Sailor Spotlight: Brian Hull

Brian Hull wears many hats:  Opti dad, USODA board member, Donovan Sailing Coach, Director at the Friends of Belmar Harbor.  There's no doubt that Brian has a lot on his plate, but at the end of the day, Brian is giving back to the sport he loves, mentoring young sailors, and spending time with his young family.  Brian will help in any way if it promotes sailing, and that mentality resonates with his family and with those who he coaches.  He's passionate, hard-working, and he loves the sport.  His message is clear:  spend time with your family, work hard, and have fun!

Name: Brian Hull
Age: 42
School Attended: Old Dominion University
Yacht Club: Toms River Yacht Club
 
1) Brian, during the summer months, you run the Friends of Belmar Harbor.  Can you tell me about that program and what opportunities are available to area sailors?
The Friends of the Belmar Harbor is a non-profit educational organization which promotes waterfront activities in the Shark River area for towns like Belmar. FOBH offers adventure and recreational sailing, kayaking, SUP, and related activities that are accessible, affordable and fun especially to youth and families of limited means, abilities or opportunities. FOBH fills the void for an area without a strong sailing community. In July FOBH ran Recreational sailing program in Optis, 420s, Open Bics, and Hobie Cats for approximately 90 children from the Belmar Recreation Department and next week we will hosting over 150 6^th and 7^th  graders from Robert Treat Academy in Newark. We are also excited about co-hosting our annual Friendship Cup Regatta at the Shark River Beach & Yacht Club on August 17^th. Here is the link to register:  http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/17106

Shameless plug: FOBH will have long sleeve tech shirts with hoods (Opti sailor favorite) and giveaways from Colie Sails for the event.
 
2) During the school year, you are a history teacher and sailing coach at Donovan Catholic.  The Donovan sailing team is having a bit of a resurgence, undoubtedly from your involvement with the program.  Tell me a bit about the team and any plans for the next few years.
After coaching sailing at Donovan for many years, I took a 2 year break to spend more time with my young family. This fall season was an eye-opener for the majority of the team who had never sailed beyond the Toms River. For our first away regatta, the team and I traveled to the Christchurch School down in Virginia, sailing with two fleets (Brand new FJs, and 420s) on the water at the same time (which was extremely challenging for the guys both mentally and physically.)
In November, we took to the air and traveled down to New Orleans for the Great Oaks Regatta hosted by the Southern Yacht Club where the Griffins competed against teams from around the country. The entire weekend the team sailed on Lake Pontchartrain Bay in 20 kts plus with 3-4 ft. waves. You typically do not see this on Wednesdays after school in Toms River! The boys definitely learned a lot that weekend. I forgot to mention our lunch in the French Quarter, bread pudding at Southern Yacht Club, and the fact the team’s trip would not have been possible without the financial support from the Sailing Foundation of the Barnegat Bay.
During the spring season, we saw COLD and WINDY conditions and all our hard work paid off with great performance by the entire team at NJ States. Overall a great way to end the year!
This fall we have a couple of new local sailors joining the team and are looking forward to competing at the Larry White Invitational hosted by the US Coast Guard Academy in New London CT in October. Oh yeah, follow us Facebook, Instagram and Twitter @donovancatholicsailing this season