Woody Blackford acted as OYSF President from March 2015 until November 2019. Woody is a very active boater both sail and power. He grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada and started boating “at birth”. Woody became one of Canada’s top youth laser sailors in his teen’s. Woody also spent seven summers as a CYA certified sailing/ racing coach earning the highest certification which was at the time “Black Level Instructor”. This experience hooked Woody for life on sailing, he had learned first hand the positive impact sailing can have on one’s character and how it can be a lifelong adventure. It is for this reason he is very passionate about doing what he can to give today’s Oregon youth that same opportunity.
Woody’s professional life is in creating performance clothing and footwear, a career he started in the winters when it actually became too cold to sail! (Maritime Canadian waters do actually freeze over, eh!). He is currently the EVP of Product at Canada Goose a company that is a leading pioneer of extreme weather solutions focused on getting more people to “Live in the Open”.
