Meet the Owners
Tyler & Carrie Andrews
If you look closely you can see Alfie in the back ground.
After Carrie won the Adams cup in 2003, she continued to sail and crew for her Dad. She spent some time working for the factory, with the dream of running it one day. However, it would take a simple twist of fate for her to meet her husband Tyler. After getting her Masters, Carrie took a job with Alerding CPA group in Indianapolis. Fortunately, Geoff Endris was at the time starting a Flying Scot fleet at Eagle Creek Sailing Club where Tyler sailed. During the Eagle Creek Flying Scot Regatta, Tyler was smart enough to be sure to meet the girl that he had been eyeing all day. Of course, Carrie was sailing with her Dad, so he got to meet the parents on the same night. They too say the rest is history.
Tyler and Carrie with their first born son.
A little bit more about Tyler and Carrie. Tyler graduated from Indiana University with a Bachelors in meteorology and a minor in business. Carries Undergraduate degree is from James Madison in Accounting and her Masters is from Lakeland College in Madison, WI. Both Tyler and Carrie are thankful for their many experiences that they can draw from. They are steady in their faith above all else. They are also starting a new family and enjoying that adventure. They're up to two boys and a girl, and adamantly done having more kids. Finally, as far as Flying Scot goes, continuing to run a quality company is their goal for the company, and it's looking good so far.
Harry Carpenter - Patriarch
Harry Carpenter grew up in Pittsburgh, PA. His parents bought a summer home at Deep Creek Lake in Maryland in 1967 and he soon came to know the sport of sailing. He started racing the Flying Scot as crew to his older brother, Jack, in the early seventies winning the Labor Day Regatta in their first year. Harry loved the sport of sailing and got out on the water whenever he had the chance.
In the mid seventies, Eric Ammann, who owned Gordon Douglass Boat Co., Inc. with his wife Mary, asked Harry to become an instructor in the company's new sailing school on the lake. Harry jumped at the opportunity to get paid for doing something he loved while attending school. Harry graduated from Grove City College in western Pennsylvania in June of 1978 and started to work full time at Gordon Douglass Boat Company with Eric and Mary.
Harry continued to do what he loved most in this world - sail. He began to travel to many of the local events and in the fall of 1979 he met Karen while sailing in a regatta at Smith Mountain Lake near Roanoke, Virginia. Harry and Karen started dating and their time together soon grew to be one of the few things Harry loved more than sailing. They were married in April of 1981 and continued sailing together at many of the local and national Flying Scot regattas.
In January of 1982 Harry and Karen were blessed with their first child, Carrie. She was nine weeks old when she attended her first Midwinters in Panama City, Florida. In December of 1983, they were blessed with their second child, Jimmy. The kids traveled with their parents to many of the regattas over the years as the family grew as a sailing family. Harry & Karen managed to win some of the events including the North American Championship in 1988, but what they cherish most are the life long friendships they developed with Flying Scot sailors all over the country.
Harry and Karen liked the Flying Scot so well that in 1991 they bought the company. Harry is still in love with his family and the sport of sailing. He is blessed to be able to work and sail with Karen, Carrie and Jimmy and share with them his life long passion. Carrie and Jimmy are quite often his crew now. Harry won his second North American Championship in 2000 with Jimmy crewing. Carrie and Meredith Dodd crewed for Joni Palmer to win the 2003 US Sailing Women's Championship for the Adams Cup.
Karen Carpenter
Karen Carpenter grew up in West Chester, Pennsylvania. She graduated from the Abington Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1970. She worked as an operating room nurse at Abington Memorial, Hanover Memorial, and Chambersburg hospitals.
Karen's introduction to sailing came while working at Chambersburg. Jerry Angulo, an anesthesiologist on the staff, owned a Flying Scot. He invited Karen to join him and his family one afternoon to try the sport of sailing on Lake Marburg. She liked it well enough to accept the position of third crew on Jerry and his wife Mitzi's Scot for racing.
After sailing together enough to feel comfortable at Lake Marburg, they decided to broaden their horizons to include the annual regatta at Deep Creek Lake - home of the Flying Scot. Seeing 30 boats on the starting line was quite intimidating!
The next step after Deep Creek was to travel to a beautiful lake near Roanoke - Smith Mountain Lake. There Karen met Harry and, as they say, the rest is history.
The Guys in the Factory
The boat builders out in the factory have over 60 years of cumulative experience building boats. Don has been with us for 40 years now, and Moose will hit his 15 year mark this year. We could not be happier with their consistency, their quality of work or their work ethic.
Aubriona Metz (Bruce)
Aubriona goes by Bruce here. I guess because she's the first Woman Boat Builder that we know of. She's a brilliant woman who stepped into a new trade in the spring, when we were busy and a man short. Thanks to her strong work ethic and ability to understand, Flying Scot Inc. did not miss a beat. Perhaps it's an artists touch. Aubriona does come from a sculpting back ground and she makes music. She's definitely an artist, but on top of that she's an animal lover. She has a husky pit bull, a cat and a snake.
Jason Johnson (Moose)
Jason has worked at the factory since 2006 . Jason is an expert boat builder and has recently received his foreman status. Suffice it to say that Jason does a whole bunch of everything around the factory. Outside of work he is a gun connoisseur, father to his daughter Sylvia and involved in the Christian mission field. Tyler and Carrie have actually gone on mission trips to Nicaragua with Moose. He goes every year to help implement infrastructure for the town of Kisalaya. Seeds and Love Together is the name of the organization and they have done great things to help the town with starvation and clean drinking water. Check them out here, SALT.
Joe Johnson
Yes this is Moose's Dad, Joe. When Moose said that he wanted us to hire his father, we knew that it might be the answer to our prayers. Sue enough! Joe is steadfast, a hardworker, and a pleasure to be around.
Don Sharpless
Don is also a foreman here. He has been building boats with us since 1981. He assembles the boats, shims the boards, and helps with the balsa layer. Don is multifaceted, because of course with all
those years of experience he can fix anything on these boats. Most importantly though, Don sprays the gel coat. His talent and care of the molds make him responsible for that beautiful new boat finish. You just tell him what color to make them. For fun, Don and his wife enjoy trips with their camper.
Brandon Gilcher
By the grace of God we hired Brandon when hiring was hard, and nobody was looking for work. We literally found him in Church, with a testimony that he quit his job as a teacher and moved to Garrett county because that's where he felt God was leading him. He would not correct me if I told you that God wanted him to be a boat builder. We're blessed to have him working at Flying Scot Inc. He's a quick learner, a hard worker, and just a great guy to be around. He marks the 8th employee at FSI for the first time in a long time. While we're not able to increase new boat production at this time, he has freed up our foreman to work full time on repairs, which is another win.