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Fulcrum Rocket

The Rocket is that classic form made modern by way of careful and sweeping improvements across the entire platform. An old favorite has jumped forward thanks to modern methods and materials executed by Fulcrum Speedworks. This is what happens when a company that makes hi-tech foiling UFOs gets to execute a classic concept. Made from an intensely rugged and extra lightweight cored composite construction, the Rocket weighs in at 90 pounds, fully 40% lighter than conventional builds of its type. Consider the process of launching and landing it, pulling it up the beach on the dolly etc. Light things are less cumbersome and easy to move around. Your back is already thanking you. The wind likes light boats too. Light boats accelerate more easily and hold quick speeds more readily. They’re easy to handle on the water and safer as a result. At an excellent power to weight ratio, the Rocket can really move! In light wind it’s quick and in good breeze it will plane upwind, downwind and on reaches. Go there faster! It’s no UFO, but it’s an impressively quick dinghy vs. other 14 foot dinghies on the market.

The Rocket comes with an expansive full length cockpit which stretches all the way to the stern. This allows ample room to bring friends or cargo. Three or four kids can easily take the Rocket for a sail together, two adults can take the Rocket for a sail together. With 6 feet 3 inches of floor length on the cockpit, there are easily four feet of cargo space in the back for dry-bags while still leaving room to sail comfortably. This makes the Rocket the pickup truck of the dinghy world. Stick your camping gear in the back and use it for sail-powered backpacking, or simply go sailing with the dog and a big cooler. You name it, it’ll go in your Rocket.

Hoisting the sail could not possibly be any easier thanks to the Rocket’s timeless tried-and true lateen sail setup. The sail, boom and gaffe lay down on the deck waiting for the halyard to be pulled. Pull the halyard 10 feet and cleat it. Congratulations! You’re done. Go sailing. Repeat these steps in reverse when you land. There is a good reason why the lateen sail has been uses on millions of production sailing dinghies since the 1950’s. Dollar for dollar, outing for outing, nothing gets the job done more easily.

Length: 14 feet, 2 inches Beam: 4 feet 4 inches Draft: 2 feet 9 inches. Hull weight: 90 pounds Sail area: 81 square feet

This product is not sold online. Contact us for a quote.

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Rocket Sailboat by Fulcrum Speedworks

Shoreline Sailboats is pleased to offer the Rocket sailboat – “The classic – made modern”

Launch into a new adventure on a strikingly innovative execution of a timeless favorite. 90 lbs of hull weight, built for strength, built for fun and built to go quick. Built to take friends along.

Take your daughter for her first sail ever. Share a sunset sail with your spouse. Use its agility and ample storage to backpack by sailboat for a weekend. Kick it off the beach and get some much-needed endorphins as you plane upwind and downwind in a fun medium breeze. Do all of these things on your new Rocket built by Fulcrum Speedworks in Bristol RI. All for $5,200.

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Wait, haven’t I seen one of these before?

In a way- but no. Not even close. The Rocket builds on the strong fundamental positives of the classic American “Board boat”, a boat type which first came into the world about 80 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of board boats have been made over the years by boatbuilders across the continent, from the Sailfish, to the Aqua-finn, to the Sunfish, the Phantom, the Scorpion and countless others, they have become an North American backyard icon on par with charcoal grills, above-ground swimming pools and pickup trucks. Board boats of all kinds have been loved for generations for a good reason. Their simplicity, ease of use, safety and affordability has stood essentially unmatched.

The Rocket is that classic form made modern by way of careful and sweeping improvements across the entire platform. An old favorite has jumped forward thanks to modern methods and materials. This is what happens when a company that makes hi-tech foiling UFOs gets to execute a classic concept.

Construction and Performance

Made from an intensely rugged and extra lightweight cored composite construction, the Rocket weighs in at 90 pounds, fully 40% lighter than conventional builds of its type. Consider the process of launching and landing it, pulling it up the beach on the dolly etc. Light things are less cumbersome and easy to move around. Your back is already thanking you. The wind likes light boats too. Light boats accelerate more easily and hold quick speeds more readily. They’re easy to handle on the water and safer as a result. At an excellent power to weight ratio, the Rocket can really move! In light wind it’s quick and in good breeze it will plane upwind, downwind and on reaches. Go there faster! It’s no UFO, but it’s an impressively quick dinghy vs. other 14 foot dinghies on the market.

But it’s not just lighter weight and greater speed. The Rocket is also palpably more stable than comparable boats on the market, thanks to having the widest parts of its V-bottom situated directly where you sit. As one customer puts it. “The sailing motion and sea-kindliness is entirely different. It is a more sophisticated motion and not so abrupt as the SF which can be very squirrelly. This is more stable, and sails more consistently and predictable. It points a little better and close-hauled sailing is entirely different and I’m able to sail more consistently and keep my heel angle as desired rather than reacting to the  SF’s abrupt motion.   It’s far more comfortable to move around in and great with a passenger. Better boom clearance for tacks/jibes.”

The Rocket comes with an expansive full length cockpit which stretches all the way to the stern. The cockpit bottom is padded with soft non-slip marine deck foam which is both gentle to the touch and rugged to survive the elements. This allows ample room to bring friends or cargo. Three or four kids can easily take the Rocket for a sail together, two adults can take the Rocket for a sail together.

With 6 feet 3 inches of floor length on the cockpit, there are easily four feet of cargo space in the back for dry-bags while still leaving room to sail comfortably. This makes the Rocket the pickup truck of the dinghy world. Stick your camping gear in the back and use it for sail-powered backpacking, or simply go sailing with the dog and a big cooler. You name it, it’ll go in your Rocket.

Hoisting the sail could not possibly be any easier thanks to the Rocket’s timeless tried-and true lateen sail setup. The sail, boom and gaffe lay down on the deck waiting for the halyard to be pulled. Pull the halyard 10 feet and cleat it. Congratulations! You’re done. Go sailing. Repeat these steps in reverse when you land. There is a good reason why the lateen sail has been uses on millions of production sailing dinghies since the 1950’s. Dollar for dollar, outing for outing, nothing gets the job done more easily.

Contact Shoreline Sailboats for more information about the Rocket

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THE MELGES 15!

THE ROCKET! Built in the USA

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Fulcrum’s Latest Rocket Launch

• By Dave Reed
• Updated: December 23, 2020

If one were strolling the shoreline of Bristol, Rhode Island, in late 2020, one might have admired a small craft gliding across Narragansett Bay. Low to water and swift, it was a dinghy for sure. But what the heck was it?

A triangular lateen-looking sail with thick red, white and blue stripes might lead one to believe it to be a Sunfish. Or even a Sailfish. Nope. It was the new Fulcrum Speedworks Rocket prototype. It may have looked old school from afar, but as the saying goes, looks can be deceiving.

The prototype launched that day by Dave Clark, the young entrepreneur and boatbuilder responsible for the pint-sized UFO foiling catamaran, has plenty of back story, and we’ll get to that shortly, but first, we must face the big colorful elephant in the room. Yes, that would be the Sunfish, the most iconic recreational centerboard dinghy of all time.

The Rocket is kind of like a Sunfish, but is not a Sunfish. It is a Sunfish that has been modified in very targeted and specific ways to make it perform better while maintaining simplicity and low cost. Steve Clark, David’s father and co-developer, says this is the combination of attributes sailors and small-craft dealers across the United States are seeking today. If anyone would know, it would be Steve, past president of Vanguard Sailboats, once the dominant builder of one-design dinghies in the States—including the Sunfish. According to both father and son, the Sunfish’s builder, LaserPerformance, has not met this demand and there is an opportunity to deliver “an alternate fundamental product in the marketplace.”

“With the UFO, we already have a very technologically advanced and different product,” says Dave Clark. “It sells well to people who want tectonic change. We wanted to add a boat for those who the UFO doesn’t appeal to as much. The sailing market on this continent gets showered with ‘smarter’ boats time and time again, and for hundreds of thousands of board boat purchases, those people have passed.”

Why, Clark then posits, do so many sailors today still choose to buy iconic boats of the past— new, used, beaters and all? That’s easy: “Simplicity, safety, ease of use, cost.”

With a demand accelerated by a pandemic-induced rush on small boats, Clark’s company, Fulcrum Speedworks , had been looking for an opportunity to add something to its line. The opportunity presented itself when he came across a collection of small-boat tooling listed on craigslist. A score he identified in the pile of molds was the tools for the 14-foot Howmar Phantom. He and a buddy promptly rented a Penske truck and beelined to Bethel, Maine, where he forked over $1,800, dragged molds out of the barn and drove away with a bed full of fiberglass history and the start of his next venture.

“There’s always been a need for a new-model year of this thing,” says Clark who has an obvious fondness for what he says is “a uniquely potent example” of a good board-boat hull. “For those who don’t know the Howmar Phantom, it’s the second-most successful board boat ever introduced—after the Sunfish,” he says. “They sold about 1,000 of them per year for about a decade through the late 70s and early 80s.”

The elder Clark, a student and professor of high-performance sailing, says the Sunfish, Phantom and others of its ilk fall under the category of “board boat,” which he likens to the various scows preferred by American lake and flat-water sailors. “[Board boats and scows] are hard bilged with a bow whose primary entry angle is parallel to the water plane,” he says. “They could also be considered sharpies. In particular, V-bottom sharpies like Lightnings, Windmills and Snipes, but the low freeboard and beam-to-length ratio place them more in the scow genus. Board boats and scows both feature generous low-aspect-ratio sail plans. The result is a high sail area-to-displacement ratio and sail-area-to-wetted-surface ratio with a very low center of effort.”

Translation: they’re wickedly versatile boats across the wind range.

The Phantom was marketed as the recreational family sportsboat at the time, Clark says. During the 1970s, there were numerous attempts to capture a share of the board-boat market and take a slice out of Sunfish’s dominance. Builders littered the continent with cheap clones that were not as good; the Howmar Phantom was an exception. “It was not just a cheaper Sunfish but a slightly larger board boat that brought new performance and features to the party,” says Steve Clark. “I could design a new hull, and I flatter myself that it would be better than the Phantom hull, but we would have to go to some effort to prove that claim.”

So rather than start from scratch with an entirely new design, they simply improved upon the Phantom. “We saw the opportunity to salvage a storied and well-thought hull, and reconfigure it within its own legacy,” says Dave Clark. “This boat was destined to be constantly improved and renewed, so we are carrying on that journey into the 21st Century.”

How so? You have to see it to believe it, as I did on a recent raw winter’s night, meeting Dave Clark after dark at the family farm in Warren, Rhode Island. Inside a barn, alongside a half-restored wooden International 14 and an almost complete new International Canoe, the white-hulled Rocket prototype sat on its dolly, its sail and spars piled atop, ready to launch at any whim. The most noticeable feature is the deck layout—Clark did away with the Phantom’s crammed and enclosed cockpit and stretched it wide open from the centerboard trunk all the way to the transom. Through saving weight with a modern laminate and materials and ensuring it has durability (and yes, he smacked the deck forcefully to show me it could take a bit of blunt-force trauma), Clark says he now has a board boat that “will perform better and be a better family boat than before.” Better foils will certainly help, too.

In the process of 3D scanning the tooling, he says, they started to question a lot of the highly-improvable areas of the boat. Consequently, he butchered the old deck mold to get what he wanted: a more comfortable, more practical, and better-looking craft. The original Phantom eventually weighed upwards of 130 pounds (dry) so Clark set out to shave that down considerably, for the obvious reason that a proper beach boat better be easy to move around and put atop the family wagon.

“Make something light and strong and you’ve already done the best thing for it,” he says. Using a vacuumed-bagged vinylester resin and thermoplastic honeycomb core laminate, he has the hull weight reduced to a respectable 90 pounds.

Light. Strong. What else could he possibly do to redeliver a universal centerboard dinghy that a wide-range of sailors can relate to? That’s easy. He preserved the lateen rig (although, technically, Steve Clark points out, it’s a crab-claw sail), iconic and simple in its setup and trim: one mast, two lightweight spars linked with Spectra strops and a single halyard. “There were countless conversations about putting something more modern on it,” he says. “I can walk up to this thing and start it like a lawnmower. Pull the string, cleat it, and off we go. There’s not a simpler rigging system on the planet than a lateen mainsail. It’s a throwback but for a really good reason.”

Clark says the first hulls of the Fulcrum Rocket will be punched out in January 2021 and he’s already taking orders ($4,600 including North Sails Dacron sail and Fulcrum-made dolly). He’s forecasting a production run of several per week, so step right up, he says, because this Rocket launch is going to the stratosphere. And if, by chance, your goal is to go higher, ask him about the optional “Interceptor” upgrade…the one with the rudder elevators. Because good is never good enough.

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Fulcrum Rocket

Introducing the Fulcrum Rocket, a remarkable sailboat that combines ruggedness, lightweight construction, and exceptional stability for an unparalleled sailing experience. Crafted from extra lightweight cored composite materials, this vessel weighs a mere 90 pounds, making it effortless to handle both on land and water. One of the standout features of the Rocket is its easy launching and landing capabilities, allowing you to embark on sailing adventures with utmost convenience. Whether you’re a seasoned sailor or a novice, the Rocket makes the entire process hassle-free, and the lightweight and stable construction of the boat ensures a safer sailing experience compared to other boats on the market. Comfort and versatility are also key aspects of the Rocket’s design. The boat is equipped with an easy-to-use sail system and features a full-length cockpit that stretches all the way to the stern, providing ample space for passengers and cargo. Whether you’re planning a solo adventure or a group outing, everyone can enjoy the journey comfortably.  The Rocket is a testament to innovation, combining cutting-edge materials, thoughtful design, and ease of use. This sailboat is a true gem for those seeking memorable adventures on the water. Get ready to set sail and explore the world with the Fulcrum Rocket!

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Sku: rocket fulcrum rocket.

• Description

The Rocket is the ultimate recreational sailboat - designed with the latest construction and materials to be light weight, stable, easy to rig, simple to sail, and sure to make everyone smile. If you're looking for a sailboat for the family, the Rocket is a great fit. The 6' open cockpit has plenty of room for 2 adults and even safe inboard seating for small childern. All of this comes in at just 90 lbs making the Rocket easy for anyone to mange on land and on the water. Plus, that light weight design also give the boat great acceleration and make it esier to maintain higher speeds - all in the name of pure fun.

If having fun on the water with the family is your goal, the Rocket is your boat.

• Light weight hull - Only 90 lbs!
• Easy to rig and simple to maintain lateen style rig
• Inboard seating for small children
• Soft, comfy, non-slip foam grip on the cockpit floor
• North Sails sail with window
• Ratcheting mainsheet block
• Made in the USA
• Length: 14' 2"
• Width: 4' 4"
• Hull Weight: 90 lbs
• Fully Rigged Weight: 110 lbs
• Sail Area: 81 sq ft

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2024 Rocket Board Boat $5,200

Home » Inventory » Fulcrum Speedworks » 2024 Rocket Board Boat

The Rocket is a new board boat design that is quickly gaining a following.

Board boats of all kinds have been loved for generations, and for a good reason. The success of The Rocket board boat is in their simplicity, ease of use, safety and affordability. The Rocket comes with an expansive full length cockpit which stretches all the way to the stern. Made from an intensely rugged and extra lightweight cored composite construction, the Rocket weighs in at 90 pounds. Additionally, this Rocket is a full 40% lighter than conventional builds of its type and light boats accelerate more easily and hold quick speeds more readily. As a result, they’re easy to handle on the water and safer as a result.

At an excellent power to weight ratio, the Rocket can really move! In light wind it’s quick and in good breeze it will plane upwind, downwind and on reaches. Also, the 14 ft. Rocket is described by sailors as “The pickup truck of the dingy world” due to the length and amount of room the cockpit allows for a crew or cargo. Hoisting the sail could not possibly be any easier thanks to the Rocket’s timeless tried-and true lateen sail setup. The sail, boom and gaffe lay on the deck waiting for the halyard to be pulled. Pull the halyard 10 feet and cleat it. You’re guaranteed to have a great time on the water!

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Fulcrum Speed Works Rocket Interceptor

Manufacturer:, hull colour:.

The Fulcrum speed Works Rocket with interceptor package is going to increase performance and speed of the sailboat. The mylar main sail will give the sailor a lot of performance and being a clear sail it will help to see through it. Adding the rudder foil will help with planing and upgraded traveler is great for adjusting the main sail. This will be a great option for the lightweight Rocket and we look forward to getting these in come spring 2024. 

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Recreational sailing dinghy Rocket single-handed double-handed catboat

Characteristics

Description, other fulcrum speedworks products.

• Sailing dinghy
• Recreational sailing dinghy
• Sport catamaran
• Single-handed sailing dinghy
• Multiple sailing dinghy
• Catboat sailing dinghy
• Regatta sport catamaran
• Single-handed sport catamaran
• Disassemblable sport catamaran
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How do i rig the rocket sailboat | rigging the rocket, by fulcrum speedworks.

So you’ve just purchased your Rocket sailing dinghy and you’re eager to get out on the shimmering sea. “But wait a second, how do I rig a lateen sail?” you ask. Don’t worry, you’ve come the right place! The Rocket rigging tutorial above will break down each and every step of the process. Lucky for you, it’s not much of a process at all, it’s actually quite simple. Let's take a look!  

You will not be able to rig your sail without a couple of knots. There are only a few knots to know for The Rocket, so put away that notebook. Here are the knots you will need to know:  

If you have any questions about rigging your Rocket reach out to us at   contact.fulcrumspeedworks@ gmail.com  

Hello, we are heading into our second summer with the Fulcrum Rocket. All went well last year except we could not figure out how to rig the rudder so that it will stay down when we want it to stay down (most of the time we are sailing) and stay up when we want it to stay up (when we are hauling the boat out of the water on a small trailer). Our old Sunfish solved this with a spring, as you probably know. Is there a trick for the Rocket? Thank you, Peter

Hi, I purchased a rocket last year and now am finally in a situation where I can take it out. I was going through the video to rig the sailboat and am stuck with the Rolling Hitch knot to attach the halyard. I find it slips and doesn’t hold – very frustrating!! Even in your link for a rolling hitch it mentions that it doesn’t work well with modern line. Any other knot you would recommend? Also, do you have an instructional manual on how to rig the Rocket? I think that would be helpful for us novice sailors. Thanks

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Watch: Whale capsizes boat with two sailors on board

A humpback whale capsized a small fishing boat with two sailors on board off the coast of New Hampshire in the US.

Video footage captured the moment the whale breached the waters and smashed its snout on the back of the vessel.

Greg Paquette and Ryland Kenney were tossed into the waters off the coast of the city of Portsmouth on Tuesday. They escaped without being injured.

They thanked two brothers, Wyatt Yager, 19, and Colin Yager, 16, of Eliot, Maine, who were fishing nearby, for rescuing them just after 7am local time between Rye Harbor and the mouth of the Piscataqua River.

The teenagers filmed the moment the whale hit the boat, which has gone viral on social media. One can be heard declaring, “oh my God,”, as the other grabs the wheel to go to help the two fishermen.

“I was just in shock. Everyone else had the same reaction and tried to get over to those people,” Wyatt said.

“We’re glad they took such quick action,” Mr Paquette told the Portsmouth Herald. “They didn’t even think about it. We’re really grateful to both of them.”

He said he was wearing an inflatable life jacket that activated when he was thrown into the water. Before he hit the water, he saw the whale’s head hit the engine of the boat.

“Then I saw the whole stern become inundated with water and I thought, ‘Oh no. We’re going down. We’re going to sink now’,” he said.

The two men swam clear and were rescued by the brothers in under two minutes. The footage shows the stricken boat floating on its side before flipping over. A different clip shows it being towed away by another vessel.

“It’s been an emotional day,” Mr Paquette said.

Sara Morris, director of the Shoals Marine Laboratory, said the whale appeared to be “lunge feeding”, a way of chasing fish, when it hit the boat. In the video footage, small fish can be seen escaping from the whale’s mouth as it rises out of the water.

“I think one of the key things is that when whales are sighted to encourage boaters to keep their distance,” Ms Morris told local radio. “The whales are moving around underwater and coming up, potentially in an area different from where they went down.”

The incident came days after a humpback, believed to be about two years old, was seen in the  Piscataqua River.

“We’re hoping it leaves the area soon,” Dianna Schulte of the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation told news outlet WGME.

“There has been a lot of menhaden, which is a type of small bait fish, in the river recently. So likely, it was coming into the river just looking for some food,” she added.

Humpbacks can weigh up to 40 tons and grow up to 56ft. They are generally docile and usually only approach boats when they are curious.

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Boat explodes on Lake Michigan with 2 people on board 

• Updated: Jul. 25, 2024, 2:06 a.m.
• | Published: Jul. 24, 2024, 11:07 a.m.

A boat exploded with two people on board Tuesday afternoon, July 23, 2024, on Lake Michigan off Waukegan, Ill. Both people were rescued by a good Samaritan and transported to a local hospital with burn wounds. U.S. Coast Guard

• Justine Lofton | [email protected]

Two people were aboard a boat when it exploded Tuesday on Lake Michigan, authorities said.

The U.S. Coast Guard responded at 2:45 p.m. Tuesday to a report of a personal watercraft explosion off Waukegan, Ill., USCG Sector Great Lakes said on X .

The two people on board were rescued from the water by a good Samaritan, USCG said. They both sustained burn wounds and were taken to emergency medical services and then transported to a hospital.

The boat burned and sank, USCG said. A rainbow sheen, about 60-by-200 feet, was seen on the water.

The Illinois Department of Natural Resources is leading the investigation and clean up, USCG said. Local law enforcement and a boat towing company also responded to the scene.

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Mayor claims drone intercepted near Moscow

Russian air defense units allegedly intercepted a drone over the city of Elektrostal in Moscow Oblast, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin reported in a Telegram post on Nov. 19.

Sobyanin claims the drone was heading towards central Moscow.

The Mayor also said emergency services were at work at the crash site but no casualties or damage to infrastructure have been reported.

The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the reports.

Since the launch of Russia's full-scale invasion, Ukrainian forces have targeted Russian military, logistics, and infrastructure sites in the occupied territories and within Russia.

Today's drone report comes just hours after Ukraine's alleged drone attack was intercepted over the Bogorodskoye municipal district in Moscow Oblast.

While claims of Ukrainian attacks within Russian territory have increased since summer 2023, Kyiv rarely comments on these reports.

Read also: Ukraine war latest: Zelensky replaces Medical Forces Commander

We’ve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent .

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Whale lands on boat off new hampshire coast, throwing people into ocean.

"It's kind of a miracle that I'm alive."

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Two people were thrown into the ocean after a humpback whale landed on their fishing boat off the New Hampshire coast on Tuesday morning, and the entire incident was caught on video.

"We didn't see him for a couple of minutes, and then the next thing we knew, he popped up and landed right on the transom of the boat," said Gregg Paquette of Groveland, who was aboard the fishing boat with Ryland Kenney of Dover, New Hampshire.

"I just looked up and just kind of saw the boat tipping, and I said, 'The only way to avoid this is to just kind of jump horizontally away,'" said Kenney.

Wyatt Yager, 19, of Maine, said he and his brother Colin, 16, were fishing about one mile off the New Hampshire coast because they were looking for pogies. Colin spotted the whale and began recording, with his video showing Wyatt in the foreground.

"I saw it go up so I was just lucky enough to be facing the right direction," Colin said.

"I saw it come up, and I was just like, 'Oh, it's going to hit the boat,' and then it kind of started to flip," said Yager.

"When I turned, the whale's head was already landing on the engine," said Paquette. "So when I saw that, then all of a sudden, I look down, the boat is pitching up, the transom is going down into the water."

"Everything seemed like in slow motion. It was really weird," Kenney said. "Everyone was like, 'Oh, it was eight seconds. How'd you move so fast?' But it was almost slow motion, like a movie."

Yager's video shows the whale breaching, propelling fish out of the water. As the massive animal's mouth closes, it flops over onto the rear of the nearby fishing boat with two men aboard.

Video: Boaters warned to keep distance from humpback whales

One of the men jumped and the other was thrown overboard as their boat rolled, and the Yager brothers said they helped pull them out of the water. Luckily, no one was seriously injured.

"Truly grateful to them," said Paquette. "They were making the video, dropped everything, zoomed right over and plucked us out."

"It's kind of a miracle that I'm alive," said Kenney. "I don't know what was going through my head. Just, kind of, survival."

A statement from the U.S. Coast Guard confirmed that the agency received a mayday call after the whale caused the 23-foot center console boat to capsize. The Coast Guard also confirmed that the men who were on the boat were recovered by other boaters and brought to Great Bay Marina.

Video below: See Yager's video of the whale

Sara Morris of the University of New Hampshire Shoals Marine Laboratory said the whale was likely lunge feeding when it came in contact with the boat.

"I think one of the key things is that when whales are sighted to encourage boaters to keep their distance," Morris said. "The whales are moving around underwater and coming up, potentially in an area different from where they went down, and we want to give them as much leeway as we possibly can to avoid a situation like what you see here."

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Broward School Board delays vote on suspension or termination of mother of transgender athlete

Joseph Ojo , Reporter

Saira Anwer , Reporter

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. – In a lengthy discussion Tuesday, the Broward County School Board postponed the vote on whether to suspend or terminate a Broward Schools employee and mother of a transgender athlete.

The case centers around a student from Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, who school officials say violated the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act by participating in a girls’ volleyball team despite being born male.

In response, the district initially suspended the school’s principal and assistant principal, but they were reinstated following student protests and an investigation.

Jessica Norton, the mother and employee in question, faces possible termination after being accused of falsifying documents and allowing her daughter to join the team. She criticized the school district, accusing investigators of insensitivity for refusing to use her child’s preferred pronouns.

Dr. Jeff Holness, a Broward County Schools board member, said he did not believe termination was appropriate.

“I don’t believe termination is the right consequence,” he said. “The child has already been significantly impacted.”

Vice Chair Debra Hixon also emphasized that the issue was about an employee’s actions, not politics or the child.

“This is about the actions of an adult an employee of the district,” said Hixon. “Her protecting her daughter affected so many other people. We may not like the law. We may not agree with it. But unfortunately, it’s a law we have to follow.”

The board’s discussion came after the Coconut Creek school was fined $16,500 for violating the law, and the coaches and team were placed on probation. Norton had previously been suspended.

The board decided to postpone the vote on termination until their next meeting.

Norton responded, stating that her daughter will continue her studies online next year.

After deliberation, the board proposed removing termination from consideration, suggesting a 10-day suspension instead. They decided to seek more information on employees terminated for breaking state law before making a final decision.

Public comments during the meeting were mixed. One speaker supported termination, citing violations of state law, common sense and science. Another opposed termination, urging the separation of politics from the decision.

“This is not only a violation of state law, this is a violation of common sense, this is a violation of science,” said a woman who attended Tuesday’s board meeting.

“I am not in favor of terminating this employee. We need to separate politics from whether a person did something wrong or not,” another attendee said.

Jennifer Solomon, a member of Equality Florida expressed hope that the board will consider the emotional and financial toll on Norton and her family when making their decision.

“It’s been very taxing on my family and we deserve a resolution,” said Norton.

Jennifer Solomon of Equality Florid, an organization that advocates for LGBTQ+ students and families, sent Local 10 News a statement on the issue Tuesday afternoon, which you can read here:

“This mom has experienced an immense emotional and financial toll, simply for loving, supporting and affirming her child. We hope that the school board reflects on what this parent and her family have already endured when they make their recommendation for disciplinary action,” said Solomon.

This issue has sparked strong reactions, with some supporting the termination and others arguing that the employee is being unfairly targeted.

Copyright 2024 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved.

About the Authors

Joseph Ojo joined Local 10 in April 2021. Born and raised in New York City, he previously worked in Buffalo, North Dakota, Fort Myers and Baltimore.

Saira Anwer

Saira Anwer joined the Local 10 News team in July 2018. Saira is two-time Emmy-nominated reporter and comes to South Florida from Madison, Wisconsin, where she was working as a reporter and anchor.

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