2020 Boat Grant Recipients Announced!
Laura Jeffers | Published on 3/19/2020
The International Lightning Class Association’s Boat Grant program begins its 14th season by announcing three 2020 grant recipient teams.
All 2020 recipients are members of strong collegiate sailing teams, underscoring the class’s focus on encouraging young sailors to continue their involvement in one design racing. 2020 provides an especially exciting opportunity for the three grant teams with the North American Championship in Cleveland, OH Aug 9-15 which serves as the US qualifier for the 2021 World Championships in Wrightsville Beach, NC.
Lolly Vasilion and her teammates Gabby Myers and Helen Field are all members of the Vermont Catamounts team. They will be based out of Malletts Bay, Vermont and will be mentored by their Catamount coach, Caroline Patten, a former boat grant recipient herself. Vasilion shares: “We are excited to experience this level of competition outside of collegiate racing, especially with the cancellation the remainder of our spring college sailing season. I feel incredibly lucky to have assembled a team of competitive women who are eager to get on the water and can’t wait to see what the Lightning Class has in store for us!”
Boat Grant Program Co-Chair, Matthew Schon said that “2020 is an exciting time for the Lightning Boat Grant Program. The incredible enthusiasm from these talented college sailors shows we are reaching exactly the young sailors we want to expose to the boat and class. We are hopeful they’ll love the Lightning experience as we all do and become long time members moving forward. We are excited to have these three talented teams sailing with us!”
More information about the 2020 ILCA Boat Grant Program can be found on the ILCA website www.lightningclass.org or by contacting the Class Office at office@lightningclass.org or 727-942-7969.