Daniel Diederich hails from Wrightsville Beach, NC and coaches an Opti and a 420 group at Carolina Yacht Club 1853. He has raced ILCA’s (Laser) nationally in middle and high school. His teammates are all in college and sail on the UNCW Sailing Team. Caswell Kern is from the Ashville, NC area and is competitive in the Jet 14 Class. He is the President of UNCW Sailing Team. Noah Essick races ISCA’s (Sunfish) and also has liveaboard offshore sailing experience. He has raced in Dubai and the Arabian Gulf! AnnaBlake Sprengelmeyer will round out this crew.
Danny was a fill-in crew on the third day of 2025 Lightning NA’s at CYC1853, “… even though there was no racing that day, I fell in love with the group. Awesome people, with the hunger to learn and the passion to share. I had not seen that passion in a long time, and I want to feel it again. The opportunity to receive this boat grant will help me fulfill my passion for competitive sailing.”
Team Diederich will be mentored by Scott Harris and the many in Fleet 511.