Riverside Yacht Club Makes Unprecedented Donation

by Marnie Lane on 22 May 2007 The Riverside Yacht Club in Riverside, Conn., kicked off a successful summer sailing season Sunday by making the largest ever donation by a yacht club to the US Olympic Sailing Program. The club raised $143,000 at its 'Sail for the Gold' fundraiser held April 26. The event co-chairpersons Rear Commodore Walton Alder and his wife, Diane, presented the check to the chairman of the Olympic Sailing Program, Dean Brenner ( Wallingford , Conn. ), at a ceremony for the 119th commissioning of the club.

'We are incredibly grateful to the leadership and membership of Riverside Yacht Club for their overwhelmingly generous support,' said Brenner. 'This will have a measurable impact on our athletes in their preparation for the 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and we are hoping other clubs will step forward to help us continue the momentum started by Riverside .'

More than 200 members of the club attended the fundraiser and generously bid on approximately 60 silent auction and a dozen live auction items. As a result of several heated bidding wars over two different cocktail cruises aboard 74-foot sailboats ( Ticonderoga and Mighty Aphrodite), the owners of the boats graciously offered a second evening for the rival bidders. The bids pulled in approximately $15,000 apiece.

Another high bidding item was a lunch for four people at Edgartown Yacht Club in Martha’s Vineyard . The meal itself wasn’t the only highlight: the member also donated a trip aboard his private plane from Westchester Airport to Martha’s Vineyard.

'As proven by the results of our fundraiser, our club is committed to Olympic sailing,' said Gary Ashley, the manager of the Riverside Yacht Club.

America's Cup Hall of Fame inductee and sailing’s preeminent ambassador GaryJobson ( Annapolis , Md. ) shared with the audience his unique perspective on the importance of supporting the Olympic Sailing Program. U.S. Sailing Team members Tim Wadlow ( Beverly , Mass. ) and Carol Cronin ( Jamestown , R.I. ) also spoke about how proud they were to represent the USA at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens , Greece . They also explained the challenges of dedicating themselves to Olympic campaigns.

'My campaign time was split into thirds: one-third sailing, one-third logistics and one-third fundraising,' said Cronin. 'That translates into about 10 hours per week raising money. Whenever you can eliminate time from the last two, you can spend more time on the water, learning to make the boat go fast and be smart on the race course.'

The Riverside Yacht Club chose to hold a fundraiser to benefit Olympic Sailing after attending a presentation given by Brenner and Jobson to club commodores at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan last November. Brenner and Jobson discussed how far the US Olympic Program has come, while at the same time detailing the challenges still facing U.S. athletes.

'We are also grateful to the leadership of the New York Yacht Club for their efforts to help us spread the word about our strong Olympic Sailing Program,' said Brenner.

After hearing the presentation at New York , the board of governors at Riverside Yacht Club reached a unanimous decision to hold a fundraiser for the Olympic program and immediately assembled a committee that organized the event in only 16 weeks.

The members of Riverside Yacht Club are no strangers to raising money for people in need. After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast , the Riverside Yacht Club quickly planned a fundraiser in which all revenues went to funds benefiting the hurricane victims.

'We do the right thing at the right time,' said Ashley.