International Lightning Class Association 2012 Boat Grant Recipient Announcement

TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA - March 23, 2012 - The International Lightning Class Association's Boat Grant program begins its 6th season by announcing the 2012 grant recipients:

Tyler Braun (24) and his team of Jerrett Scherrer and Dustin Stauffer are from Lancaster, PA and will be sailing with the Susquehanna River Lightning Fleet. Tyler is an engineer in the hydro power industry and while in school was captain of the sailing team at Penn State. In addition to racing at the Susquehanna Yacht Club, they will be attending many events in the mid-Atlantic region over the course of the summer. Their mentor will be local Lightning ace Carol Park.

James Simmons (22) of South Dartmouth, MA and his team of Caroline Hall of Brick, NJ and Jeremy Henry of Groton, MA are all stand-out members of the University of Rhode Island's varsity sailing team. They will be based in Rhode Island and will be racing in most of the east coast regattas this summer. "This team will be a great fit for the Lightning and the grant program" says their mentor Chris Vann, a veteran Lightning sailor from Niantic, CT. Chris has worked with many of the young Lightning sailors at the Niantic Bay Yacht Club over the years and is looking forward to working with this young team.

According to Co-Chair Bill Fastiggi, once again we had a great pool of applicants for the program and it was tough choosing two teams out of this talented group. Every year we are amazed at the quality of these young applicants, both as sailors and individuals, and we are pleased that will be able to introduce these two teams to the Lightning Class.

Co-Chair Allan Terhune added "The ILCA is very fortunate to be able to run this program for the sixth consecutive season. Our membership continues to be very supportive and without the generous donation of time, equipment and money from the ILCA members and suppliers, we would not have been this successful. The whole Lightning family has been so supportive of the program."

Complete details on this grant is found on the ILCA website: http://www.lightningclass.org/racing/boatGrant/index.asp

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