Eyring, 19, didn’t get a job this past summer before beginning his sophomore year at Tulane University.

His reason? Finn, a 28-year-old Buccaneer 295-model sailboat, needed him.    

“I have a pretty strong interest in boats and yacht design,” he said. “I’ve always been working on boats and tweaking boats and trying to make boats faster.”

And that’s exactly what he’s done with Finn. Eyring skippered his team to a second-place finish in his class at the Governor’s Cup Yacht Race last month. Finn finished the 81-mile overnight race from Annapolis to St. Mary’s on the Chesapeake Bay in 13 hours, 26 minutes, 40 seconds. Age of Reason, skippered by Stovy Brown, won in 13:20:12.

Now, Eyring, a Baltimore resident and graduate of Gilman, hopes to turn Finn into a championship-winning boat — a project he began four years ago by rebuilding the rudder, which is used for steering.

“It had become completely delaminated over the years,” he said.

 

Next up for Eyring was the redesigning the boat’s cockpit, a much more ambitious job.

“We took a lot of time to figure out exactly what we wanted in the cockpit layout and the cockpit design,” Eyring said. “We talked to other people, took all of our collective sailing knowledge and came up with a design that would be the most efficient.”

Eyring had to remove all the decking in the back of the boat, make a mold for the cockpit and then build and install it. It took him almost an entire summer.

But his dedication came as no surprise to his dad, Jef Eyring.

 

“If he starts a project he may trash the house trying to finish it, but he’ll finish it and it will be pretty much a first-class job,” Jef said. “He’s probably one of the most independent people I’ve ever met.”

Andrew Eyring started sailing with his father when he was a toddler, as did Andrew’s brother, Peter, and his sister, Charlotte, Jef Eyring said.

“With Andrew, it just kind of took,” Jef Eyring said. “He’s just had a passion for it ever since he was 3.”

Now, Jef Eyring said, Andrew’s passion for sailing has taken over the house.

“The discussion runs from ‘clean it up’ to ‘how are you guys doing on the boat?’ to ‘how do we need to help you guys get organized for the next event?’” he said. “Our house is littered with junk… they’re constantly working on sails.”

Jef Eyring said he rarely races with his son.

“[Andrew’s] kind of taking over and they’ve kind of put me out to pasture,” he said. “They thought I acted too much like a dad so I only get invited when they are short crew.” 

Andrew races with his brother, Peter; his girlfriend and tactician, Sophia Little, who sails with him at Tulane; Marty Welch, a friend from high school; and Guy Tawney and Laura Brandon, friends from the sailing center where Andrew used to work.

Peter Eyring, 23, has never raced with a skipper other than his younger brother.

“Everyone’s friends, which makes it a lot more enjoyable,” he said. It’s fun being around younger kids and just watching them. We all make mistakes, but we can learn from them.”

Peter said he and Andrew weren’t particularly close growing up, but now they spend countless hours each summer working on Finn.

 

“I don’t think we’ve ever come out of a race without a handful of broken gear,” he said.     

The broken gear doesn’t bother him or Jef, the boat’s owner.

“It’s a 30-year-old boat,” Jef Eyring said. “It wasn’t terribly valuable in the beginning, it has no value today other than the work he’s put into it and the fact that’s it’s sort of like the family pet.”

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