The following is excerpted from Soundings Online Interview:

Brad Read, the executive director of Sail Newport, started sailing as a kid and went on to win championships in several One designs, as well as three J/24 Worlds.

A college All-American, he was also the 1986 College Sailor of the Year. So it’s no wonder Read understands the role that sailing can play in a youth’s life. He has dedicated his career to it at Sail Newport, where he developed a nationally recognized sail education program and a world-class regatta management organization. Read lead the team that won the city and state bid to bring the Volvo Ocean Race to Newport, Rhode Island, the global race’s only North American stop in 2015. Thanks to the event’s resounding success, the VOR will return to Newport during the 2017-18 race.
Sail Newport was recently the recipient of a $500,000 grant from the van Beuren Charitable Foundation, which will support a new education and recreation facility in Fort Adams State Park. Read continues to race and cruise the family J/40 Nepenthe in New England.

First memory of being on a boat: Mom, Dad, my brother Kenny and I (I think I was about 3) rowing out in an old leaky skiff to our Pearson Wanderer 30 Nepenthe at a mooring in the Kickemuit River in Touisset, Rhode Island. We would take off on Friday afternoon for Cuttyhunk Island, towing a dinghy and a Sunfish.

Most rewarding professional experience: This is a hard one as well, so I am going to give you three. 1) Leading a wonderful team at Sail Newport, which does so much for our community: breaking down socioeconomic barriers to provide broader access to our harbor, running award-winning sailing programs, managing the local, regional and international events that we bring to Newport. When a middle school student from Newport who has never been on a boat goes out on a J/22 and looks back at his or her town from the water to say, “Wow, that is what our town looks like?”— it’s a very rewarding experience. 2) Watching 27,000 people line the shore of Fort Adams State Park to watch the In Port Race during the 2015 stopover of the Volvo Ocean Race was a definite highlight. 3) Being told by the sailors and Volvo Ocean Race stakeholders that the Newport stopover is used as the model/baseline for a successful stopover. That success is due to our community completely buying into the event and bringing enthusiasm and support on so many levels. … It’s overwhelming to me and to all of us who worked for four years leading up to the stopover — 131,000 in attendance and $47.7 million of economic impact for the state!

Sailing-Related Accomplishments
Narragansett Bay double handed Junior Champion 1980-81.

Youth USYRU Events – 2nd USYRU Bemis Championship 1980

Collegiate Sailing
1984 Honorable Mention All American Boston University
1985 and 1986 Collegiate All American Boston University
1985 A Division Winner Collegiate Nationals@ Old Dominion
1985 College Dinghy National Champions
1985 Fowle Trophy Winners
1986 College Sailor of the Year

Bermuda Race
1986 DuPont Trophy Winner (Overall combined win for Edlu, Onion Patch and Bermuda Race) Aja, J/41
2008, 2010

Lightning Class
1987 World Championship (I am 90% sure we were 3rd…)
1987, 1991, 1993 Miami Midwinter Champion
1988 50th Anniversary Regatta Champion
1991 Southern Circuit Champion
1991 North Americans Runner Up
1991 World Championship 3rd Place
1994 Winter Champion

J/24 Class
Multiple Regional and Local Championships from 1990-2004
1985 J/24 North American Champion
1986 World Champion
1996 North American Champion
2000 World Champion
2002 World Champion
2002 Silver Anniversary Regatta, 1st Place

J/35 Class
1986, 1996 and 1998 North American Champion

Farr 40
Block Island Race Week Winner 1997
1998 World Championship 3rd
Maxi Class
1998 World Championship 1st, Sayonara
12 Metre Class
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015 North American Champion
2005 and 2006 World Champion