> US SAILING Media > Sailor of the Week > 2011 > Sailor of the Week - March, 2011 > Carolen Amarante
Carolen Amarante
Sailor of the Week: March 24-30
US SAILING salutes Carolen Amarante for her commitment, dedication and servic
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as the Chair of US SAILING’s Junior Women’s Committee. As Chair, she
has been managing two premier US SAILING Youth National Championships,
including the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded and Doublehanded
Championships from 2008 to 2011. She will be stepping down from her
position following this year’s championships.Carolen became a member of the committee in 2004 when she and her husband Tony became event chairs for the U.S. Junior Women’s Singlehanded Championship, hosted by the Bay Head and Mantoloking Yacht Clubs.
“Working with a fantastic committee and a tremendous coaching staff is what I enjoyed most about this role,” said Carolen. “I take pride in seeing young girls who never thought about sailing outside their club, come to our event each year and some eventually end up sailing in college.”
Carolen is optimistic about the future of both of these championships, and looks forward to following the progress they make. When asked about what advice she had for her successor she said, “Surround yourself with the best people. Let them do what they do well and you do what you do well. Keep up the communication with everyone all year long and during the event.”
"Carolen is an outstanding committee leader and manager who constantly seeks new areas of interest, while continuing to guide the Junior Women’s Championships in their goals and direction," said US SAILING Championships Chair Steve Wrigley. "We are fortunate to have had her leadership and knowledge on our committee and it has been my pleasure to have been able to work with Carolen."
Carolen and Tony were inspired to get involved in junior sailing when their three kids got involved in the sport. They became Junior Sailing Chairs for the Bay Head Yacht Club for two years, where they managed a summer program consisting of 100 kids and 14 coaches.
All three of their children have been extremely active in the sailing community. Matthew (25) sailed competitively for Brown University and currently sails E-Scows. Carrie (24) helped lead Boston College to a National Championship. She is a two-time All-American and a member of NYYC Silver Panda, the 2010 U.S. Team Racing Champions. Thomas (22) has worked for LaserPerformance for the past three summers as one of their event managers at US SAILING National Championship events.
Carolen was also one of the Regatta Chairs for US SAILING’s Chubb U.S. Junior Championships in 2007, hosted by Bay Head and Mantoloking. She was amused when thinking about an incident that occurred just prior to the start of the event. The container delivering the charter boats the day before the event took down a major utility pole as it was pulling out.
“The whole town was without power for 12 hours,” said Carolen. “Now everyone in town really knew about the event. I hope that never happens to anyone else. Good thing it was my home town.”