Edward Racker started sailing later in life, but he undoubtedly reaped the benefits of a sport and lifestyle loved by many. For the past thirty years, he has dominated competition at the Davis Island Yacht Club in Tampa, Florida, but he’s decided to give up racing to focus on the next generation of sailors.
Now 81, Racker began competing in regattas after joining the yacht club in1991 and learning to sail. Racker’s boat, a Hunter 35, named Sloop DeVille has seen many first-place finishes in the three decades she’s been racing. In his free time, Racker enjoyed taking people out on the water to share the joy of sailing and he has been credited for exposing Black Tampanians to the sport.
“There is nothing I don’t enjoy about sailing—mostly the serenity on a day like this with this much breeze,” he said. He now plans to take that passion for sailing and use it to get more Black and Brown kids out on the water.
A participation survey from the U.S. Coast Guard reported that 34% of African Americans had “no interest” in boating while 24.1% of Hispanic and Latino participants had “never boated” as their reason for not boating. The survey also revealed that 59.1% of boat operators are white.
Within minority communities, Racker notes that there is a higher concern with water safety. Many people were fearful of drowning, which Racker hopes to work on. “Once you’re a sailor and you know what you are doing with your boat, you are kind of accepted into a club. Everybody treats everybody the same,” he said.
Racker wants to get a younger, more diverse generation into sailing, and to do so he plans to launch his own youth sailing program at Shell Point Marina in Ruskin, Florida.
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