Young Named Head Sailing Coach at Eckerd

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – The Eckerd Athletics department is pleased to announce the promotion of Caroline Young to the role of Head Sailing Coach.

“I am very excited for Caroline to be taking over our sailing programs. In the eight months since she joined Eckerd, she has had a tremendous impact on our student-athletes and the growth of the program,” stated Eckerd Athletic Director Tom Ryan ’87. “She brings a wealth of experience as a sailor, both collegiately and internationally, and had remarkable success competing this summer with three North American Championship titles. I am very excited to see what the future holds for Eckerd sailing.”

Young joined the Tritons as an assistant coach last year, managing many aspects of the program’s operation and success. She helped lead the Tritons to nine top-five finishes in the spring campaign. She also guided Eden Nykamp, who was named to the All-SAISA Second Team for Women’s Skippers and placed first in the A Division at the SAISA Women’s Championship.

The Tritons finished the 2021-22 regular-season ranked No. 20 in the Sail1Design rankings. Young becomes just one of three female head coaches of programs ranked within the top 30 in the poll.

Before she arrived at Eckerd, Young served as the Director and Head Coach at Davis Island Youth Sailing Foundation in Tampa. She also served as the Plant High School Head Sailing Coach during that time.

“At Eckerd, we are fortunate to have support for the intercollegiate sailing program at the highest level. I would like to thank President Annarelli, Tom Ryan, and all other Eckerd College administrators who have entrusted me with this leadership role. I’m really excited to start the season with the team, and I look forward to furthering the program’s success both on and off the water,” stated Young.

In addition to her coaching background, Young has a highly decorated sailing career at the collegiate and international levels.

In the past year, Young dominated several singlehanded events. She currently holds three North American Championship titles, two of which came this spring, winning the RS Aero 5 Class North American Championship & RS Aero Women’s North American Championship in May at the Davis Island Yacht Club. In September 2021, she won the Sunfish Women’s North American Championship with all first place finishes, held in Columbia, SC.

She earned Top Female at the RS Aero World Championships in Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, in June-July. In March, she also finished as the top American at the 2022 Sunfish Open Nationals in Clearwater. She now heads to the 2022 Sunfish World Championships in Riva Del Garda, Italy, in September.

She is also a former US Sailing team member as a skipper in the Women’s 470 class and International 420 class. She represented the US at the 2003 ISAF Youth World Championships in I420s and the 470 at the 2006 Pre-Olympics in Beijing.

Young sailed at Stanford from 2003-06, where she garnered ICSA All-American honors on the women’s team in 2005. She also won the B Division at the 2005 Intercollegiate Women’s Sailing National Championship. Young dominated the Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference (PCCSC) throughout her tenure on the Stanford women’s team. She won three consecutive PCCSC Women’s Collegiate Conference Championships and led Stanford to back-to-back top-five Intercollegiate National Championship finishes. She was a two-time women’s team MVP at Stanford and a four-time All-PCCSC Team member.

Prior to her coaching career, she built over a 10-year career in executive leadership in technology companies.

Young holds a bachelor of science in engineering from Stanford University.