David Alfonso: The Rising Star of Puerto Rican Junior Sailing

Work hard. Keep trying. Learn from mistakes. These are some of the principles that guide 14-year-old Puerto Rican junior sailor David Alfonso. “I’ve learned from sailing that if I work hard enough and try hard enough, I can get what I want.”

A Family Legacy of Sailing

Alfonso comes from a sailing family. His father, Roberto Alfonso, a prominent San Juan dermatologist who immigrated to Puerto Rico from Cuba in 1965, immediately pursued his passion on the seas aboard a Ranger 33 and then a C&C 40. “I sailed all the time, in the Rolex and BVI regattas, and was a past commodore of Club Nautico de Puerto Rico,” says the elder Alfonso. David’s older brother, Roberto Jr., actively sailed Snipes and, in 1982, was the youngest member of the Puerto Rican Olympic Team.

Early Memories and Beginnings in Sailing

David was just a babe in his mother’s arms when his father bought and commissioned a new Taswell 49 at the 1991 Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show. Aboard this boat, the family cruised as well as raced. “We’d go over to Francis Bay in St. John or the BVI every Easter and summer for one to two weeks,” says Dr. Alfonso.

Within a few short years, David began captaining the yacht’s dinghy. “Some of my first memories were racing around an anchorage with one of my father’s friends.”

Discovering Competitive Sailing

It wasn’t until the summer of 2001 that Dr. Alfonso enrolled his son in a short summer sailing program at Club Nautico de San Juan under the direction of Jose Gilberto “Yo Yo” Berrios. “My first thought,” says David, “was that there was so much to learn. It was a whole new world. Everyone else was so good. I wanted to go out and get a ride right away.”

Dr. Alfonso learned of the Scotiabank Caribbean International Optimist Regatta in St. Thomas just a week before the event took place. “I decided to take David at the last minute,” he says.

Faced with an older charter boat with a wobbly rudder and loose dagger board, David nonetheless won the Green Beginner Fleet with a spectacular sailing performance. “I made lots of friends. That’s one of the things I like best about sailing. And, of course, I wanted to win again. If I hadn’t gone to that regatta, I probably wouldn’t have got into sailing.”

Achieving Success on a Global Stage

David did get into sailing, and in a big way. The next summer, he was one of five junior sailors from Puerto Rico to qualify for the Optimist World Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas. “It was a big event, kids from all over the world. I finished third out of the kids from Puerto Rico, mid-fleet overall, and did get a third overall in one race.”

That winter, the Alfonsos headed to Miami, Florida, for the Orange Bowl Regatta. “There were lots of American kids, so it was much more familiar,” he says. “The second year I went, I won 4th place in the Blue Fleet.”

Over the last three years, David has competed and won several local regattas, raced in regional events, continued to sail at the Orange Bowl, and attended Optimist Worlds in Spain and Ecuador. In October 2004, he was named Top Optimist sailor in Puerto Rico’s Discover the Caribbean Series.

Balancing Academics and Sailing

When he’s not sailing, David enjoys playing tennis, soccer, and excelling at academics at the St. John School in San Juan. The soon-to-be 9th grader has won a Presidential Award for academics. “I’d like to study architecture or medicine later,” he says.

Looking Ahead: The Next Chapter in Sailing

As for sailing, David will age out of Optimists next September and looks next to Laser 4.7s and Snipes. “My big brother wants me to sail Snipes with him. There’s a new group in Puerto Rico, and so far, there’s already six boats.”

Comparing Snipes to Optimists, David adds, “It’s a more technical boat. You need to rig it really well.”

A Future Unleashed in the Sailing World

St. Thomas’ Pat Bailey, chief judge for this year’s Scotiabank Caribbean International Optimist Regatta, presented David with a special prize to mark his five years of achievement at the event—including first overall in 2004. Bailey summed up Alfonso’s sailing potential best when he said: “The Optimist Class may be losing David, but we’ve now unleashed him into the rest of the sailing world.”

Carol Bareuther has written for ALL AT SEA since 2004.