By Bill Wagner

Dave Smith began with the goal of getting more people into sailing. So he started a sailing school in Ontario, Canada and purchased a fleet of 10 Flying Tiger 7.5 meter sport boats to serve as training platforms.

The National One-Design Sailing Academy was originally designed as an adult training program that could eventually service numerous regions around Canada. Smith noted it has gone through several evolutions since being founded with a major development coming after Bill Gladstone administered an on-water clinic that was sold out.

“It dawned on me that we could do an extension of that idea by combining with big regattas,” Smith said.

And that explains how the Flying Tiger 7.5 class came to be part of Sperry Charleston Race Week beginning in 2018. Smith’s One-Design Sailing Academy has brought its “Regatta Experience” program to Charleston and provided 50 participants an opportunity to compete in one of the world’s most prestigious regattas.

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