Huntington Bay woman races yacht to England

Growing up sailing the waters of Long Island Sound with her three brothers gave Kaity Storck the skill and competitive nature that's helping push her first trans-Atlantic race team toward England.

Storck, 25, is part of a young team sailing the Vanquish, a 65-foot U.S. Merchant Marine Academy yacht, in the Transatlantic 2011 race from Newport, R.I., to southwest England. Four other Long Island residents also are competing in the event on two other yachts.

"Being on this team was an opportunity I never thought I would get," Storck, a Huntington Bay native, said last week before her team set sail. "It's definitely harder to get into ocean racing as a girl, so it's an amazing opportunity."

She's one of two women on the All-American Offshore Team 2011, made up of 14 people from nine states with an average age of 24.

Storck and her brothers were introduced to sailing as babies, joining their parents on their voyages. She started sailing and racing on her own around age 7, she said.

Storck said she hopes her participation in the trans-Atlantic race encourages other women to follow their dreams in a sport dominated by men.

"Hopefully other young women and girls will be inspired to keep striving," she said.

"And also I hope they [organizers] are proud that they decided to give women a chance and also think that we can do it as well as they can."

She trained as a dancer growing up and became an accomplished track and field athlete during her time at St. Anthony's High School in South Huntington.

Storck was a member of several sailing organizations including the Centerport Yacht Club junior program and the Cow Harbor Sailing Team of Northport.

"She was so easy to coach -- strong and pretty fearless," said Amy Gross-Kehoe, youth council chairwoman for the U.S. Sailing Association in Annapolis, Md. "She had the skills and she had her own drive for perfection. She just got it."

Storck, who splits her time between Huntington Bay and New Orleans, and works in Internet automobile sales between races, has now set her sights on racing in the Olympic Games.

"I'm definitely considering it," Storck said. "It's a possibility. They just made some changes to the Olympic classes so it depends on what boats are in it for the next games."

To follow the race and read blogs from the boats, visit www.transatlanticrace.com, follow TR2011 on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TransatlanticRace2011 and Twitter @TransatRace2011 http://twitter.com/TransatRace2011

Watch videos at http://www.youtube.com/TransatRace2011

Follow Dragon with local sailor Rob Windsor on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/DragonOceanRacing and Twitter @DragonOceanRace http://twitter.com/DragonOceanRace

Follow Vanquish with local sailor Kaity Storck on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/All-American-Offshore-Team/141371945922677 and Twitter @AAOT http://twitter.com/AAOT.

For more information go to http://www.oakcliffsailing.org/offshore/