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Cyril Kollock Reflects on His Grandfathers’s 110 Sailing Days

After sharing our Good Jibes podcast “Milly Biller on Lifelong 110 Sailing” last month, we were contacted by Cyril Kollock who, after enjoying the podcast, happened upon a photo of his grandfather aboard a 110. Cyril wrote, “Great podcast with Millie, this pic just popped up at my mom’s house. My grandfather sailing a 110 in ‘53. Thanks to your podcast I made the 110 connection.” And although his grandfather owned the 110 before Cyril came along, the youngster did get to sail with his grandfather aboard his next boat, the Shields. Cyril sent us a few beautiful old photos of his family sailing in the 1930s, ’50s, and ’80s.

The photo of the 110 above, sail #246, was taken in the late 1950s, most likely a race at Ocean City Yacht Club, in Ocean City, NJ.
© 2023 Cyril Kollock

“They [Ocean City Yacht Club] had a fleet of around 15. The only fleet south of NY. NY had several fleets, as did Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. [There were a] few in the Great Lakes and a lot on the West Coast. S.F. and San Diego with the largest fleets. By the late ’60s my grandfather, Dave Kollock, had moved to bigger boat (Shields).”

Cyril’s grandfather Dave was from Philadelphia. Cyril remembers sailing with him a few times aboard his Shields in the Ocean City, New Jersey, area, when he was very young.

Cyril with his grandfather on one of their sailing days, circa 1980, most likely in Ocean City. “At this time my grandfather had founded a large marine salvage company called Chockfast Resins, in Pennsylvania,” Cyril wrote.
© 2023 Cyril Kollock
old sailing photo
The photo above is of Cyril’s grandmother (the young girl), Germaine Huni, with his uncle and aunt in Arcachon, France, around 1937-38, before WWII.
© 2023 Cyril Kollock

Cyril reconnected with sailing around two years ago, right as things were starting to move a little after the COVID shutdowns. “I went out a few times with a friend, I was hooked and wanted more. I found Modern Sailing and after my 101, I loved learning and continued to my current certification of Bareboat 104.”

Cyril, pictured above with his fiancée Brittanie, now races out of Richmond Yacht Club a couple of times a week.
© 2023 Cyril Kollock

“Sailing has really transformed my life, it’s a great way to spend time with friends and family. Chartering from Modern Sailing has allowed me to share the experience and the feeling of getting back to the dock after a day out, [it] is fantastic. That and the Bay Area racing community have both been keeping me busy. You really see the Bay from a different perspective and time has a way of pausing when you are out.”

5 Comments

  1. Ken Brinkley 1 year ago

    Wow , great story and awesome photos !

  2. Ros de Vries 1 year ago

    Go Cyril!! Great to see you continuing the family sailing tradition. You’re a kickass sailor. 🙂

  3. Brad Smith 1 year ago

    How nice they have pictures. I started sailing as a baby. Babies are not supposed to remember things but I vividly remember the newly varnished wood in that Snipe, the water that sloshed around in it, heeling over… I was sure I was going to die. However, I don’t have any actually pictures now that I think about it.

  4. milly Biller 1 year ago

    Hey Cyril . Come up to Inverness YC and go for a 110 sail with us sometime !

    • Cyril Kollock 1 year ago

      Hi Mille, as a marin native, i would truly appreciate that!

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