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sparks like us


From 420s on the bay to across the ocean in an ocean cruising yacht…all thanks to hard work from the Mudratz themselves and their legions of supporters.  The kids will just be learning about this incredible opportunity at their holiday party this moment – it’s great news for a great program.  More below:
Life changing moments can happen so fast that we often call them “sparks.” In the span of just four years, the MudRatz have been formed around such moments, but it can be hard to clearly see them as they happen. At the start, who knew that a few kids meeting on a dock to go sailing would lead to the formation of a full-blown race team? And we might say our first boat donation was simply a “why not us?” moment but it launched the young team deep into the sportboat world. When looking back through all the big and little sparks, it’s hard to point to a single moment that we knew was about to change so many lives. That is, until we read a recent email that began… “I contact you with respect to finding a good home for my S&S Swan 48, Dreamcatcher.”

Needless to say, this spark came at us like a full-blown flamethrower as we read on in disbelief… “I have successfully raced and cruised Dreamcatcher for the past 16 seasons and kept her in great shape, never sparing work with keeping safety and competitiveness in mind. I think she is the perfect boat for any group looking to have a great platform for long distance and offshore racing.” The note went on to share how the boat had won last year’s Block Island Race and finished at the top of her Bermuda Race class in most of the recent editions. After letting the scale of this all sink in a bit, there was only one reply we could make: “We would love to work with you, and a boat like this would be a life changer for a lot of kids now and for years to come!”

Read on (and find out how you can support them) here.