Dave Perry
Dave Perry
Dave Perry grew up sailing on Long Island Sound. Learning to
sail in Sunfish, Blue Jays and Lightnings from his parents and in the
junior program at the Pequot Yacht Club in Southport, Connecticut, he
won the Clinton M. Bell Trophy for the best junior record on L.I.S. in
1971. While at Yale (1973-77) he was captain of the National
Championship Team in 1975, and was voted All-American in 1975 and 1977.
Other racing accomplishments include: 1st, 1978 Tasar North Americans;
5th, 1979 Laser Worlds; 1st, 1979 Soling Olympic Pre-Trials (crew);
10th overall, 1981 SORC (crew); 3rd, 1982 Soling Worlds; 1st, 1983 Star
South American Championship (crew); 1st, 1983 and 1984 Congressional
Cup; 2nd, 1984 Soling Olympic Trials; 6th, 1985 Transpac Race (crew);
1st, 1988 and 1992 Knickerbocker Match Race Cup; 1st, 1994, 1999 amd
2003 Ideal 18 North American Championship, and 1st, 1982 & 2006
U.S. Match Racing Championship (Prince of Wales).
Dave has been actively working for the sport since 1977. He has led
hundreds of US SAILING instructional seminars in over 50 one-design
classes; directed U.S. Olympic Yachting Committee Talent Development
Clinics; coached the 1981 World Champion U.S. Youth Team; and given
seminars in Japan, Australia, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil and Canada. He
has been the Youth Representative on the US SAILING Board of Directors
and the Chairman of the U.S. Youth Championship Committee, and has
served on the following other US SAILING committees: Olympic, Training,
Class Racing and O’Day Championship. He is currently the Chairman of
the US SAILING Appeals Committee, a committee he has been on since
1985, and a US SAILING Senior Certified Judge. In 1992 he was voted
into the Sailing World Hall of Fame; in 1994 he received an honorary
Doctorate of Education from Piedmont College; in 1995 he became the
first recipient of US SAILING’s Captain Joe Prosser Award for
exceptional contribution to sailing education; and in March 2001 Dave
received the W. Van Alan Clarke, Jr. Trophy, US SAILING’s national
award for sportsmanship. He was the Director of Athletics at Greens
Farms Academy, a K-12 coed independent day school in Westport,
Connecticut for 21 years, and was the Rules Advisor and Afterguard
Coach for Victory Challenge, Sweden’s 2007 America’s Cup campaign.