From seasoned captains to rising stars, these locals are steering the Lowcountry’s sailing legacy into the future

STORY BY BARRY KAUFMAN + PHOTOGRAPHY BY LISA STAFF

Few things get into your blood like the sea. Those with a passion for cars or planes are simply gearheads or flyboys. But for those who call themselves sailors, it’s beyond a passion. It’s a rush of salt water through the veins, a calling with every wave that crests over the horizon. It’s an undeniable pull that drives them far from shore.

In the Lowcountry old salts are everywhere. With so much of our home surrounded by water, it’s only natural that sailors would gather here. People come to retire and spend their days sailing, or they come to work the water, seeking a catch or a tourist in need of a charter.

But for a select few, sailing is more than just something they do. It’s who they are. The locals profiled here fit that bill perfectly.

Mark Newman

At the helm of Hilton Head’s sailing scene

It’s a summer day, and even while answering interview questions, South Carolina Yacht Club Sports Center Director Mark Newman keeps one eye on a pair of high school seniors trying to load 420s onto a trailer.

“They’ve never put boats on a trailer, and it’s making me nervous,” he says, before shouting, “You have to rotate that hook!” to one of the teens.

Those two — who, it should be noted, did successfully load the boats — are among countless young locals who have sailed under Newman’s guidance. But few realize that if there had been more options for young kids in the Finger Lakes region of New York, their captain may never have found his calling.

“For me, it started out as daycare for my mother,” he said of his introduction to sailing. He first learned during day camp, then found his passion racing on the lakes near home. “I wanted to go to college and sail at the university level, but for an upstate farm boy, going to schools with sailing teams was expensive.”

Determined to become a captain, he ultimately joined the Christopher Newport University sailing team in Newport News, Virginia. “Mom said to find a school that cost the same as an in-state one,” he recalled. There he studied under Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Hall of Famer Dan Winters. “I learned everything in the world from him.”

After earning a master’s degree from Old Dominion, Newman began his career as a high school sailing coach and Director of Sailing at Virginia’s Hampton Yacht Club. Just as he was starting to burn out on teaching, fate stepped in with a phone call from SCYC’s Lee Lucier.

How did Lucier hear about a coach two states away? “That’s the mystery of the day,” Newman laughed. “But when I got the call, I drove down that Labor Day. It was the hottest day on record — I almost died during the interview.”

He survived, got the job and drove back through the night to start that October 7. From the beginning he proved to be the right hire.

“There were only about eight boats when I started,” he said. “I don’t think they knew what they were looking for. But they brought the right people on board at the right time, and it just expanded.”

One major turning point was the introduction of high school sailing programs, which gave local teens a way to compete and connect. Newman also helped launch scholarship initiatives like the Bob Pancoast Sailing Scholarship Fund and the Paul Miller Fund, ensuring kids of all backgrounds could get involved. The SCYC trophy case now holds three world championships and multiple regional titles — not to mention a growing sailing community.

“None of this would have been possible without the vision of JR and Leslie Richardson, owners of the South Carolina Yacht Club,” Newman said. “They built the foundation. I just helped bring the sailing side of that vision to life. The membership has really grown into more of a family-friendly group. You’re seeing a lot more younger kids out there.”

Celebrating 50 years of Hobie sailing around Hilton Head

In 1975 the waters around Hilton Head Island played host to a wondrous sight: a fleet of 133 multi-hulled boats racing against the tides in the Hobie National Championship. For sailing aficionados, it was one of the biggest events to ever hit our little island.

This year the South Carolina Yacht Club will celebrate the 50th anniversary of that historic event with festivities kicking off October 26-27, featuring a “test and tune” regatta in the waters off The Beach House near Coligny Beach.

“Dr. Joe Tobin is hosting that,” said South Carolina Yacht Club Sports Center Director Mark Newman. “We’re up to 38 boats registered. It’s going to be a sight to see. Last year we had 25 — we’re hoping for 50 or more.”

Find more details at regattanetwork.com.

Colton Ford and Lachlan Duer

A healthy rivalry turned two local teens into world-class sailors

There’s something to be said for a good old-fashioned rivalry. Whether it’s LeBron James and Steph Curry, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal or Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, something special happens when two top competitors push each other to the limit.

Ask Mark Newman, and he’ll tell you few embody that spirit better than 14-year-olds Lachlan Duer and Colton Ford.

“It’s the most competitive love-hate relationship you could ever imagine. They’re like the Mets and the Yankees,” he said. “They’re not going to pull a punch to let the other one win. They’re always trying to beat each other.”

To Newman, it’s steel sharpening steel. To Duer and Ford, it’s simply two kids sharing a deep love for sailing.

“When I first came here, I think we were at the same level. He was a little better than me,” said Ford. “We’ve both gotten so much better since we started sailing together. Neither of us likes losing, so we just push each other.”

“We’ve done a lot of events where we were neck and neck,” added Duer. “But the goal is always to be ahead of him.”

Duer, who comes from a strong family sailing tradition, began at age seven alongside his sister Arabella, who also sails competitively. He’s already racked up an impressive list of wins, including multiple Open Skiff North American “Un-Regatta” titles, first place in the 2025 BYSC Spring Series (ILCA 6 class), and several podium finishes in national ILCA 4 events already this year.

His journey has taken him around the globe, including to the 2023 O’pen Skiff World Championship in Italy, where he trained with America’s Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist Russell Coutts.

“It’s really cool to travel, meet people from other countries, and train with people from all over the world,” said Duer.

Ford took a different path. His parents enrolled him in a summer sailing camp just to see if he’d like it. The week after it ended, he asked to go back — for the entire summer.

“After a year or two, I started putting all my time into it,” he said. “It’s just so much fun being out there with your friends. I don’t know how to describe it.”

He’s got the accolades to back it up: 2023 Optimist Junior Sailor of the Year, a national championship in team racing and a second-place finish in the ILCA 4 class at the 2025 ILCA U.S. Championships — the highest finish for an American.

He’s traveled far for his sport too.

“Monaco was so cool. The yacht club is super exclusive, and the city is great,” he said. “It kind of reminded me of Hilton Head though. You could walk the whole city in two and a half hours.”

Each pushes the other, and each roots for the other. As far as rivalries go, this might be the healthiest one on the water.

Where sailors get their start

Colton Ford and Lachlan Duer are friendly rivals who, at just 14 years old, are already making their mark in the world of sailing. Competing at national and international levels, each keeps the other sharp, pushing one another toward greatness.

One thing they share: both discovered sailing at a young age, and their passion for the sport took hold almost immediately. For parents hoping to launch their child on a similar course, the South Carolina Yacht Club offers a Junior Sailing Summer Program that’s perfect for first-time sailors.

From Guppies to Optis to 420s, the club offers a range of age-appropriate programs designed to inspire confidence and skills on the water. Learn more at scyachtclub.com.

John Rumsey

A life under sail

John Rumsey has lived exactly the kind of adventurous life a sailor dreams of. He’s steered ships through deadly storms, soared through the air on the mast, dined with kings and business titans and anchored in nearly every port a man could want to see.

Now 89, he docks at TidePointe on Hilton Head Island. It’s about as far as you can get from the San Francisco Bay where he grew up. He learned to sail in an El Toro dinghy his mother had won in a raffle and embraced the sea early on as a junior member of the San Francisco Yacht Club. By age 12 he was already navigating the bay.

“As kids we sailed small class boats like they do here, but there was no organized junior sailing or anything like that,” he said. “The adults had had 25- to 40-foot boats they would race, and they always needed crews So we’d go out, race and learn to sail with the currents. Once you’ve mastered the currents, you really do well.”

His success as a crew member landed him on the famous boat Ticonderoga (aka Big Ti), where he took part in his second of his 15 trips in the Transpacific Yacht Race, a 2,300-mile journey from Los Angeles to Hawaii. 

In the 1965 outing, Big Ti sailed through 50-knot winds and Tropical Storm Beatrice to a win, setting a new course record. When the ship’s owner, Oregon lumberman Bob Johnson, decided to build a new vessel, he asked Rumsey to captain it.

That second ship, Windward Passage, was a leap forward. One of the fastest boats in the world at the time, it set another Transpac record in 1971 and gave Rumsey the chance to do a little showboating. During the St. Francis Yacht Club’s Big Boat Regatta in San Francisco, he became tangled in the mizzen spinnaker’s lines and briefly went airborne, essentially water skiing in his shoes.

“The next day we brought some water-skiing equipment. We got fairly far ahead of the other boat, The Blackfin, and one of the crew set me down in the water, and I started water skiing,” he said. “They were a mile behind us, and here I am, water skiing behind the boat. That was adding a little insult to injury.”

After his time on Windward Passage, Rumsey settled on Hilton Head to buy and revitalize Palmetto Bay Marina. But one of his old sailing buddies called with a once-in-a-lifetime offer.

“We all sailed with Ted Turner and were TBS stockholders. We were at the opening of the Atlanta Braves’ 1986 season, and Ted told me, ‘Guess what? We got the ‘Bounty,’” Rumsey recalled. “He asked me and my friend Bunky Helfrich (who was Turner’s boyhood friend and aide) if we’d go down and see what we could do with it. It was in pretty rough shape.”

Featured in the 1962 version of Mutiny on the Bounty, the ship had become a tourist attraction in St. Petersburg, Florida. Ted wanted Rumsey and Helfrich to get it ready to sail into New York Harbor for the country’s upcoming 1976 Bicentennial Tall Ships Parade. 

“That’s when I found out that in the TV business, you don’t even ask about money,” said Rumsey. “You just do it.”

His journeys on The Bounty would take him all over, from the set of Treasure Island with Charlton Heston to the Goodwill Games in 1990 in Seattle. His time at the mast was filled with incredible adventures, and, ultimately, that’s all any sailor wants.

From logging dock to landmark

The Palmetto Bay Marina we know today is one of the island’s most beloved corners. Between the shops, restaurants and slips, it’s a hive of activity. But it wasn’t always like that, especially when John Rumsey purchased it in 1977.

“The marina was a mess because Sea Pines had basically used it to ship the logs they cut down in Sea Pines and Hilton Head Plantation to the paper mills in Savannah,” he said. “There was a mountain of wood chips. Since all our friends had larger yachts, we got a large travel lift. The property had a couple of apartments, the docks and a shed for working on boats. We cleaned it all up, started a yacht club and put in a restaurant. That was the Chart House.”

Adding the restaurant and yacht club essentially transformed Palmetto Bay Marina from a vestige of Sea Pines’ timber days into the bustling harbor it is today. And while John Rumsey’s legend is forever tied to his sailing triumphs, a small part of his story helped shape modern-day Hilton Head Island.