and on the water. In his spare time when he is not by the water Jamie enjoys live music festivals and hanging out with his friends. This is his second year working for the Community Sailing Center and he is looking forward to another great summer.

Cory Weyrick
Cory is from Thetford, VT. He will be graduating from the University of Vermont in December 2009 with a degree in Anthropology. He enjoys interacting and meeting new people in all sorts of situations. He loves the outdoors and will do anything to spend as much of his time outside on a nice day. During the summer time he likes to play frisbee, jump off of the many great cliffs in the Burlington area, and partake in anything that looks fun. Cory spends the winter in Vermont teaching snowboarding and riding as much as possible.

Instructors

Jay Bakelaar
This is Jason’s third summer at the Community Sailing Center. This year he is excited to be a sailing instructor. He has a strong interest in both the environmental health of Lake Champlain and maintaining and improving public access to the lake. Bakelaar previously worked as snowboard instructor during the winter and as an environmental consultant. Bakelaar earned his BA at Eckerd College in Environmental Policy. He is beginning the process of pursuing a Master’s in Education and aspires to teach high school science.

Peter Brewster
Peter grew up sailing on Long Island Sound with family and friends. He has also gone on a few sailing excursions in the Caribbean during high school. After finishing his BS in Forestry at UVM in December he spent the winter patrolling at Sugarbush. When Peter is not sailing you can find him on the mountains, kayaking, biking, canoeing or anywhere there’s some funky tunes. He is looking forward to the summer and seeing everyone on the water.

Lucas Campbell
Lucas is from Richmond VT. He has been sailing with the Community Sailing Center since the age of 8. Lucas Recently took a year off from school after graduating from MMU. In that year off he rebuilt an Audi and drove it across the country skiing as much as was humanly possible. Lucas is now back in Vermont full time and ready to start another epic season at the Community Sailing Center. He will be heading off to school at Maine Maritime Academy in the fall where he will be getting his captains license so he can keep on sailing. A few of Lucas’s other interests include his collection of Antique Audi’s, Playing Music, Mountain Biking, Hiking, and taking long walks on the beach.

Sarah Chickanosky
Sarah grew up in South Burlington, VT. She sailed at MBBC and LCYC. She began her connection to the Community Sailing Center in high school when she raced for the Northern VT High School Sailing Team. Now you can find her studying Civil Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

Mike Collins
Mike has been sailing boats for about 8 years now. He loves to sail everything from the Laser full-rig all the way up to the large Keelboats. In High School, Mike sailed on the Northern Vermont High School Sailing team under the direction of Rachael Miller. After High School, he went on to sail for Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida. Currently, Mike is the head coach for the High School Sailing Team.

Justin Dorey
Justin was born and raised in Colchester, Vermont. This is his third season at the Sailing Center. He has been sailing for about fifteen years now, out of the Mallets Bay Boat Club. Justin actively races Lightnings, J24’s, and occasionally Etchells. Other then sailing he coached the Colchester Middle School Boys B team soccer this past fall. Some of his favorite activities include skiing and really just being outside doing something.

Robert Emerson
Robert is 18 years old, just graduated from Mount Mansfield Union High school and going to college at Maine Maritime Academy. He has sailed at the Community Sailing Center for a long time; in the past few years he has worked as junior instructor, assistant instructor, and this year a full time instructor. He enjoys most anything on the water.

Aidan Grace
Aidan is no flatlander having grown up in Vermont over the last 23 years. After spending the last 8 summers at the Community Sailing Center he is an fantastic sailor and instructor. He is still working towards a BS in mechanical engineering that has eluded him as of recently. Aidan runs, bikes, swims and snowboards. He is looking forward to one more summer on the lake.

Craig Morrill
Craig will be graduating from Burlington High School this year and plans on going to school at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts next year to study architecture for a career in sustainable design. In his free time he likes to rock climb, kayak, snowboard, longboard, row, and of course, sail. Craig has been in programs here as a camper and a junior instructor for several summers and is excited to be able to pass on his experiences to new students.

Daniel Schmidt
Dan is stoked to be spending the summer on beautiful Lake Champlain, teaching sailing and getting to know the good people of Vermont. Having grown up in Wisconsin (Go Packers!) Dan has spent lots of time on the east and west coasts, Europe, Central America and lots of other fun places. Dan and his wife just finished a 5 month bicycle tour of New Zealand and are really excited to make Burlington their new home. Besides sailing on Lake Champlain, he hopes to spend the summer exploring the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks while also growing a gi-nourmous garden.