Start Sailing Now: Where are they now?
Updates on where sailing has taken Christine Gardella and Derrick Cogburn since we last interviewed them.
Christine Gardella: She’s a sailboat owner!
We originally interviewed Christine Gardella in early 2022. With a busy career in the healthcare industry and a home in the Washington, DC, suburbs, Christine found sailing on the Chesapeake both exciting and relaxing. She had taken several courses at Annapolis Sailing School and was gaining experience on the water by leasing time on a privately owned Jeanneau docked in Annapolis. At that time, Christine wasn’t sure that she could make the time commitment to be fully responsible for maintaining a boat and its systems. That has changed.
Christine says, “As I fell in love with sailing and being on the water, I outgrew my sailing lease option in Eastport. I couldn’t imagine not having a boat year-round to hang out on. I wanted to sail whenever I wanted and go wherever I wanted. I was lucky enough to find exactly what I was looking for. In October of 2022, I purchased a beautiful 1989 Cape Dory 30 MK2 Nirvana, which I am keeping this summer at Flag Harbor Marina in St. Leonard, MD. From there I can get to the Bay easily. I sail with my friend, and we love to ply the waters of the lower Chesapeake around the Choptank River and Solomons Island, and other nearby areas.”
Christine continues, “I am totally enjoying working on Nirvana. As a boat owner, I do my own work. I sanded and painted her bottom last season. This year I have replaced her water fuel separator, water pressure assembly, and am sanding and oiling her exterior teak, to name just a couple of recent projects. Meantime, I am planning to sail as much as I can on her this season on the Chesapeake and, hopefully, to soon sail beyond the Bay!
Derrick Cogburn: A leader in the sailing community.
Since his initial interview in 2019, Derrick Cogburn has continued to expand his sailing and leadership skills in many ways and is giving back to the sailing community as an active member of many sailing organizations. He has taken the US Sailing Level 1 Instructor course, US Powerboating Instructor Course, and is a certified US Sailing Race Officer and a US Sailing REACH Instructor.
Derrick says, “I am a member of the board of the Seafarers Foundation, which is the chartered organization for Sea Scout Ship 1959-Seafarers Commitment, of which I am the founding skipper. Our Sea Scout Ship has enjoyed much success and in 2021 was selected as the National Flagship by BSA and the BoatUS Foundation. I am now in my first year as commodore of the Seafarers Yacht Club (SYC) after serving as treasurer and vice commodore. I am also chair of the SYC racing committee, and last year I chaired the Seafarers Regatta.
“Other board work has included serving on the board of the Chesapeake Bay Yacht Clubs Association (CBYCA), as secretary and later as rear commodore. In addition, I currently serve on the board of directors of Brendan Sailing, which uses sailing to help empower youth with learning differences.
“In 2023 I participated in US Sailing’s Sailing Leadership Forum in St. Pete Beach, FL, and at this year’s US Sailing National Sailing Programs Symposium I gave a presentation entitled Diverse Ways to Diversify: Reimagining and Enhancing Diverse and Inclusive Participation in Sailing. Finally, I have been appointed by the board of US Sailing to its DEI committee.
“My wife Noemí, son Sean Manuel, and I continue to enjoy sailing our Hunter Legend 40 Transcend, and we also sail two Sea Scout training vessels, Commitment (a Tartan 37), and Persistence (a Seafarer 23), as well as two Sea Scout dinghies, an American 14.6 and a C420. We have five kayaks (two tandem and three solo), and after a flirtation with a powerboat, we purchased a Sea Ray 280 Sundancer Makai.”
Since 2014 Start Sailing Now has been chronicling the stories of sailors who took up the sport (or got into it in a big way) as adults. We’re going to keep bringing you such stories, but we also want to bring you updates on some of the sailors we interviewed years ago. If you were featured on this page and would like to update us on your sailing adventures, email [email protected].
