Our Story
In warmest memory of Tim Archie, we are sailing toward a world free of MS.
🚲 Team Archie Origins
For 20 years, "Team Archie" stood for a little nuclear family of four, Tim and Jenny Archie and their two sons, Duff and Ben. Now, it also means a friendly band of friends and family remembering and celebrating Tim, and raising money for research and support for families.
As a clinical matter, Tim experienced a 20-year, relentless course of primary progressive MS (PPMS). From the day he was diagnosed in January 1999, every day was another incremental advancement of Tim's disease, and (at that time) not a single useful medical intervention to slow or interrupt that advancement. We managed MS at the nuclear level - Tim, wife, sons, caregivers - one day at a time, making happy family memories for ourselves, minimizing the slice of our family life we would cede to MS.
In 2017, Jenny’s brother, Andrew, introduced her to the sport of cycling. For a fun outing with Tim, that fall Andrew and Jenny mockingly dubbed themselves "Team Archie", and made a family weekend out of riding in the MS Bike to the Bay Fundraiser at the Delaware shore. On impulse, Jenny threw up a post on her Facebook page asking people to donate - and then, we raised $30,000, a testament to the love and affection Tim had earned one day at a time, being his gracious, entertaining, resilient, hilarious, wonderful self. At the MS Society and at this wonderful event, we met fantastic people, devoted to supporting MS families with science and compassionate care.
In March 2018, quite unexpectedly, Tim passed away, of chronic respiratory failure due to MS. Before his passing, Duff had let him know of this ambitious project of which he was proud & supportive.
The Love of the Sea 🌊
A note from our Founder, Duff:
My dad always encouraged me to step outside my comfort zone, and that advice has shaped my life both personally and professionally. Now, complementing multiple certifications, regattas, diverse experiences, friendships, and nearly 2 decades in the sport, I'm embarking on a new journey. This circumnavigation aims to raise awareness and funds for those affected by MS, and more importantly, to inspire others facing their own challenges, especially with this disease. Through this effort, I hope to honor the strength and resilience of those living with MS and their families, demonstrating that together, we can overcome and thrive in our respective "normal."
In the Summer of 2007 I took my first sailing course at the suggestion of my father, Tim Archie, at Amy Zang’s Washington Sailing School, on the Potomac River in Alexandria, VA.
“This is the boom. You have to be very careful when you switch sides because it could go BOOM! And knocks you in the head,” my counselor at Washington Sailing School explained as she acted out getting hit in the head with the boom.
I looked over at my best friend, Leo, and smirked. It was the Monday morning land lesson, before we went out sailing for the first time ever. After the lesson, Leo and I grabbed our wooden daggerboard—the wooden board that keeps the boat stable—and proceeded to the docks to rig the nine-foot Sunfish. Once the boat was rigged, a counselor took the bow line and cast Leo, me, and another counselor off. The best word to describe Monday mornings was a clusterfuck—excuse the sailor’s mouth. Boats were flying in every direction, everything from t-bone collisions to head-on collisions.
“No remember to push the tiller left to go right!” screamed my instructor. “TTT. Tiller towards trouble!” She reached across me and pushed the tiller hard towards the oncoming boat so we wouldn’t hit them. “Oh no! No no no!” The boat capsized. The shock of the dirty, bathtub-warm Potomac water made my face cringe. Leo, myself, and the instructor were floating beside the boat. We swam around the stern, as per the counselor’s instructions, pulled down with all our weight on the daggerboard. The downward force pulled the boat upright, and we crawled back in the cockpit on opposite sides. What a thrilling world I had entered into, I thought. From then on I was hooked. I was a sailor.
