Fall 2011.indd - Annapolis Yacht Club

I was asked to be on the Board so I began to get involved in the Club.
Then they asked me to move up and come into the flag chain. I felt like I could
contribute something to the operation and that’s why I did it. I think I can help.
Jobson
So to help provide a support structure, what
specific things would you like to see happen?
Jobson
You raced quite a bit with Jack King. Tell me
a little bit about Jack.
McNeil I think we should continue to emphasize a
family friendly environment and include
more activities that are family oriented. We
need to strive to encourage kids to grow up
here and come back here. The little ones can
learn from the older ones who learn from
those older still and so on.
Jobson
How has Annapolis changed over the years?
McNeil When we were growing up they still had the
Navy yawls moored off the Naval Academy
seawall so a lot has changed. It’s just more
boats. More people. We lost the boatyards.
It’s gotten a lot more commercial. It seems to
be more marinas and a lot more plastic boats
around where when we were growing up there
was more flavor to the waterfront. McNasby’s
was there. O’Leary’s used to have a real rail
yard that would pull boats. Sarles was busy
with workboats. You had Trumpy building
boats. It just seemed a lot more maritime.
Now it appears to be more commercial with
marinas and dockage with plastic boats.
Jobson
I’m thinking about some of the great sailors
here at the Annapolis Yacht Club. You grew
up here. What was it like sailing with Al Van
Metre and Running Tide for example?
McNeil At that point in time I was still in high school
so it was a real treat. We got to travel up and
down the East coast. At the time that we were
sailing with him, that was one of the biggest
boats out there. That was before Kialoa came
on the scene and the maxi boats. Running
Tide was the big-name yacht and it was such a
thrill to be involved in that. It was wonderful.
McNeil I’ve known Jack my whole life. He bought
Merrythought, the Frers 62, which I think you
and I sailed a couple of races on together. I
sailed with him for 4 or 5 years. He traveled.
He was one of the members that went on an
international circuit. We went to the Fastnet.
We went to the Med and did the Nioulargue
Races. It was just a thrill to travel on a nice,
big boat. Jack was a great guy who took good
care of everybody. It was a lot of fun.
Jobson
You’ve done a lot of Star racing too.
McNeil I started racing the Star boat around 1989.
I had a big boat for a while, an IOR boat, and
IOR was kind of dying out. So I thought I’d
go try something different and get in a smaller
boat with fewer crew. I came to love that class.
The people in it are wonderful. The talent is
outstanding. I’ve been sailing them now for
over 20 years. It’s just been fabulous. Good
venues. Great people. Great competition.
You’ve got to be paying attention to do well in
that group. I’ve had my ups and downs.
Jobson
How was it having the Star Worlds here at
Annapolis Yacht Club?
McNeil That was a lot of fun. It was a great event. We
had 98 boats. I didn’t do very well. I was a
little disappointed with that but we put on a
great event. It was nice having all your friends.
I’d been to all their clubs and been on the west
coast and the north and the east coast, north
and south. To have all your friends come to
your home club and have a big event like that
it was nice.
VOLUME 3, NO. 2
AYC BEACON
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