THE CHICKERING FAMILY (PITO, MELISSA & KIDS)

WATERSPORTS:
Sailing | Snorkeling | Diving

FAVORITE BITTER END ADVENTURE/EXCURSION
“Beer can racing continues to be our favorite activity. Also feeding the Iguana at the pool cherries and dancing to the steel drum band, first with my parents and then with our children.”

A tale of two sailors--she was a cruiser, he was a racer. Yet they found common ground in their love for the water, and Pito and Melissa have instilled that same tie to the sea in their two young children. “As a child growing up and going to BEYC, I sailed, learned to dive, and went on the various snorkel excursions,” Melissa recalls. “My husband also grew up sailing–racing as a child, then instructing, and now big boat racing as often as possible.  Before we married, we sailed the BVI with a stop at BEYC, and when we had children, we started to go as a family.  With our children (ages 10 and 12) now both racing Optimists, the sailing tradition continues.”

And what a tradition it is. “I remember when our son was 5 years old, he and my husband came in first [in beer can racing]. Owen (then 5 years old) was handed the prize of Mount Gay and could not have been prouder!”

The Chickering family’s sense of love, fun, and adventure--it’s right at home in our BEYC community.