Staff Stories - Cormac Murphy
For this week, our Sailing Instructor Spotlight falls on Cormac Murphy. Cormac has been passionate about sailing and racing his whole life. He grew up racing on his families’ J24 sailboat around Long Island. Some of his fondest memories of childhood are of skippering his families' boat.
Cormac began sailing his own boat when his father introduced him to the Opti and taught him how to sail. Shortly thereafter, Cormac started sailing Opti's at Centerport Yacht Club and enjoyed it so much that he successfully moved up to the Opti Race Team. When he was just 13 years old, he moved up once again to the double handed 420 and the race team. At the age of 17 Cormac took on the challenge of racing the Laser. A competitive and successful Laser sailor, Cormac had the opportunity to compete at the Junior Worlds Regatta held in Italy in 2018. The chance to compete at the international level was the culmination of hard work and focus for Cormac.
Cormac’s introduction to The WaterFront Center came about while he was supporting his brother’s high school sailing team competing in a regatta at the WFC. Cormac was just a 6th grader at the time when, as luck would have it, the team was the short crew and they asked Cormac to join them for the regatta. It was a transformative experience for him and the beginning of his relationship with The WaterFront Center.
Cormac is now into his third year as a sailing instructor for the WFC, having begun at the age of 16. At first, he coached the Opti Race Team and has now moved up to Head Sailing Instructor for the current 2020 season. While On the water Cormac is very focused, keeping an eye out for all sailors and taking every opportunity to teach where he can. His favorite program to coach is race teams because racing has been his primary focus for the last 5 years of his life. He loves being an instructor and sharing his vast knowledge of all things racing. According to Cormac, being an instructor helps to keep sailing fresh for him, as he not only teaches but finds that he learns from his students as well.
In his free time, you can find Cormac sailing any type of boat from remote-controlled boats to dinghies and even keelboats, like the J24. The high-performance dinghy known as the 470 happens to be his favorite for how technical you can get with them. Last year, after graduating from Harbor Fields High School, Cormac was recruited for the SUNY Maritime Varsity Dinghy Sailing team. When he’s not racing for Maritime, Cormac is studying for a degree in Marine Operations and hopes to receive his Unlimited Third Mate Coast Guard license. After graduating, he has hopes to work on a container ship and see where the ocean takes him.
We are very fortunate to have Cormac with us here at The WaterFront Center!
