Oriental, NC- NC State Sailing and Bow to Stern Boating Center will host a two-day regatta and community service clean-up event aimed at helping coastal Oriental and Pamlico County, North Carolina with recovery from Hurricane Florence.
Just as the college sailing season was getting underway this September, nature quickly intervened, and Hurricane Florence made landfall along the North Carolina coast. The storm brought wind, torrential rain and flooding, and destruction to communities across North Carolina. Many members of our team, families, friends, and neighbors were severely impacted by the storm. Our coastal home and training center in Oriental saw record-setting storm surge and damage. Events were cancelled up and down the east coast. Entire counties were without power or even road access.
“The storm kept us from racing, but more importantly, it brought into perspective how fierce nature can be and how important it is to take care of our communities,” said NC State Women’s Captain Victoria Newberry, a native of Dover, North Carolina, another area hit hard by Hurricane Florence.
After the storm, we quickly organized a group to travel down to the coast to help with cleanup. Coastal communities are still far from full recovery and the effort will continue.
“Even as life got back to normal in Raleigh and the sailing season was back on track, we knew more help was needed,” said NC State Sailing Co-ed Captain Travis Tucker.
In an effort to help the recovery, NC State Sailing and Bow to Stern Boating Center in Oriental have organized the StormPack Hurricane Relief Regatta on November 10-11, 2018. This two-day event features a full Saturday of college racing, while Sunday is dedicated to hard-work and community service clean up.
“We’re expecting more than 50 sailors and coaches to attend, and we’ve seen such enthusiasm from college sailors to help pitch in and help,” said NC State Head Coach Dana Magliola. “We hope to contribute to the recovery of this community that’s supported us so passionately for many years.”
Teams from North Carolina and Virginia are participating including Davidson College, Duke University, East Carolina University, UNC-Chapel Hill, UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Charlotte, Virginia Tech, Meredith College, and hosts NC State.