Oklahoma City commodore to weigh anchor
OKC Boat ClubBut Association’s female skipper doesn’t plan to sail off into sunset
By Helen Ford Wallace
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Published: September 28, 2009
Ann Kilpatrick has been at the helm of Lake Hefner’s Oklahoma City Boat Club all year as the commodore, and she’s been on the board of directors for five years. But when she first petitioned to join the boat club about 30 years ago, it wasn’t open to women.
Her term of office as commodore, which ends in October, caps a long history with the OKC Boat Club and a lifelong love affair with boats. She has been sailing since she was a child. As an infant, her parents took her with them when they sailed. Boat lore has it that she was carried onboard the boat in a picnic basket.
Kilpatrick is the second female commodore ever, and she is one of two who broke the barrier for women in the club. When she was first asked to join, the application and interview process took 14 months. When it was over, she became a dues-paying member in 1982; today, there are 20 women among the 200 members.
She owns a 22-foot F2 keelboat and a Sunfish sailboat once sailed by
Paul McCartney. Her dad, the late
Bill Kilpatrick, a commodore in the 1950s, introduced her to sailing and gave her access to his boats while she was learning.
Her mother, the late
Joann Kilpatrick, was a crew member on the boats for her husband, and her brother,
Mac Kilpatrick, is a championship sailor.
Ann Kilpatrick can be found at the boat docks at least five days a week. She organizes races, is chairman of the monthly board and membership meetings, and uses her lawyer skills to remind club members about her pet projects — one of which is the annual charity regatta in June that began in 2001. That Lighthouse Charity Regatta raises funds that are distributed to two Oklahoma City-based charity events a year.
"About 30 years ago, they added the Wednesday night races that are really the most popular races today. They start in May and end in September. It is a great way to break up the week, like a mini-vacation and destressor in the middle of the week,” she said.
Another project that she loves is the youth sailing program for club members’ children and their friends. The boat club has 19 beginner boats for use by kids and also female sailors who are beginners.
When she is not on the water, she is at the clubhouse, a one-story brick building near the docks.
The floating dock has 155 wet slips for members’ boats with two launch ramps and two hoists.
There are five docks. Dry storage is available for 250 boats.
"We were included in plans to host the
U.S. Sailing Team if
Oklahoma sailing became an option for Olympic training,” she said. "We’ve had the North American J22 Championship races in 2005; the
Adams Cup Women’s Championship in 2008, plus numerous races through the years. We have many championship sailors,” she said.
Kilpatrick has been the racing and entertainment committees for the club. She developed the donor base for the charities.
She has sailed in many waters including the
Virgin Islands and
Australia. "Sailing is really a "green” sport, she said. "I think that is another reason that sailing has had an increase in popularity. We use the wind for our fuel.”
When she is not making waves at the clubhouse, she’s focused at her church, at the
Junior League of Oklahoma City or as a
Casady School alumna. She was an economics major in college and then went to law school.
After the commodore’s banquet in October where past commodores, current board members and general members of the club meet for one last "Aye Aye” to their outgoing captain, she probably won’t just sail away.
This dedicated sailor certainly wouldn’t want to miss the Wednesday night sailboat races at Lake Hefner.
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