With

the perfect amount of heel, Flounder cuts across the top of the water with ease and grace. Miller says there’s nothing like racing the SIOD: “It feels totally opposite of any high-performance boat you’ll sail. They go slow, but it makes the racing very tactical. I enjoy that tremendously.” With a wide stern and small bow, his crew can be seen heeling the boat over with weight forward and low.

He takes Sea Island racing as seriously as any other boat he’s ever been on, and while he enjoys the occasional beverage on board Flounder, he never loses focus on his chief rivals on Stan Laroche’s Marcheta. Hofford says of his rival, “Stan has been sailing Marcheta for almost 50 years; I assume he’s the most experienced. He’s the one to beat; we are always chasing Stan.”

Laroche has been around for most of the fleet’s history. The original three boats —

and Cygnet — celebrated 70 years of racing at this year’s Rockville regatta. He bought Marcheta for $25 off the yacht club. At the time he was the only member who hadn’t lost interest in racing it, but he managed to get his money back when the sailing committee took pity on him and handed him back $100 to fix up the neglected boat. Marcheta is now Laroche’s pride and joy and a staple at low- country races. His bushywhite handlebar mustache is hard to miss, and no one can remember a Rockville Regatta

Undine, Marcheta