African American sailors

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rgallagher

I am a high school teacher and my wife and I sail as much as we can. We currently own a Hunter 28.5 and spend every weekend on her year round. We spend almost every summer weekend sleeping on her. Our goal is to retire in 10 years, buy the bigger boat, and cruise our life away. My classroom is filled with pictures, models and boat paraphenalia. I even have a map where I am tracking a couple that has a boat in the caribbean.

I have an aide that cannot comprehend why anyone would go out on a sailboat. She is African American and has been preaching that "her people" do not do sailboats. I found a couple, he is white she is black, that lkive on a sailboat in the Keys. It was her idea.

My aide has challenged me to show her where there are AA's that are doing what I plan to do, live on my sailboat and cruise the blues.

Can anyone help me out? I am looking all over the net but am not finding success.


Thank you
 
Ctskip

Ctskip

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Sep 21, 2005
732
other 12 wet water
Not all humans are created equal. Some are more equal than others.

Keep it up,
Ctskip
 
Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

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May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
Last summer when I was in Deltaville I ran across an African American Gentileman and his wife at an anchorage. They were on a Passport 41. They were such a nice couple and they had put a lot of miles behind their stern. It was nice to meet them and see that EVERYONE is being involved in this. Besides, when we become sailors we no longer have a race, we are all motivated by wind and the people who travel on this wind are the best; no matter who they are, what they are, how much money they have, or anything else.
 
Chuckbear

Chuckbear

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Jan 3, 2009
821
Marine Trader 34 Where Ever I am
there was a very nice and knowledgeable African American couple that owned a condo slip in the marina in the Keys that we managed for several years that sailed their boat down and back from New England every year and traveled the Bahamas, etc. We have met several in cruising the Caribbean over the years. Most of the population of the Bahamas are black and there are many, many sailors to be found.
 
Tim R.

Tim R.

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May 27, 2004
3,626
Caliber 40 Long Range Cruiser Portland, Maine
Teddy Seymour, 1987, the first African-American to complete solo single-handed circumnavigation, aboard sailboat Love Song.
 
B

Bob16841

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Jan 12, 2006
48
Catalina 25 All Over, USA
I'm confused...African-American?

Seems to me you are either African or American.

If you were born, raised and live in America...you are an American.
 
BobM

BobM

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Jun 10, 2004
3,269
S2 9.2A Winthrop, MA
There were 18,000 African American sailors in the Civil War alone (18,000 sailors to be commemorated http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa111700a.htm ) including eight that eaned a Medal of Honor!

Over the course of the conflict 18,000 men (and more than a dozen women) of African descent served in the U.S. Navy, some 15 percent of the total enlisted force. They served on almost every one of the nearly 700 navy vessels including those of the Mississippi Squadron. Eight of these sailors earned the Medal of Honor for their heroism in battle.

More than 130 years after the end of the Civil War, the story of black sailors remains largely untold. Details of the lives of these men and women lie undiscovered in military records and family memories. This database serves as a starting point for relatives and researchers as they begin to piece together individual experiences of participants in this watershed event in American history. It documents the service and the lives of people of African descent who served in the U.S. Navy.

http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/sailors_index.html
 
Mike B

Mike B

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Apr 15, 2007
1,013
Beneteau 43 Baltimore, MD
Tell her to Google Bill Pinkney. He's the first Black Man to have circumnavigated the world. As for other Blacks/African Americans that are sailing they may not be in the majority but they certainly are out there doing so. Not sure how to dispell her theory that her people don't sail or cruise but from my perspective she's off the mark with her comment.
 
B

Bill at BOATS 4 SAIL

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May 24, 2004
44
- - Oconomowoc, WI
I lived in Africa for 1 1/2 years. Vietnam for 1 year. USA most of the rest of the time. So, I think I'm an American African Vietnames sailor.
Some people might say that I'm not.
A very good sailor, that is.
 
Rick D

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,204
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
Lots in My Marina

Of course some are powerboaters. Does that count? Seriously, I guess I'd have to say how does she know unless she's hung around some marinas? BTW, in the marina where I was at, two YC's had AA Commodores, and that's just who I knew personally. one lived aboard a beautiful bull-nosed Chris which he later sold for something a bit less maintenance-intensive. The other has a C&C which he raced and which he shipped to the Bahamas when he retired and got a condo there. I suspect it's just lack of knowledge and bad assumptions on her part.
 
Bad Obsession

Bad Obsession

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May 23, 2004
3,319
I'm in the market as were . Colonial Beach
If we add powerboats to the mix there is a guy at my marina that has a Wellcraft 46. His name is Norm. Norm is a trip too! LOL
 
Stu Jackson

Stu Jackson

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Feb 26, 2004
23,353
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
Boy, is that a dumb comment during African American Month!

Does she swim? We have a couple in our local C34 Fleet and many in our marina. Geez, talk about (reverse) stupidity.
 
Franklin

Franklin

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Jul 20, 2005
2,422
Whitby 55 Kemah, Tx
There is an avid AA sailor here in Kemah who loves to race. I don't know if he cruises, but he has a 54' C&C that I raced against in Regatta de Amigos. I believe he has other boats too. Good man and wise sailor.
 
dancing bear

dancing bear

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Jun 3, 2004
309
Prindle 18, beach catamaran Chicago (North Edgebrook), IL
Sail Magazine featured two African American sailors a couple of months ago in the Sailor of the Month feature.
 
Scott

Scott

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Sep 24, 1997
242
Hunter 31_83-87 Middle River, Md
ok

Are there any African-Canadian sailors? Any African-Mexican sailors, or African-Scots sailors, etc. Why do so many in our country have to be (-) Americans. Get over it!!! IMHO you're either American or not. No offense meant to any other norte amercanos or sud americanos or our Canadian friends. Im just sick of the overt, intentional divisiveness among our society.
 
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