 Hey everybody, to the 19th Captain's Cup, welcome President Bialis. Welcome President Bialis. Our athletic director, Kiki, is here. We've got loads of alumni, family, friends all gathered here today. And I'm delighted to kick off this weekend with this fleet dedication, dedicating our new fleet of FJs. It was a very exciting day in history of Roger William sailing. And if it wasn't for the generosity of the McGraw family, the Matthews family, the Wreckler family, and the Hunt Lawrence and the Leibens family, we would literally at this moment probably be slapping Flex Seal and duct tape on our old fleet of boats and trying to get them ready for the racing today. That is a very true statement. So we are so happy that we could just reel the boats up here and we're gonna have a great day of sailing. As I said this before last year at the Captain's Cup and in the past, we sail our boats more than most people drive their cars. We sail, we are in practice three hours a day, four days a week, weekends, learn to sail, wreck sailing. Occasionally, the boats are touching each other not intentionally, mostly. The point being is we really sail our boats hard. We love team racing and team racing. You have to be really good at handling your boat in close quarters. So we put a lot of wear and tear on our FJs and our 420s. As many of you know in the room, our goal is to compete at the highest level of college sailing. And the standard for college sailing for all the top teams is fleet replacement every seven years. And so, except for Dartmouth, they turn over their boat every 10 years, but they sail in fresh water. They keep their boats stored inside overnight and they don't sail in the spring because it's frozen. So most everybody else is seven years. To compete at the highest level, we need to be training at the highest level. And it's really hard to train when your boats are literally breaking down in practice every day or at least once a week. And when you're hosting regattas and all of a sudden a mass comes down. These are the kinds of challenges we legitimately were facing in the last several years with our fleet of aging white caps. So I cannot thank our major donors to this fleet enough. They, their gift, their generosity, what they've done for us goes beyond just physical boats. It goes beyond 18 physical FJs. Their generosity has given us a sense of confidence and pride. They believe in what we're doing. They show all of our sailors that we have the resources and support to continue training and trying to achieve our goals. And that confidence is truly priceless, I think. So we just cannot thank you guys enough. It's also really nice that we're able to support a local vendor with ZIN. It's great that if, when we get to that point and things start breaking down, I'm gonna call Bob, I've got him on speed dial. Bob, what's going on with this? What's going on with that? And they'll be right here to help us get the boats back on track. So leaning on them supporting a local crystal business has also been a really great thing. Now, before we get on with it, I'd like to introduce President Pialis, an avid sailor, or former avid sailor, and he's gonna say a couple of words. Thank you. Thank you, Amanda. It's great to be here. This is my first lesson at both college, I've been here for four years. But I have done many of those. I started my own sailing club when I was 15 years old in Greece and we had lots of optimists because we had little kids and eventually got 420. So I had many of those and we used to have a rock next to the boat and smash the boat on something on the rock. So this brings back great, great memories. I also want to thank the Martin's family, the Reckler family, and the McGraw family and the foundations for the general support. Especially the McGraw family, they have not only continued in the building here, but also now they continue for the F-Chase flyers and the most recent gift, the Museum F-Chase, that on what I understand, the state-of-the-art holds for collegiate sailing. We're so, so fortunate to have abundance. It's one of our superstars, not only the athletic department overall in the university, it's one of the top, top, top, top people. And the sailing program is one of the top people. So sailors, if you go as well as we did last year, again, you're gonna be invited at the house for our assessment, so keep it going and enjoy a good luck for the facilities and the races. I'd like to welcome up the Matthews. We are lucky to come together at this fantastic event to celebrate the past, present and future of Roger Williams sailing. The program has a long history of success with Coach Amanda Stefthand at the helm of this team and it's been one of the most successful programs in the country. Amanda brings passion, dedication, enthusiasm, and most of all, a love for sailing to this team every day. This new fleet of boats will enhance Roger Williams University's ability to stay atop the ranks of college sailing for years to come. Our daughters, Molly, and Mary's love for sailing started on the Detroit River and on Lake Michigan where they grew up. They came to Bristol to get an education, but both, like all of you, wanted to continue their love for sailing in college. It's amazing to see the talent that comes together year after year at RWU to continue the excellent tradition of excellence in sailing. Something that sets Roger Williams apart from the crowd of colleges in addition to having one of the top sailing programs in the country is its exceptional sense of community, both at the college and in Bristol, the relationship with faculty, staff, and coaches, the small class sizes. As parents, we feel incredibly lucky that our daughters have been able to be part of this wonderful community for the past five years. From the first day on campus, ROG sailors have a built-in family with upper-classmen, maturing younger sailors, study tables for first-year students, and of course, the guidance of Coach Amanda to help you along in sailing, classes, and, well, let's face it, all aspects, really, of college life. You all love and take care of each other. This past spring, we had the opportunity to spend some time here at RWU for graduation and with the team at Nationals. The relationships that were formed over the years were on full display across campus. We saw students hugging professors and classmates cheering each other on in the crowd, and big groups of friends everywhere taking photos, enjoying their time together. Today, it's rare to find a genuine connection you all share. People search for it all the time and never find it. You have it here. You are incredibly lucky to have a small school that pride itself on connecting with students and the greater community. The relationships you have built with your teammates, your friends, your coaches, will be with you the rest of your life. At ROG, it's more than a team, and that's evident by all the alumni, families, and friends gathered here today to celebrate RWU sailing. Amanda, we thank you for your tremendous leadership and guidance for our daughters, for all of the current sailors and the generations of alumni. Thank you for loving them like your own. Rob and I, our whole family, we wish you all the best for the future of RWU sailing. A program where you all have truly come into your own, you persevered through some really challenging times. You've learned to be leaders, friends, and teammates. There's not any other sport where young men and women compete on the same playing field. Sailors learn independence at a young age. They learn the mechanics of taking care of boats. They learn weather. They learn about tides, current rules, and strategy. Sailing is an incredible life long sport that we hope you will always love. And at RWU, love competing at the highest level of college sailing. And most of all, love each other. At this point, I'd like to invite up our alum, class of 1982, to give us a little bit more perspective on the history of fleets and sailing at Roger Williams. I would bet one year. Back on campus back in 1978, we had no quotes as I was informed when I showed up for my first sailing team meeting. At that meeting, they also found Gerard Coleman, Dave Perot, and Kathy Newford, who started the team in 77. We're like, oh wait, you know how to sail, end race? You're gonna sail a divisional class next week. Which was my introduction to college sailing, which was skill. In 1979, Gerard Cornell, through knowing people at Howmar boats in New Jersey, got six phantom and six designer choice boats donated to the school. Where the idea was the DC and Ideal College boat, not really, but we were sailing out of Whitewalled on Mount Oak Bay. And the fact that we were able to reach sails on that boat helped a lot when we were hosting regattas because the Southwest are picked up in the Mount Oak Bay and none of it goes here. In 1980, the sailing team at the time, which I believe were 12 of us, wrote a letter to the president of the university asking if we could get a sailing facility on campus. Took a while. Although back in the 2000s, they were sailing on campus here in a condemned barn. There was a shack on the beach for sails and rudders and fillers and whatnot. So I guess that was the first one. And then again, it took a while to get this fabulous facility. I go back to when we had the reverse auction to doing this, it made national headlines in the sailing community for the amount of money we raised in the amount of time we did that first night, which was fairly impressive. What did it do? So after Whitewalled back in like 1985, the team started using facilities at Bristol Yacht Club and that went on for a while. Again, my 1980s history a little hazy. I followed the team a little bit, but it was hard without, you know, tech store and everything else would be with read up stuff. I do remember some time in the 2000s, I was watching a team race event up at Mystic Lake, Tufts Boat House, and I looked up and after a big gust of wind came through the lake, I said to myself, oh, four, five and six upside down, it's not a winning combination. Fast forward to 2011, the first time the team qualified for team race nationals, yeah, they won. So that was fairly, and I know when I came back to the captain's cup in the spring that year, the banner for the team race championship was hanging off the jet. So the team has always been recognized by the store. And while we were a club team back in the 80s, we were always recognized by the athletic department. And in 1981 and 1982, we received letters from crossing letters from the store. That was pretty cool. I'd be remiss to not talk about this event as we started in 2003, Scott Leppert was the coach here and I was racing snipes against him and had always talked to him or at least brought him to maybe start thinking about him along the way, I forgot. And he brought it, but nothing happened from that. When Matt Lindblad came in 2004, he reached out to me a second alumni regarding to be kind of cool. And thanks to Marcia and Matt back in the day, we started this event I believe in 2005 with six folks maybe, four alumni votes, right? So, right, alumni only. So, and now look where we are. We have all 18 alumni votes out. We have a division of parents, which was unheard of back in the day. I think it's great. The other thing I always liked when I came back or was amazed from my time was that at this event, you know, the team was out sailing four or five riders on a weekend and yet there were still team members here to help put this on. And we had 12 people on the team when I was here. So, there we go. Throughout the years, you know, we've had some good alumni come through the program and they've gone on to manage America's Cup team, PSY, put together an Olympic campaign. Coach Amanda is heading off to Chile in a couple of weeks. To represent the U.S. in the Sanctis class at the Pan Am Games. And we also have a one who's gone on to become college sailing coaches and whatnot in their own right. Spencer just started a job at Brown. Okay. So, there we go. I won't bore you with any more. Those are my quick bullet points. Glad to see everybody here. Let's go have some fun. And finally, I would like to invite our co-captains, Hank and Clara, to read Reverend Nancy's Blessing for Our Fleets. And then we will christen the boats and then we will go sailing. No, then we'll have the givers meeting and then we'll go sailing. We gather here on this day to give thanks for the addition of new boats to the Roger Williams University Sailing Team. We are so fortunate to be able to inaugurate these vessels which will be used for the art of competition, the enjoyment of the sport and the building of Team Spirit and the years to come. In these vessels, you'll fly the water in this bay just as generations of students have done before us. In them, you'll hone our skills as sailors. In them, you'll know what it's like to challenge the currents and winds of these ancient waters. We will experience days in which we will meet for the hands of this sport and there will be days in which we will be humbled by nature. Yet, we will be buoyed by the generosity of so many who made these additions to the fleet possible. We will be emboldened by the camaraderie we experienced sailing together. And at the day's end, maybe add to a legacy that is Roger Williams University.