Fort Walton Yacht Club Letter Log
April 2018
30° 25.60’N 86° 35.58’W
Meeting the Future of FWYC
by Pat Tye
Most people know that change, while challenging sometimes, is essential for growth. Last year the Fort
Walton Yacht Club made changes to the levels of membership in order to attract young folks who will
hopefully grow to be old folks at the club. This month we’d like to highlight two of those new members,
Mathew Bell and Jorge Rojas Garcia. They were both gracious enough to be interviewed and share
their reasons for joining the club and what activities they enjoy being a part of at the club.
Mathew is a native of Fort Walton Beach and has known about the club all his life.
His dad, Randy, is a regular crew on the racing scene and occasionally
Mathew would accompany him. After college and his return to the local
area, Mathew started crewing alongside his dad on Robbie Epstein’s,
Thorfinn and jumped to the Viper racing on Nitin Bawa’s boat when
the opportunity came along. Mathew was one of the first young peo-
ple to take advantage of the new Young Adult category once approved
by the Board of Directors. He had seen the value of being a member and
was eager to join on a more vested basis. He enjoys more than racing at
FWYC such as a nice beach without the long traffic hassles, having a great lunch venue close to work
and of course the welcoming friendly people. As he said, “It’s a nice place to hang out.”
Jorge is also a new member and first learned about the club from crewing on Thorfinn as well. Origi-
nally from Colombia, he has been in the Fort Walton area since 2000. While
in engineering school and shortly after earning his Electrical Engineer-
ing degree he worked for Mathew’s dad and when asked to help out
on Thorfinn, he did. He fell in love with the entire concept of sailing:
what makes a boat go and why. The forces at play and the attention to
weather required to be successful also interests him. In short, he was
hooked. He joined the club as a junior member and transitioned into the
young adult category when it became available. Even though still a novice
sailor, he agreed to help on the crew bringing Evening Star back from South
America. The boat, owned by Jack Jacopetti, was also crewed by club members Tim Kider, Robbie
Epstein and Jack. Due to bad weather and some mechanical glitches, it was way more of an adventure
than Jorge bargained for and you should ask him for a full retelling.
Both Mathew and Jorge are looking forward to summer and more sailing. Using the club small boats
is a big attraction. Being able to sail without the expense of owning their own boat is well worth the
price of membership. They also have been heartily welcomed and made to feel at home at the club. As
a club, we are lucky that these talented young men will be a part of our future.
FWYC License Plates are available at
the Ship's Store. Help promote FWYC
for only $5! Get yours today!
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