The Love of Sailing
The Duer Family Sailing Story

story by K.J. NALLY
photos by PAUL NURNBERG

It was love at first “yacht” for Chris and Tauri Duer. A love that brought them together in college and now they share with their daughter and son. A love so ingrained in their 12-year-old daughter, Arabella “Bella”, that she has dreams set on sailing in the Olympics.

Chris Duer began sailing on his family boat when he was 12 years old. Soon after he also got into racing dinghies competitively. And, by the time Tauri joined him at Florida Institute of Technology, he was the college sailing team captain. Tauri entered college with a passion for the sea and pursued an ocean engineering degree. “I figured I should know more about boats to go along with my degree,” explained Tauri, “so I joined the sailing team.”

Chris and Tauri knew each other from college classes. But it wasn’t until she became Chris’ crew on the two-person sailboat he was skipper that they became a team. “You have to communicate a lot on a two-person sailboat,” said Tauri. “I knew being his crew would either be a disaster or grow us closer as friends. Thankfully we got along great.”

As they graduated college, the sailing duo got married and began careers using their ocean engineering degrees. Together they worked at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and later moved to Newport News to work at Northrop Grumman, Chris worked on submarines and Tauri designed aircraft carriers. Now, Chris continues using his love of sailboats, which are made of fiberglass, working in the composite division of material manufacturing. Tauri proudly set aside her engineering job to become a homeschool teacher for her daughter and son. “The flexibility that homeschool provides allows us to take off for regattas,” explained Tauri. Chris is the president of Beaufort Community Sailing and Boating and the coach for the race team for the fall and spring programs.

Although the family mainly sails together on the Beaufort River in front of the Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club or the Port Royal Sound, they travel to regattas for the kids. Bella has sailed the Great Lakes, South Florida, New Orleans, the Chesapeake Bay, and other places in between.

Bella started skippering her own boat at age 10 and has been sailing on her own for about two years. “I started sailing with my parents on their big boat as a baby,” Bella explained. “After I got older my dad would take me on the two-person JY-15s and 420s. My dad and I raced in the yacht club series and I was instantly hooked on racing.”

It was when Bella was nine years old when she and her dad sailed in the Lowcountry Regatta that she fell in love with sailing. “I remember having a jumping contest when the wind died. When the sea breeze came in we got a race off and by the end of the weekend we had won,” she recalled. After participating in the Learn to Sail Camp at Beaufort Yacht and Sailing Club. Bella then started sailing in the fall and spring series at the club. Her very first travel regatta was to Junior Olympics in Jensen Beach.

Arabella mostly competes in the Optimist class. The Opti fleet offers a good amount of competition. A normal regatta may have about 200 other boats competing. Tauri explained that sailing is a great fit for her daughter, “Bella is independent. Sailing allows her to be out on her own…at least for an hour.” Bella also enjoys sailing the O’Pen Skiff and competes in it locally as well. She practices with the high school sailing team in 420’s.

“The first time I went with the high school team, it was the first time I ever trapezed,” said Bella. Trapezing is when you get in a harness, hang from it, and stand on the edge of the boat to try to flatten it out. “The first time I tried it I got swept off the edge by a wave and ended up in the water!” Bella laughed.

Tauri explained that the goal this year is for Bella to make Opti Team Trials. At the end of July, the Duer family heads to the Great Lakes for Opti Nationals Regatta. Opti Nationals is an event to qualify for the Opti Team Trials. But, Bella would need to start sailing bigger sailboats and find a crew in order to set her sights on the Olympics. “I think it would be cool to sail against the best sailors in the world,” adds Bella about her Olympic dreams. “To get to the Olympics, I would need to travel to a lot more regattas and I would need to practice, practice, practice.”

Little brother, 8-year-old, Lachlan has logged many hours watching Bella from the coach boat and sailing on double-handed boats with his mom and dad. Last year he participated in the Learn to Sail program put on by Beaufort Community Sailing and Boating. “He did great and learned quickly,” said mom, Tauri. “We told him he could either continue sitting on the coach boat or he could get out there sailing too. He jumped at the chance to start racing. He’s already doing amazing.”

Lachlan is now also competing both in the Opti and O’Pen Skiff. He prefers sailing the O’Pen Skiff but since his parents can’t be at two different regattas or on two courses at the same time, he and Arabella, usually sail the same type of boat.

The Duer family has already entertained a busy sailing summer with the Learn to Sail Summer Camps and the Spirit of America Boating Safety Program that Tauri runs. Chris’ mom, Cecilia Duer, started Spirit of America in 1995. Chris was one of the first instructors. “Cecilia started to program to reach out to students of all backgrounds to teach them about boating safety and how to be safe around the water,” explained Tauri.

The program teaches water competency, goes through the state boating license course, and gives each student time to go paddling on stand-up paddle boards, kayaks, and canoes, introduces the students to sailing on a larger dinghy and allows the students to practice driving power boats. The program is heavily funded by the Coast Guard, as well as, through grants and donations.
When the program originally came to Beaufort it was facilitated by the YMCA. Starting in 2018, Beaufort Community Sailing and Boating took over the program. Normally offering four weeks of classes each year, the Duer family has two more weeks of instructing this summer: the weeks of July 1st and August 12th.

Summer days are filled with memories on the Beaufort River for the Duer Family. And our beloved community will excitedly await to see if Bella follows her Olympic sailing dreams. For now, for a family so in love with sailing, the Duer’s will dream together amid the humid salty air racing their sailboats together.