Sail1Design Staff

Julia Brighton grew up in North Carolina but spent her summers sailing in Scituate, Massachusetts, where her connection to the water began. She is currently an Environmental Studies major at the University of Vermont and serves as Treasurer of the UVM Sailing Team, competing in both women’s and coed events. Julia sailed on the varsity sailing team at Choate Rosemary Hall, building a strong foundation in team racing and competitive sailing. She has also worked with coastal photographer Kat Hanafin of The Nautical Collection, contributing written content and assisting with business operations and client communications. Outside of college sailing, Julia works as a race coach at Cohasset Yacht Club, where she enjoys mentoring young sailors and fostering both competitive skills and a lasting respect for the marine environment.

Maren is a current Senior at Roger Williams University studying Marketing. She is from Harbor Springs, Michigan, and has grown up sailing at Little Traverse Yacht Club. At Roger Williams University, Maren competes as a crew on the varsity sailing team. In 2025, Matthews was named to the ICSA All-America Team as an honorable mention crew. Professionally, in the summer of 2025, Matthews worked as the Marketing and Communications intern at New York Yacht Club. She gained other valuable media insights through work experiences with U.S. Sailing and the NEISA media team. Off the water, Maren enjoys skiing, running and spending time with her family. You can reach Maren at     [email protected]

Heather is excited to bring her racing and coaching experience to the Sail1Design team. A lifelong sailor, she grew up competing out of St. Petersburg Yacht Club primarily in the ILCA 6 and J/70 classes before heading north to Hobart and William Smith Colleges. There, she was a starting skipper on the varsity team and served as captain, leading her team both on and off the water.

Heather has spent summers coaching programs across the country, most recently in Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts. Whether it’s race teams or learn-to-sail fleets, she loves helping sailors discover their confidence on the water. In summer 2025, Heather raced as part of a Lightning Class Boat Grant team, embracing the mix of competitive spirit and camaraderie that first drew her to the class. As both a coach and a competitor, she brings a genuine love of the sport.

Now based in Boston, Heather is eager to stay involved in the sailing community by sharing the stories, results, and programs that make the sport so dynamic. At S1D, she’ll focus on regatta write-ups, college sailing coverage, and highlighting unique sailing programs nationwide.

Clara joins the Sail1Design team as a recently graduated collegiate sailor. She grew up on the Long Island Sound and started racing competitively in high school, continuing on as a crew at Cornell. Primarily a 420 and FJ sailor at school, she’s also found success in Vanguard 15s and Interclubs outside of college.
Clara has also spent a summer coaching Sabots in Southern California! Her primary focus was the race team but also spent time with the learn to sail cohort. This summer she hopes to continue coaching back on the east coast and spending as much time on the water as possible.
Her focus at Sail1Design is expanding the social media presence and generating more content that you want to see. This includes sailor of the month, regatta reports, yacht club profiles, and more. You can reach Clara at clara @ sail1design.com

A lifelong sailor, Tom Sitzmann brings a broad range of sailing experience to Sail1Design. Along with extensive one-design and PHRF racing, he has coastal and blue water experience, cruising and racing along the coast of Maine, and now here in the Chesapeake Bay on the family J/120.
Also a lifelong educator, Tom has coached sailing and directed sailing programs from Maine to Annapolis, and was an assistant offshore & dinghy coach at the USNA, head intercollegiate coach at Bowdoin College, and more recently head coach at Severn School, where he guided the team to 3 National championships, the first and only Chesapeake Bay school ever to win the prestigious Mallory Trophy (twice), and the Baker Team Race National Championship

Tom’s offshore experience includes many distance races in New England, a transatlantic passage, a celestially-guided Marion-Bermuda Race, and most recently he brought his family to Bermuda aboard their J/122 Airwaves. Tom has a great deal of dinghy and PHRF racing experience, competing successfully in the Laser, J/24, and J/22, winning several regional and district championships in those classes, both in New England and the Mid-Atlantic. While in Maine Tom also won several PHRF regattas aboard his J/24 & J/33, and more recently in his J/120. Tom’s focus with Sail1Design is managing the Brokerage Marketplace, and Sail1Design’s Career Center & Job Board.

Tom started Sail1Design in 2007, seeking to supply the youth, high school, college, and one-design sailing communities with a grass-roots, community marketplace and job board. Almost seven years later, S1D has become sailings #1 career center and job board, it’s active marketplace now offers professional yacht brokerage along with by-owner classified ads. Additionally, Airwaves, an e-newsstand for sailors, was born and joined the Sail1Design team to provide sailing news and regatta results, and has four writers on staff. Sail1Design is the official job board for the Intercollegiate Sailing Association (ICSA), the Interscholastic Sailing Association (ISSA), and US Sailing.