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Lightning Class Association
HomeBoat Grant-Linden-2010

Boat Grant Program

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Lightning Boat Grant Skipper – Rob Linden
Crew - Meghan Walter and Stephen Griffith



Rob Linden

I live in Temperance, Michigan, and am a member of North Cape Yacht Club in LaSalle, Michigan.  Like my other teammate, I am a recent graduate of Michigan State University. 

I have been sailing since the age of six months, rolling around in the quarter berth of my family’s boat. I hated sailing and the usual heeling and sea sickness that went along with it - until getting in an Optimist dinghy.  From that point on sailing and racing was launched as a lifelong passion. 

I grew up at North Cape Yacht Club as part of the junior sailing program, campaigning Lasers, 420s, 29ers and Thistles. I was the commodore of the MSU sailing team, where I competed for four years. Following college I have gravitated towards big boats, racing on a Farr 30 and the occasional match race. This has left a big void of small boat racing that will be filled by Lightning racing this summer. 

In the long Michigan winter months I build and race DN iceboats on the frozen lakes.  For hobbies I enjoy scuba diving and photography.
Meghan Walter

If you ask Meghan for a list of her favorite things, she'll tell you, "sailing, going fast, and being a Sparta."  She wanted to learn to sail as a kid but never got the chance, so she picked it up during her second year of school at Michigan State.  She may have not known when she started her first race - or finished it - but now she hops from one position to the next on various boats, giving orders, and telling the other crew to "...figure it out because we have some racing to do."  

Meghan has been racing for six years now, three of which were for Michigan State sailing all over the Midwest and beyond. Since she graduated in 2007, she has been sailing primarily in Lake Michigan and Lake Erie.  Currently she works for Abbott Nutrition as a Packaging Engineer in Columbus, Ohio.  Meghan's packaging friends don't understand why everything is explained in nautical metaphors or why she chooses to fix her office chair with white electrical tape - but she likes them all the same and plans to stay in Columbus for a while
Stephen Griffith

Stephen Griffith is a recent graduate of Michigan State University where he was captain of the sailing team for three years. He grew up sailing FJs and 420s on Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River. 

Steve sailed for Grosse Pointe South High School Sailing Team where he raced in the Malory Nationals at San Francisco. He has also been windsurfing since the age of five and continues to do so in his spare time. His other favorite pastime is watching movies, and he has sometimes been accused of preferring them above all else.

For the past four years he has been racing on the Farr 30 Adrenalin as the kite trimmer. He has sailed Lightnings occasionally on Lake St. Clair and Tawas Bay and is thrilled to expand this limited experience of this boat.

Racing Schedule

May
  • 08 Lake Lansing Regatta
    Lansing, Michigan
  • 15–16 Pymatuning Spring Classic in Jamestown, Pennsylvania
    Windjamming Sailing Club in Green Bay, Wisconsin
June
  • 5–6 Lighthouse Regatta
    Fond du Lac Yacht Club in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin (TBD)
  • 19–20 Bay City Regatta
    Bay City Yacht Club in Bay City, Michigan
  • 26–27 Michigan Championship
    Crescent Sail Club
July
  • 3–4 Independence Day Regatta
    Jamestown, Pennsylvania
  • 10–11 Great Lakes Championship
    Jamestown, Pennsylvania
  • 24–25 Atlantic Coast Championship
    Potomac River Sailing Association in Leesylvania State Park, Virginia (TBD)
  • 31–8/1 Brotz Regatta
    Sheboygan Yacht Club in Sheboygan, Wisconsin (TBD)
August
  • 7–8 Higgins Lake, Michigan
    If qualified, will compete in North American Championship
    Toms River Yacht Club in Toms River, New Jersey 8/8–13 (TBD)
September
  • 11–12 Pontiac White Cap
    Pontiac Yacht Club
  • 18–19 Bruce Goldsmith Memorial Regatta
    Devils Lake, Michigan
  • 25–26 PRed Flannels Regatta
    Chicago, Illinois
October
  • 1–2 Hoosier Regatta
    Lake Wawasee, Indiana
  • 16–17 Fall Blowout
    North Cape Yacht Club in LaSalle, Michigan
November
  • 6–7 Blue Nose Regatta
    Nashville, Tennessee


Sponsor Number URL address
Sponsor 1 https://www.marksetbot.com/
Sponsor 2 http://www.onedesign.com/Default.aspx
Sponsor 3 https://www.thesailinginc.com/lightning
Sponsor 4 http://nickelsboats.com/
Sponsor 5 http://awardandsports.securesites.net/
Sponsor 6 http://www.capitallogoinc.com/shop/pc/home.asp
Sponsor 7 http://www.rookesails.com/
Sponsor 8 http://www.sailorstailor.com
Sponsor 9 https://www.harken.com/
Sponsor 10 http://www.sailorstailor.com

Lightning Class Supporters