Fishing Bay Yacht Club is excited to announce its 2015 Professional Summer Coaching Staff!  Once again, we will have world class coaches with a breadth of experience as both racers and coaches.  They have over 30 years of combined coaching experience.  Two are returning for their second and third seasons of coaching at FBYC, and three grew up in our program.  They will be led by Head Coach Tomas Dietrich, who is himself a National and South American Champion! 

Tomas Dietrich 

We are extremely excited to welcome Tommy back for his second year at FBYC!  In 2015 he will serve as both Head Coach and Opti Race Team Coach.  

Tommy is a professional coach and sailor from Rosario, Argentina.  He began sailing at age 7 and made the Argentina National Opti Team at age 10, represented Argentina at the 2002 Opti North Americans in Bermuda, where he finished 2nd in his division, and won his division at the 2002 Argentina Opti Nationals.  Tommy has gone on to an outstanding career racing in everything from Optis to J-70s to offshore ocean racers.  A few highlights include, in Optis, 4th in his division at the 2003 South Americans, 11th overall at the 2005 South Americans, 2005 Argentina National Team Racing Champion, and 38th overall at the 2006 Opti Worlds!  He was the 2009 South American Champion in Laser 4.7 and Laser Radial, and the 2012 South American and Argentina Laser Radial Champion.  He has also successfully campaigned 420s and Lightnings, and was 2nd at the 2010 Lightning Youth Worlds.  He was trimmer for the FBYC entry, skippered by FBYC junior sailor Gannon Troutman, that finished 5th in the 54 boat J-70 fleet at the 2015 Quantum Key West Race Week.  

His coaching career has taken him throughout Argentina and South American, and he has served as a coach for the New Zealand Opti National Team and for the LISOT team in Newport, Rhode Island.

Tommy is completing his degree in law at the Catholic University of Argentina. 

Federico Norman

Federico is a professional coach and sailor from Funes, Argentina.  He will coach the Opti Race Team.

Federico has had an exceptional career in international competition.  He was 1st at the 2001 Opti North American Team Racing Championship and 2nd overall at the 2001 Opti North American Championship.  He finished 3rd at the 2001 Opti South American Team Racing Championship and 5th at the 2000 Argentina National Championship.  In Snipes, he was the 2003 Argentina Junior National Champion, 8th at the 2004 Western Hemisphere and Orient Championship, 4th at the 2005 Junior World Championship, 4th at the 2014 South American Championship, 3rd at the 2014 Argentina National Championship, and he has qualified for the 2015 World Championship in Italy.  He was the 2009 Argentina Champion in the 29er; and competed in the 2011 Maui Amateur Windsurfing Trials and 2012 Pozo Izquierdo Amateur Trials in Canarias, Spain.  He has also served as tactician at numerous regattas on keel boats, including the 2012 through 2014 Rolex South Atlantic Championships.  

Federico began coaching at his home club as a teen in 2002, and has coached Optimist and Snipes professionally at Club de Velas de Rosario, Argentina, for the past 9 summers.  He has also conducted and taught numerous clinics.

He holds a Business Administration Degree from Universidad Austral Rosario; and is self-employed in real estate development.  In his spare time he loves to windsurf!  

Tomas Pellejero

Tomas is a professional coach and international sailor from Rosario,  Argentina.  He will coach the Laser Race Team.  

Tomas began sailing at age 7, and currently competes internationally in the Laser Full Rig.  He first competed internationally at age 13, representing Argentina at the Opti North Americans.  Highlights of his finishes in international competition include 2nd at the 2008 South American Laser Radial Junior Championship, Silver at the 2009 Youth ISAF World Cup in Lasers, 2009 Argentina Laser National Junior Champion, 2nd at the 2009 Volvo ISAF Laser Youth Worlds, 2nd at the 2010 Lightning Youth Worlds (with Tomas Dietrich),  8th at the ILCA Junior Laser Worlds in La Rochelle, France, 1st at the 2011 Laser South American Junior Championship, 2011 Laser Argentina Junior National Champion, 8th at the 2013 Laser South American Championship, and 85th at the ISAF Laser Worlds in Santander, Spain.

Tomas began coaching as a teen, and served as coach of the Yacht Club Rosario Laser Travel Team in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Thomas is also studying architecture and design, and loves to rock climb and surf! 

Here is the link to a video about Tomas in Spanish:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehIjKbvWV9Y   

Austin Powers

We are extremely fortunate to have Austin return for his third year coaching at FBYC, and as Head Coach of the Development Teams!  Under his direction, the Opti Development Team has thrived, winning regattas across the Southern Chesapeake.  Twenty-two of the current members of the FBYC Race Teams were coached by Austin on the Opti Development Team or during Junior Week!  

Austin began sailing as a toddler on his parent’s boat.  He first sailed at FBYC at age 6 in Opti Kids, and went on to race on both the Opti and Laser Race Teams from ages 8 to 17.  Austin was routinely a top 5 finisher in the CBYRA High Points, and finished second in his final year in the Laser Radial Class, when he was coached by long-time FBYC Coach Gabriel Moran, who is currently serving as the Head Coach of the Ecuador National Team.  Austin raced in numerous US and Canadian Nationals and North Americans, and finished 11th at the 2011 Canadian Nationals.  For many years he volunteered as an instructor during Junior Week, culminating in being the Lead Instructor for the Laser Class while still a junior.  Austin was the recipient of many awards at FBYC, including the Up and Coming Trophy, the Hutcheson Trophy, the Junior Competition Trophy, the Bedell Trophy and the Dunn Trophy.  

His success has continued at the college level on the Christopher Newport University Sailing Team, where in his first season he won the prestigious Webb Regatta.  He is majoring in Political Science and aspires to be a lawyer.  

Claire Lennarz

Claire joins the FBYC Coaching Staff after having grown up in our program!  She is a life long sailor, and learned to sail while cruising on her parents’ Cal 33; and began sailing at FBYC in Opti Kids at age 6.  At age 9 she was a member of the inaugural season of the Opti Development Team, and never looked back!  Claire raced on the Opti Development Team in 2008 and 2009, the Opti Race Team from 2010 to 2012, and the Laser Race Team from 2013 to 2014; where she was coached both years by Gabriel Moran.  During her time at FBYC she has raced in major regattas from Canada to Florida, and has recorded many top finishes.  She finished 3rd in girls in the 2014 CBYRA High Points for the Laser Radial. 

Claire has been recognized by FBYC with the Up and Coming Trophy in 2008, and the Becca’s Boat Trophy in 2012 and 2014 as the outstanding junior female sailor.  She has also volunteered as an instructor during Junior Week, teaching beginning sailors.  She has sailed extensively with her family in the British Virgin Islands, Bahamas, Leeward Islands and Grenadines, as well as on the Bay.  Claire is a rising senior, plays varsity tennis and is on her varsity swim team, plays and coaches club lacrosse, and even plays the guitar and is fluent in French!  

Eric Roos

Eric is a rising college freshman and has sailed and competed at FBYC since attending  FBYC’s Y-Camp at age 7!  He raced for a total of 8 years on the Opti and Laser Race Teams; the last three under the tutelage of Gabriel Moran.  He has also sailed extensively in High School Sailing, racing both 420s and Lasers.  He won the 2014 MASSA Cressy Singlehanded Qualifier for the Laser Full Rig in New York, which qualified him for the National Finals in Bellingham, Washington, where he finished 14th.  He also qualified for the finals in 2013, finishing 11th.  Other noteworthy finishes in Lasers include a 3rd at the Commonwealth of Virginian Junior Championship in 2014, the Sportsmanship Award at the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Junior Olympics; and 2nd at the 2013 Virginia Governor’s Cup.  He finished 7th overall in the 2014 CBYRA High Points for the Laser Radial.  He was a member of the FBYC Opti Race Team that finished 2nd in the Silver Fleet in Team Racing at the 2006 USODA Nationals in Minnesota. 

Eric was awarded the FBYC Robert’s Bowl in 2010, 2013 and 2014, the Junior Competition Trophy in 2006, and the Up and Coming Trophy in 2006.  He has instructed during Junior Week and at FBYC’s Y-Camp for 4 years.  In addition to racing competitively, he has sailed the Bay extensively with his family on their cruising boats.  Eric is also a varsity tennis player and expert cellist!

I would like to personally thank the Hiring Committee for their dedication and hard work: Mary Almany, Doug Amthor, Doug Bendura, Bo Bragg, AL Braun, and Michelle Hayes.  Their insistence on excellence is a major factor in the success of the Junior Division.

Go FBYC!

Mark Hayes, Junior Division Commander