Sail1Design Staff

Pearson Potts is a man of the sea. He showers in salt water and uses sunscreen for shampoo. Pearson grew up sailing Optimists on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, Louisiana for Southern Yacht Club. After Optis he was fortunate enough to travel in many places sailing 29er’s, C420’s and Laser Radials. He is a converted Yankee as a graduate and was a top-sailor for Brown University in 2015 and 2016. He lit fires of motivation as the head racing coach of Pequot Yacht Club coaching club 420s. In the age of hydrofoiling vessels, Pearson preserves the traditional form of yacht racing that has been steeped into many past generations by managing his match race team known as the “Guardians of the Monohull.”

Bernat Galí Bou is a Top National and International Youth Sailing Coach from Barcelona, Spain, and is the Racing and Head Opti Coach at Lakewood Yacht Club in Texas. Bernat started sailing Optis at the age of 8 near Barcelona and placed consistently in the Top 20 on the National Rankings. He then moved to Lasers where he sailed from Laser 4.7 to Radial and full Rig, getting his best results on Laser Radial. Twice he became National Champion, getting outstanding results at Europeans and Worlds, and finishing in the Top 25 for several years. Bernat started a Pre-Olympic campaign when he was 18, and decided to pursue coaching full-time when he reached 21. Starting as Head Coach at Cambrils Yacht Club in Spain, Bernat won the reputation of one of the most talented coaches across Spain. Deciding to further develop his international career, he relocated to Southeast Asia to coach the Myanmar Laser National Team. After participating in the 37th SEA Games, he was finally selected as the Head Coach at Queen Charlotte Yacht Club in New Zealand, followed by Head Coach at Niantic Bay Yacht Club in Connecticut. Bernat’s trainees enjoy tremendous success, including Top 10 Spanish National finishes, International regatta placements, and Top 15 finishes in the Europeans and Worlds. His most recent coaching wins include Món Cañellas, Laser Radial U21 runner-up at the 2015 Worlds, and 1st and 3rd places at the New Zealand Laser Radial Nationals.

Since starting sailing at the age of eight Rachel’s love and dedication for sailing has grown. She grew up in Media, Pennsylvania, but spent her summers in Cape May, New Jersey where she learned to sail. Rachel’s passion for sailing lead her to become a US Sailing Level 3 Coach. She has ran several junior sailing programs in New Jersey. Currently, she is the Program Director at Bay Head Yacht in the summer.

Rachel’s other passion is fitness and nutrition. She is both a NASM personal trainer and AASDN nutrition specialist. Her most recent venture has been to combine all her passions together. Rachel and her husband Matt founded Sailorcise; fitness, nutrition, and coaching for sailors. Currently, Sailorcise is coaching high school sailing teams in central New Jersey. With Sailorcise, Rachel hopes to get young active sailors excited about fitness and nutrition to help maximize their performance on the water. You can reach Rachel at rachel@sail1design.com.

Taylor Penwell grew up sailing on Maryland’s eastern shore, sailing with the Miles River Yacht Club, the Tred Avon Yacht Club, Chesapeake Bay Optimist Team (CBOT) and later the Annapolis Yacht Club. He is a College of Charleston graduate and was a member of the Cougars Varsity Offshore Sailing Team. Taylor was the head instructor of the Miles River Yacht Club sailing program for three years. After this, he spent two years as the Race Coach for the Royal BVI Yacht Club on Tortola in the British Virgin Islands where many of his Optimist and Laser sailors achieved notable success at international level events. Following his time in the Caribbean, Taylor went on to help start a junior sailing program with the Na Hoa Holomoku Yacht Club in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. Taylor is currently the Head Coach for the Queen Charlotte Yacht Club in Picton, New Zealand and continues to write profiles and stories for Sail1Design. You can reach Taylor at taylor@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 a National championship, the first and only Chesapeake Bay school ever to win the prestigious Mallory Trophy.

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/120 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. You can reach Tom at tom at  sail1design dot com

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.