The Buds Bulletin Winter 2026
- Sage Andrews
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
Coaches Corner:
Dear Friends of BU Sailing,
The BUDS are arriving back on campus and gearing up for another spring on the Charles. We will be looking to continue our push for nationals berths in both Open and Women’s competition, as well as competing on the team racing front. This fall was a big transition season, with lots of talented seniors graduating in Spring 2025, including Sandy Adzick MVP Award winner and Women’s and Open starting skipper Tiare Sierra; Women’s Nationals B Division skipper Lucy Paskoff; Crew MVP Jack Cariaso; and NEISA Open Championship skippers Elliott Mendenhall and Noah Robitshek.
Fortunately, we added a large freshman class of skilled sailors, including Bailey Kreszswick, who stepped immediately into a women’s starting skipper role and sailed all 8 weeks this fall. Graham Welsh sailed every weekend as well, with Andrea Comerford and Amanda Wong each sailing 7. Amanda quickly stepped up into a top crewing role, sailing A Division at the Danmark, Women’s ACT, and Schell Trophy. Finally, 3 new team members will be joining us this spring from CGS - Beckett Shinn from St. Ignatius Prep, Saanvi Gupta from Greenwich Academy, and Nola Lai from Hotchkiss. The future is bright for our young BUDS!
Leading the charge this spring, though, will be senior skipper Porter Bell and crew Nick Thibodeau, alongside a great group of other upperclassmen leaders. We are blessed this season with a large team filled with dedicated sailors from top to bottom who keep our practices competitive and push us all to be the best we can be. We’re hopeful to be able to hit the water in late February, with our first regattas coming up on February 28! After that will be our spring break trip to Ransom Everglades in Miami from March 9-12.
I would be remiss to finish without giving a huge thank you to everyone who donated money, time, or resources to help us keep doing what we love. Specific shoutouts must be made to Grad Assistant Andrew Reed ‘18, Lexi Pline ‘19 for running our Media Day, and the Reed and Welsh families for housing us at regattas, but there are many more who deserve praise than I could thank here. We continue to grow as a team and work to build upon the legacy of the BUDS, and we would not be able to do so without your support.
Sincerely,
Carter Brock
Porter Bell ‘26 & Amanda Wong ‘29 Margie Bowen ‘27 & Nick Thibodeau ‘26
BUDS Out of Water:
Though the water is what brings us together, off the water, the BUDS often spend much of their leisure time together. To keep busy in the off-season, some of the BUDS have rallied together for morning lifts at FitRec. Their teamwork builds both physical strength and a tighter bond.
The Lady BUDS are also keeping active with seven of the women's sailors running this year’s Jingle All The Way 5k festively dressed as Santa and the reindeer. This marked their second consecutive year of running one of Boston’s winter 5Ks, a tradition they hope to continue for many years to come.
The BUDS have conquered the slopes with three sailors summiting Mount Washington in the winter of last year. And of course, ski weekend, the annual tradition that has been bringing NEISA teams together for decades. Last year, we had 14 sailors, a number we’re hoping will continue to grow this year.
Save the Date:
Giving Day 2026 - Wednesday, April 8th
Giving Day is our largest fundraising event of the year. Last year our team raised over we raised over $15,000! We are hoping to continue to build of that success as we look to a packed spring and incoming spring break. Your contributions fund our team’s continued growth and collaboration.
Spring Alumni Event - Saturday, May 2nd
Get ready to grab your spray gear for a day on the Charles. Keep in touch on our socials for more information to come!
Alumni Feature - Rob Dexter
SMG '80
I’ve been an enthusiastic supporter of the Thistle Class for many years. When I was 6, my father rolled into the driveway with a wood Thistle, number 1400. It was beautiful and had a nice round number. Thistles are 17’ long and typically sail with a crew of three. Soon, I was the forward crew for my father at our club in Nyack, NY, on the Hudson River. I also sailed in our very active Sunfish fleet, and from that point on, I was hooked on sailboat racing.
While my father never traveled to regattas, I did go to many away regattas with other skippers. One of my early sailing mentors was a gentleman named Jim Lipscomb. He taught me that racing should be serious and that you had to earn the respect of your competitors. He also showed me that the social side of sailing was just as important as racing.
After a few years, I was able to wrestle the tiller of 1400 away from my dad and started racing it hard with my brother Don and a series of friends. As my life moved, the maintenance of a wooden boat got to be too much, so I passed 1400 on to Don and bought a glass boat.
The years were hard on old 1400, and it went into the barn in the mid 90’s. Around 2022, my brother Bill and I pulled it out and started the process of restoring the boat to full racing condition. Thistles are one of the very few boats where the wooden boats are still very competitive, if you can keep them in good shape. With the 2025 Nationals close by in Sandusky, Ohio, we put on the push to get the boat finished, including rerigging the whole boat from scratch, as well as a new mast and boom. We also put a new coat of paint on the hull. With a healthy fleet of 74 boats, 13 of them wooden, including Thistle #1, we set off for Sandusky. What we didn’t allow enough time for was practicing and tuning, and our results weren’t as great as we’d hoped. It was, however, amazing to be back in the boat and back at the Nationals with so many old friends.
- Rob Dexter
Student Semester - Margie Bowen
Pardee ‘27, Rochester, NY
My favorite part about being a BUD is the flexibility it offers to sailors. With the endorsement by the BUDS, I was lucky enough to compete in the 2024 J24 World Championship in Seattle, Washington. This was my first Worlds, and I was a tactician. It pushed me tremendously, as I was relatively new to my youth team and to the role in general. It was a great experience learning from top boats, meeting teams from around the world, and racing against my mom’s all-women’s team.
The following Spring, I studied abroad in Sydney, Australia, and did not want to miss out on sailing because I wasn’t with the team. Through a connection I made at the Worlds and with my short college sailing experience, I found myself sailing nearly 3 times a week on Sydney Harbor. During that couple of months in Sydney, I sailed offshore on a J109, inshore on boats like J24s and other keelboats. In Sydney, I grew tremendously as both a crew and a skipper. I was able to guest skipper the J24 that I sailed against in Seattle during some of their Summer series races. Although my biggest improvement was in my tactics. I got to observe the processes teams that raced the Sydney Hobart would take and honed my skills. My most memorable moment was during the 2025 Helly Hansen Women’s Challenge. I was tactician with a great group of ladies, and we managed to get third in our division. One big moment of success was when I was able to call the next oscillation in the wind direction, which allowed us to secure the lead. Being able to make this call was largely due to my experiences in Seattle and as a college sailor, being able to make quick assessments and decisions.
My time away from the team working on tactics has made me a smarter and more confident sailor. While big boat sailing is not the same as collegiate, I’ve been able to successfully apply what I’ve learned back to the team. By sailing big boats, I have gained a new appreciation for dinghies and a renewed love for crouching while being sprayed with Charles River water. I hope that others, during their time on the BUDS, also take advantage of the opportunities that arise to visit new places, meet new people, and develop their sailing. RAH BUDS.
Supporters of the BUDS:
Huge thanks to everyone who has supported our team on and off the water this past year and the many years prior! The BUDS are extremely grateful to those who support our program with both donations and coaching. Thank you to all of our weekend coaches who help all of our sailors feel supported in their season. Additionally, the generosity of the friends, family, and alums of the BUDS is helping us in our endeavors to sail this spring break and make sailing more accessible to all of our sailors, thank you.
Help Us Stay Connected & Keep You Up To Date:
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Email Coach Brock at cbrock@bu.edu
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To: ‘Friends of BU Sailing’ Boston University FitRec Center
Attn: Carter Brock
915 Commonwealth Ave, Boston MA, 02215
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Team Photo and on-the-water action shots by: Lexi Pline Photography (COM ‘19)
Thank you Lexi!
Sage Andrews - CAS '28 - Sports Information Director
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