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Rear Commodore Sam Grant: Sam had never been on a boat when he met Jennifer Hine Grant and her parents,
Charles and Jan Hine, who are one of the biggest sailing families at FWYC. He and Jennifer met in college at
OWCC. Sam lived in South Carolina before his family moved to Florida when he was about nine. After obtaining
a degree in graphic design and working in that vocation for about four years, he hit the books again to obtain a
software engineering degree. Sam currently works for the DOD in simulation and training.
Sam and Jennifer have one son, Zach, who is no stranger at FWYC. He grew up at the Club and is carrying on
the family tradition of sailing and winning sailing awards. Zach currently is on the UWF sailing team.
Sam and Jennifer (they work closely together in everything they do) have been active members of FWYC for
many years. Some of their past duties include: five years as junior directors and even helped out before that;
Sam was a board member for 3 years; fleet captain 2 years; parliamentarian for 2 years and served as members of
the Entertainment Committee for many years. One of their biggest accomplishments was to re-energize the
Portsmouth small boat sailing. They ran the Portsmouth program for 3 years before stepping down and others
stepped up to continue it. Sam is constantly working at FWYC to make the Club a better place. He can usually
be seen running wiring or fixing something that isn't working just right.
One of the things many people don't know about Sam is that he makes all of his and Jennifer's costumes for FWYC
events. These clever costumes are always a riot and most often bring home a prize. As the "party person" this
year, it's going to be fun to see what he comes up with.
The thing that Sam likes most about the Club are the friendships. The people at FWYC are certainly an amazing
group of people. Of course, his love of sailing can be witnessed each regatta and every Wednesday from April
to October aboard Breakaway. When time permits, he and Jennifer are often off sailing in waters all over the
country on Eve N Keeled.
Fleet Captain Ashley Sukalski: Ashley joined FWYC as a young adult member in order to sail and enjoy the
property. She moved her membership to a regular member early in order to serve as Secretary under Past
Commodore Bill Denny. She's a product of the "Phil Pritchett Sailing Program." For many years Phil taught
young members to sail, encouraged them, found crew spots for them, and fussed at them wherever they weren't
on the water enough. Ashley has crewed for Phil and others at FWYC as well as on J22s. She was on the crew
of Eve N Keeled with Jennifer Grant and Kerrie Serpa this past summer and brought home the Trilogy trophy from
Pensacola.
Ashley's eleven year old son, Micah is a regular sight at the Club, and is a valued crew member on the Capdevielle
team as well as following in his mother's footsteps in Phil's program.
Ashley has been active with Junior sailors for many years which led to her becoming a leader in Capdevielle and
the Gulf Yachting Association (GYA) Board. She has served on the Youth Council, the One-Design Council,
Secretary of Multi-hull Council, 3 years as the Florida Capdevielle representative and is currently chair of the
One-Design Council.
Experiencing all types of regattas and regatta management throughout the GYA, Ashley has sailed from Houston
to St. Petersburg. She has been exposed to a great network of talented sailors throughout the Gulf Coast. Ashley
enjoys the people and activities of FWYC and is proud to serve as our Fleet Captain in one of the best sailing
venues around!
~ Fort Walton Yacht Club, Established in 1951 ~