Envision spending over three days on a boat, racing down the East Coast.

For Butler Township resident Zach Doerr, it was smooth sailing.

He and his coach, Vladimir Shablinsky, recently competed in the Newport Bermuda Race, a 635-mile off-shore relay regarded as the oldest regularly scheduled ocean race.

Zach Doerr, left, enjoys a day on the water with his father, Thomas Doerr, at Moraine Stae Park recently. Submitted Photo

They sailed on a Figaro Custom 2 Groupe 5, finishing first in Class 6 with an elapsed time of 77:41:22. They reached the island five hours ahead of James Hammitt’s Sigma 41 Reville, the Class 5 winner.

Zach said that challenges included, “dealing with sleep and, at times, the wind picks up and the water is rough. You just have to be awake for several hours during the night and (continue) to sail the boat.”

Sailing at night during the Block Island Race in May, Zach had to deal with fog that made it hard to see too far past the front of the boat. With a fair amount of traffic in the water, the only way to know if another boat wasn’t nearby was to look at the computer monitor in the boat’s cabin.

Doerr, who graduated from Butler High School in 2020 and is an undergrad at the Webb Institute in Glen Cove, N.Y., learned the craft at an early age.

“Zach started sailing with me when he was still in a car-seat,” said his father, Thomas Doerr.

By the time he was 16, the younger Doerr was a certified sailing instructor. He volunteered his time to the Moraine Sailing Club to teach the craft. The family has had membership in the club, which is based out of the Watts Bay Marina, for 10 years.

“You wouldn’t think in Butler that it would be a big sport, but, actually, Lake Arthur and Moraine State Park are very well-suited for sailing,” Thomas said.

The club provides a learn-to-sail program for novices and a level of membership that loans out a boat if you don’t own one. For advanced sailors, there are several racing events throughout the summer.

“Even if I’m not participating with the club, I’m out there quite a bit with my friends and family when I’m home,” Zach said.

The physical demands of the sport depend on the size of the boat and how it’s rigged. On larger boats, sailors have to wrap lines around winches and crank them in because the force on the line exceeds a normal person’s strength.

Zach Doerr helms his sailboat in the Newport Bermuda Race in June. Submitted Photo

“When it’s windy, there’s certainly an exhilaration element to it,” Zach said. “I’ve always enjoyed getting the most speed out of the boat. It’s a technical sport ... There’s a sense of freedom, too.”

The cerebral aspect of sailing involves different thought processes.

“Contrary to what you might think, sailing down wind is not the fastest nor the easiest thing to do,” Thomas said. “You have to understand the process and what direction the wind is blowing.”

There aren’t always sunny, blue skies, either. Sailors have to know how to weather storms.

“Whatever Mother Nature dishes out, you have to be prepared to deal with,” Thomas said. “Just like there’s specialty clothing in any sport, there is in sailing. There’s different levels of protection from water and cold.

“As a racer, Zach has everything from sailing just above freezing to as warm as it’s ever going to get in the tropics.”

The Webb Institute only offers one dual-major, which is naval architecture and marine engineering. The school’s graduates have designed anything from nuclear submarines to container ships.

Zach plans on using his degree to get into designing yachts upon graduation.