A native Rhode Islander, Coach Greenfield grew up around the water. He first started sailing locally on Narragansett Bay at Saunderstown Yacht Club and then attended Boston University where he sailed for eight seasons and served as a captain for the nationally-ranked coed team. In recent years, Greenfield has been an active member of the 5O5 class as well as various inshore and offshore keelboat classes. He has won the ORC East Coast Championships and NYYC Annual Regatta as the tactician on the Tripp 41 Entropy and placed first in division, and overall, in the PHRF class for the Vineyard Race as the navigator on the R/P45 Miracle. As a team racer, Greenfield has competed at a number of U.S. Racing Championships (Hinman Trophy) and British Team Racing Championships (Wilson Trophy) including two second place finishes at the Wilson Trophy. In 2015, Greenfield and his team earned a silver medal at the ISAF Team Racing World Championships.
Coack Erkmen was born in Dallas, Texas, but raised in Turkey, where he began sailing at
the age of 6 at Fenerbahçe Sports Club in the Optimist class. He was selected
for the Turkish National Team at age 9 and competed in the Optimist World
Championship in Argentina that same year, winning a race in the qualifying
series. Erkmen went on to represent Turkey at the Optimist Worlds again in 2017 and
2018, and also raced in the 2016 European Championship, where his team won a
silver medal in Ledro.
After the 2018 Optimist Worlds, Erkmen transitioned
to the 420 class, competing internationally for two years, including
appearances at both the World and European Championships. With the onset of
COVID-19, he moved into the 470 class and raced in both the European and World
Championships for one more season before starting college at the University of
Rhode Island.
While at URI, he raced every weekend without
exception and qualified for all four College Sailing Nationals. Erkmen won the
semifinals in his division during both his freshman and sophomore years, and
placed second overall in both his sophomore and junior seasons. Over his college
career, he honored with selection to the ICSA All-America Team in both his junior
and senior years.
