GBSA Instructors

GBSA Instructors

Program Director – Joey Mello

Joey is back at GBSA for his third year as Program Director. Prior to his time at East Greenwich, he spent several years coaching on the water at New Bedford Yacht Club, Community Boating Center of New Bedford as well as Bishop Stang High School. He has experience coaching and racing in such classes as Optis, 420s, Fjs, Lasers, and 29ers and now competes nationally in the Melges 32 class as well as locally sailing in Shields, J80s and PHRF. Joey grew up in Dartmouth, MA, where he attended Dartmouth High School and started it’s Sailing Team. He then graduated from URI in 2004 with a degree in Ocean Engineering, all while sailing for university’s sailing team. In 2005, Joey accepted URI’s offer to be their Head Sailing Coach.  Now in his 5th year as a coach for the school, he has led the team to several national championships in both Keel Boats as well as Dinghies.  This past Fall, he was the coach for Team URI/USA which finished 4th out of the world’s top keel boat racing teams, at the Student Yachting World Cup.

For 2010, once again  Joey has assembled an incredible staff.  The instructors for 2010 are:

Beginner / Sailing Adventures

  • Jeff Botwick
    Jeff will be his ninth summer here at GBSA, where he first started sailing as a 4th grade student.  Over the past nine years, he has developed a strong passion for sailing.    Here at GBSA he has completed classes beginner and intermediate program before competitively sailing.  He competed in the Opti class for two summers before moving onto the 420 class for four summers.  Jeff was a tri-captain of the East Greenwich High School sailing team as a junior and senior.  As much as he enjoys the competitive aspect of sailing he also enjoy teaching/coaching the sport as well.   As an instructor, he has been coaching the beginner and sailing adventure class here at GBSA since 2008.  Jeff is certified as a special Olympic sailing coach in Newport, Rhode Island  since 2007.  He is currently enrolled as a sophomore at Endicott College in  Beverly, MA and is studying sport management and aspires to eventually become an Athletic Director at a Division 1 college or university.  For the summer Jeff hopes to thoroughly teach and explain the sport of sailing to my students.  It is his hope that the students enjoy the sport and the program as much as he had when he was student.
  • Mia Cooper
    Mia is very excited to begin her third summer as an instructor at GBSA. She has spent the past two years as a Junior Instructor, and this summer she will be with GBSA full time working with the Beginner and Sailing Adventure classes. This is Mia’s 9th year in the GBSA program, and she has spent past summers racing in Optis, 420s, and Lasers. She recently graduated from East Greenwich High School, where she spent four years on the Varsity Sailing Team and served as Co-Captain in her senior year.  This coming fall, she will join the Fordham University Sailing Team in the class of 2014
  • Olga Goretoy
    This will be Olga’s third year as the Head Instructor for the Beginners program. Nine years ago, Olga herself began her journey at GBSA in the Beginners class, and had progressed through the different and exciting programs throughout the years. She sailed on the 420 team at GBSA for four years and then continued pursuing the sport for a few seasons at the University of Rhode Island, where she gained experience sailing FJs and competing at a collegiate level. Olga will be a senior in the fall of 2010 and she will be continuing to pursue a double-major in English and Secondary Education (with Middle-Level endorsement). As the oldest of six children, Olga has always had a passion for working with children, and loves sharing her passion for sailing with students. This year, Olga hopes to promote in her class: teamwork, an enthusiasm for sailing, various seamanship skills, a positive attitude, fun memories, and lasting friendships    .
  • Julia Stevens
    Julia has been sailing at GBSA for the past eight years. For the past four years she has been part of the Laser racing class. This will be her second year working with the beginners and her first year as a full instructor. She will be a senior at East Greenwich High School and has been a member of the sailing team there for the past three years. Julia looks forward to teaching new beginners how to sail and have fun and to seeing the kids progress over the summer

Opti Beginners

  • Paige McClatchy
    Paige grew up sailing at GBSA and this summer will be her fourth year working at the program. She sailed Optis and went on to Lasers. She was the captain of the Bay View Sailing Team and sailed for her high school throughout her 4 years at the Bay. Paige is a sophomore at Connecticut College and is majoring in History while pursuing her teaching degree. On Tuesday nights she races Catboats with her dad in Wickford and is planning to race Wednesday nights in Jamestown.
  • Ryan Whelan-
    Ryan is returning for his fourth year as an instructor, and second year as a full time instructor. Ryan grew up sailing at GBSA since he was nine years old competing in Optis, Lasers and 420s. On top of his summer sailing, Ryan spent four years sailing for the Moses Brown Varsity Sailing Team as both a skipper and crew in 420s and FJs. Ryan just graduated Moses Brown School this June and will be attending Georgetown University as a member of the class of 2014. Ryan continues to compete in Lasers and plans to sail in college as well.

420 Instructional / 420 Race Team

  • Andrew Melaney
    Andrew grew up competitively sailing Optis, 420s and Sonars on Martha’s Vineyard and competed in the Southern Massachusetts Series for junior sailing. He has been lucky enough to sail all over the country in places like San Francisco, Miami and San Diego; enjoying all people and places that sailing has allowed him to experience.  In high school, Andrew sailed for the St. Georges School and now is currently a sophomore sailing at Tufts University. Along with competitive sailing, Andrew enjoys windsurfing, surfing, and just about any water sport. He began coaching sailing at Vineyard Haven Yacht Club and worked there as an Opti and 420 coach for four years. Last year was spent working at Cedar Point Yacht Club in Connecticut which was a great experience broadening his coaching realm, learning new sailing sites and meeting new kids. Andrew is looking forward to a great summer at GBSA and encourages anyone to ask him about his waterspout experience, or the time his mast was struck by lightning.
  • Katherine Salk
    Katrina learned to sail at Connanicut Yacht club when she was eight years and started to competitively race 420’s as a crew when she was 15 years old.  Her  sister and she won the 420 division of the Mary Rose Marshall regatta in 2005-07, and won the 420 divisions at the Sail Newport regatta in 2006.  In 2007, again sailing with her sister, she received the overall first women’s team in 420 at the orange bowl regatta.    In 2007 she received 3rd place in 420’s at the Hyannis regatta and 4th place at 420 midwinters. At the age 15 she began to sail triple handed boats and placed 3rd in 2005 and 1st in 2007 in Sears Triple Handed Nationals.   She is  currently a rising senior at Connecticut College, and has been racing as a starting crew since her freshman year.   In February 2009 she received neissa college sailor of the year.   She have competed as a starting crew at women’s ACC  and Women’s nationals in 2009-2010.

Opti Green / Opti Race Team

  • Lauren Gineo
    Before coaching at GBSA Lauren was the Opti racing coach at Larchmont Yacht club in New York. Lauren grew up sailing on Narragansett Bay out of Sail Newport, competitively racing Opti’s and 420’s. Lauren attended Rogers High School where she was the captain of the varsity sailing team. She graduated from URI this past spring with a degree in Kinesiology and Biology. While at URI Lauren was a member of the university’s sailing team. She attended ICSA Women’s Nationals in San Francisco, Ca and was also a member of the World Cup team representing the US in both 2007 and 2009. Lauren has, and continues to, compete at the national and international level in various types of keel boats. She is in the process of doing an Olympic Windsurfing campaign for the 2012 games in London in the RS:X class. Lauren’s goal for this summer is to build a team of confident, driven, enthusiastic racers who are looking to improve at every chance they get!
  • Gabe Salk

Laser Race Team

  • Dani Fleet
  • Myles Stevens
    This will be Myles’ eleventh year at GBSA, and his second year as Laser Assistant Coach. He passed through beginners and intermediates, and spent one year in opti racing. After outgrowing optis, he moved into the laser class where he raced for four years, and during those four years he finished second in the 2004 Smythe Area A qualifiers and 3rd at NBYA race week in 2006. In 2007, he sailed with Danielle Fleet and Ryan Mullins in the Sears Cup, where they finished second at the Area A’s. He recently completed his sophomore year at Roger Williams University and is studying for a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology with a double minor in Spanish and Photography. Myles’ instructing career started as a junior instructor in 2005, and then a full instructor in 2006-2008. He then moved up to become the laser assistant coach in 2009 and will continue to be the assistant coach this summer. This summer he hopes to help the laser racers to finish well in every regatta they participate in.

Junior Instructors

  • Connor D’Albora
  • Nori Mongeon
  • Michaela Reynolds
  • Tori Shakespeare