I recently had a chance to talk with Jeff Hampton. For those who don’t know Jeff, he is a
second-generation member of New Orleans Yacht Club and has been active in
sailing with our club for over twenty-five years. He also has “nice hair” and is probably one of our best-dressed
members. For those of you who have
heard rumors of his controversial relatives, they are true. Our Jefferson Davis Hampton is the great,
great, great, grandson of the President of the Confederacy and the great great
grandson of Wade Hampton who was the General of the Virginia Militia. Here is
how are Q&A session went:
NOYC.org:
Jeff, you have been the team captain for the last four consecutive GYA
Offshore Challenge Cup victories our club achieved, what is the secret to your
success?
JeffDavis:
Actually, I am given way to much credit for what our club’s racers have
achieved at this event and I am not worthy of the leadership role that I
play. I would much rather be called a
team leader or player than captain. For
Challenge Cup, I merely surround myself
with good people and stay out of their way.
Challenge Cup is about people not boats. Everyone is always so overly concerned with boat selection for
this regatta, that they lose focus on the people portion that gets the job done. All I do with this event is facilitate and
coordinate the different needs of our team members prior to and during the
regatta. So the secret of “our” success
can be summed up in just two words “team work”.
NOYC.org:
Were you surprised when the nominating committee asked you to run for a
flag officer position unopposed?
JeffDavis:
Surprised, no…honored yes. But
before I accepted, I asked my self,..how can I add value to the leadership of
our club. With my business background
and active participation in the sailing community, I know that I have a good
pulse on what is good for sailing and what will be good for NOYC. I think that I can share this with the
leadership and members of our club through out the year.
NOYC.org: Do
you have any hidden agenda we need to know about?
JeffDavis:
No, my only agenda is to promote sailing in the area via New Orleans
Yacht Club and to perpetuate the charter of our fine club into the very distant
future.
NOYC.org:
What do you consider your biggest sailing accomplishment?
JeffDavis:
This really is a tough question, I have been part of several big wins
but none come to mind as anything spectacular.
For those of you who don’t know, I just became an uncle to a set of twin
boys. I would have to say that my biggest
sailing accomplishment still lies ahead in that, I would like to introduce my
nephews to sailing in such a way that they will love the sport at as much as I
do.
NOYC.org:
It’s been mentioned that our club may need to grow its own membership
with an active junior program, what are your thoughts on this?
JeffDavis:
Please don’t get me wrong on this, I will support anything our
membership decides with a junior program, it’s just not the sole solution to
growing our club. Just take a look
around, look at the age of our members and how many single people we have in
our club. NOYC’s membership may not
currently have the demographics to support a full-blown summer program. We
should be able to come up with something that encourages juniors or provides an
outlet for juniors that want to learn to sail, I am sure that we can come up
with something to attract younger members and I will do what ever is necessary
to grow our club.
NOYC.org:
What is the key to growing our membership?
JeffDavis: We
need to have activities that add value and make it worth being a member. We need to be inclusive instead of
exclusive. We need to ask the people
that sail with us and visit our club on Wednesday nights to consider
membership. I think the big answer is
right under our nose though. We need to
have a sailing program/lessons using Flying Scots or members boats and recruit
from that pool of people. We need to
advertise a three-weekend type course in early spring and then invite them out
on Wednesday nights as crew. I stole
this idea from George Hero and I think it is one of the best that I heard of so
far.
NOYC.org:
What type of boats have you owned and what is your dreamboat?
JeffDavis: I have already owned my dream boat in Uno
Mas (J-29), prior to that I had Crazy
Horse (Santana 30/30 grand prix) and also raced with my father on his boats
Swamp Fire (IOR ¾ Tonner), Born America
(Evelyn 32), & Samarai (Heritage 1 tonner). My next boat will definitely be a One Design
boat… I am waiting to see what takes off in the 26-30 foot range in our area.
NOYC.org: Is
their anyone that comes to mind that helped mentor you to make you a better
sailor?
JeffDavis: I
would have to say my father and OJ Young.
They had partnered in several boats and won the ¾ Ton World Championship
in Miami about 25 years ago with Swamp Fire.
I did the majority of my youth sailing on big boats with my Dad &
OJ. They let me tag along for a good
bit of the racing and deliveries. So,
i’m sure that they would be willing to take credit for anything “good” that
came out of those years.
NOYC.org:
Jeff, thanks for making time for NOYC.org, any closing comments?
JeffDavis:
Yes, the new web team has done a great job and it is on my “favorites
list”.
