Sailing Story: Morgan Spitznagle

Morgan Spitznagle had spent a lot of time watching sailboat racing, but never thought much of trying the sport out herself. 

“I live in Somers right across the street from Juniper Bay,” she explained. “The yacht club races are right across from my house essentially.”

Morgan would regularly sit outside on her porch with friends and neighbors, casually watching the weekly races. It was on one of those such days when her neighbor broached the topic of them trying it out themselves.

“At first I was like– you’re crazy,” Morgan laughed. “I’ve never really been a boating person.”

However, her neighbor didn’t let the topic go, and before long, they were signed up for lessons at Go Sail Flathead Lake. 

“That was the first day I had ever stepped on a sailboat,” Morgan recalled. “It was a lot of fun but it was definitely very intimidating.”

Although the skills and concepts were all new to Morgan, she began to relax after the first day out on the water. “Our instructor was really, really patient and taught us really, really well,” she said.

By the end of her ASA courses, Morgan felt ready to take on the next challenge by renting a sailboat from Go Sail and taking it out with her neighbor on Flathead. “It was just a half day trip and it was fun– it was great,” she explained.

“We definitely had to encourage each other and boost our confidence a little bit,” she laughed. There were definitely some times where we were like ‘we don’t know what we’re doing!’ but obviously nothing bad happened!”

Now, Morgan and her neighbor were finally ready to give a whack at the sport they had watched from a distance for so long— sailboat racing!

Captain Genevieve happened to be looking for crewmembers to join her team. It wasn’t long before Morgan began to feel at home in the sailing community.  

“It was honestly unbelievable. It’s not something I ever thought was even remotely possible for me,” she said. “If you would have told me two years ago I would be surrounded by the sailing community, I would have lost that million dollar bet.”