CHANGING OF THE GUARD: SAIL AMERICA ANNOUNCES NEW BOARD MEMBER NOMINEES

It’s always sad to lose long-term board members who have been great contributors, but equally exciting to see newcomers step up and become enthusiastically engaged in the association.

Sail America wishes to publicly express heartfelt appreciation and thanks to outgoing board members Bill Bolin of Island Packet Yachts, Bluewater Sailing’s George Day, Sabre Yachts’ Brenda Collins and Raul Bermudez. All four of these stellar individuals have donated a tremendous amount of time and personal passion to help Sail America further and achieve its goals. Their hard work, dedication and collective efforts have helped Sail America navigate through challenging times and set the course for a solid future. A fond bon voyage!

New board member nominees include Bob Bitchin of Latitudes & Attitudes, Van Perry of TUI Marine, Chip Wilkerson of Laser Performance and returning board member Josh Adams of SAIL magazine.

NEW BOARD MEMBER NOMINEES

Bob Bitchin has a long and storied career that includes stints as Evel Knievel’s bodyguard and traveling companion, to editorial contributor for a variety of diverse publications ranging from Forbes and Penthouse, among others. Bitchin is also a former editor of multiple motorcycle titles and rode his bike across the country more than 30 times and throughout Europe. He served as founding president of the Motorcycle Press Association in 1978.

Another one of Bob’s passion is sailing, and he’s lived aboard for nearly 30 years and cruised most of the Pacific and Central America. Best known for his popular and unique lifestyle-oriented Latitudes & Attitudes magazine, Bob divides his time between publishing his magazine, world cruising, presenting seminars and writing novels, the latest of which debuted in June 2007.

Van Perry heads North American marketing for TUI Marine with responsibility for The Moorings Bareboat, The Moorings Crewed Yachts, The Moorings Power, Sunsail Yachts and Flotillas, and Footloose Charters, as well as the Le Boat canal boat vacations. He joined the company in 2001, bringing 20+ years of experience in brand management, identity and sports marketing to TUI with previous stints in high profile bank marketing initiatives including the marketing program for NationsBank for the Atlanta Olympic Games.

On a personal note, Van has been boating for many years on all sorts of crafts including sailboats, powerboats, kayaks, surf skis and windsurfers. He is also PADI certified.

Chip Wilkerson is Vice President of Marketing for LaserPerformance LLC (formerly Vanguard Sailboats), the world’s largest producer of small sailboats including such iconic brands as the Laser, Sunfish and C420 among several others. Chip has global marketing and communications responsibility for the firm.

Prior to his present job, Chip spent 11 years with Saab Automobile, five of which were at the company’s Swedish headquarters where he led the global product marketing and strategy teams. Previously, he worked on Quaker Oats and with The Morrison Agency.

Chip is an avid sailor and also a former sailing instructor at the Tabor Academy’s summer program.

RETURNING BOARD MEMBER

Josh Adams, publisher of SAIL Magazine since 2006, has served on the Sail America Board since 2007 and has been active in various committees and task forces. He has been elected to the Executive Committee in 2010.

Josh began work at SAIL in 1996 on the editorial team and won numerous awards for his writings on performance, technical and lifestyle aspects of sailing. As publisher, he has overall responsibility for SAIL’s media properties—including SAIL, the SAIL Buyers Guide, and sailmagazine.com.

A lifelong sailor, Josh grew up in Newport, Rhode Island and has sailed hundreds of boats and logged over 15,000 miles. He was a three-time collegiate All-American at Tufts University, a member of the US Sailing Team in the mid-90s, a team racing world champion (1998), and a trimmer/coach for the 1999 America’s Cup challenger Young America.

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