Member since 2009
Elected Nov. 2022 - Term Expires Nov. 2025

When I retired a dozen years ago I never liked answering the question, “what do you do?”. Saying that I was retired sounded like I did nothing. That was far from the truth.

I came across a TED Talk on YouTube that was entitled something like this, "Five easy steps to answering the question, what do you do?". I followed along answering the five questions and writing my answers. At the conclusion my answers gave me a sentence that answered “What do you do?”.

My answer was, "I help people realize their sailing hopes and dreams." I liked that, and that was what I was spending a lot of my time doing. I was doing a lot of captain/training and I really enjoyed seeing people’s confidence and knowledge grow.

I’ve been a member of SSCA for more than a couple of decades. I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow SSCA members around the globe and at several GAMS. I recall meeting Skip Gundlach in an anchorage near Little Harbor in the Bahamas. I recall bumping into Rick and Julie Peterson in Gibraltar and then Morocco. And I keep seeing Bill on Pelican Express up and down the East Coast.

If I were to ask SSCA, “what do you do?”, the answer would probably be the same as mine. By being more active in SSCA I can continue to work towards what I enjoy doing. I look forward to contributing to an organization that helps other sailors around the world.

Member since 2014, Commodore since 2019
Elected Nov. 2022 - Term Expires Nov. 2025

Neil and his wife Janet have owned boats and been sailing for over 40 years. They grew up on the west coast of England and immigrated to the US in 1989. They have three grown children and an amazing sailing dog named “Salty”.

They live on the Gulf coast, west of Pensacola and are SSCA Cruising Station Hosts for Pirates Cove, AL. They are both active members of SSCA. Neil is a member of SSCA’s mentoring committee, and recently helped host an “informal gathering” in March 2022 in the Exumas which was attended by many SSCA members. Neil would like to promote SSCA to young members interested in sailing and cruising by making the association more appealing through live events and social media.

Neil and Janet typically spend 6 months of the year cruising on their current boat, a 2019 Lagoon 40; and when home they are usually sailing it on a weekly basis to local destinations. They have cruised extensively in the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexico, Cuba and Europe. Their longest passage was crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Cape Verde to Antigua.

At home, Neil is a member of Pensacola Yacht Club (PYC) and Point Yacht Club (Pt.YC). He has been a board member at PYC and Race Chair for the Pensacola to Havana Race. He has also been Fleet Captain at Pt.YC. Neil is a retired Engineer and has been a Board member for two specialty engineering firms during his career.

Member since 2010, Commodore since 2020
Elected Nov. 2023 - Term Expires Nov. 2026

Kingsley and his wife Sue circumnavigated the Caribbean in 1992 and 1993. In 2012, they did a transatlantic crossing to Europe where they remained in those waters until 2018. Currently, they are in Tallahassee, FL waiting to embark on future cruising exploits. He has held several leadership positions with his local yacht club, Apalachee Bay Yacht Club, and the American Cancer Society in Florida. In addition to SSCA, Kingsley is a member of the Ocean Cruising Club. Besides being SSCA president, he is chair of SSCA’s anchoring and navigation rights committee.

For most of his career, Kingsley worked in and around government agencies where he developed a multi-million-dollar budget for one state agency. He also served as executive director of a state agency serving people with disabilities and later lobbied both on the state and national levels on their behalf. Previously, Kingsley served as executive director of a statewide non-profit. He holds a Masters degree in Sociology.

During his tenure, Kingsley plans to use his budget expertise and identify ways to increase membership by offering unique and valuable services to support the cruising lifestyle while streamlining operational procedures.

Member since 2010, Commodore since 2020
Elected Nov. 2021 - Term Expires Nov. 2024

Beth has approximately 8000 miles of blue water sailing from the Atlantic US Coast to Grenada with multiple trips aboard her own vessel and aboard other vessels as crew. She resides in Maryland and has over 25 years of sailing experience on the Chesapeake Bay and the US Atlantic coastal waters. This fall Beth plans to embark on extended cruising to the Windward Islands.

For the past three years, Beth has served as the conference coordinator for the Annapolis Gam and served an additional eight years as a conference committee member prior to becoming coordinator. She has served as an SSCA Cruising Station Host for the past four years and has volunteered for many years at the SSCA booth during the US Sailboat Show held each fall in Annapolis, MD. Beth is also a member of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association.

Beth holds a master’s degree in nursing and education and is currently employed as a nurse practitioner. She is a founding member and board member of the Maryland Coalition of Advanced Practice Providers and a board member of the Nurse Practitioner Association of Maryland.

Beth chose to run for the board because, in her words, “it’s merely time to step up to the plate”. She plans to offer experience in recruiting new members to SSCA through networking and organizational exposure to other sailing groups and yacht clubs. She is well versed in board etiquette and parliamentary procedures due to her other board positions. Beth believes SSCA has a unique ability to position itself as a sailing organization for the “ordinary sailor” as she herself enjoyed feeling welcomed by other members from the day she joined wanting to understand the cruising life. She sees SSCA as a grassroots, everyday sailing organization that engages and supports educational efforts for beginning sailors to network with experienced sailors with a common bond of safety, responsibility and camaraderie.