Sailing World magazine has given the Arizona Yacht Club star treatment in the June issue: five full pages on January’s Birthday Regatta and Leukemia Cup.
The story by Meredith Powlison with photos by Meredith and Peter Howson plays on the usual “isn’t it amazing they sail in the desert” angle, but does an excellent job of taking it the next step, explaining about the lake, the club, and the sailing we do. Meredith crewed with Viper 640 skippers Jim Sears (visiting from California) and Trey Harlow (with Russ Marcellus on a borrowed boat) and on Chris Smith’s J/80 (with Sheila Reed, Craig Quist, and Peter Lehrach).
She extensively quotes several of our members, including Birthday Regatta Chairman Emory Heisler, Tony Chapman, Chris Smith, Peter Lehrach, and Sarah Hester. She also details how some of her races went awry when our Famous Lake Pleasant Breeze pulled some nasty trick, including a 180-degree wind shift.
The story is accompanied by some dazzling pictures, nicely laid out in Sailing World’s new picture-forward format. Unfortunately, if you don’t subscribe to the magazine (and you should), the story doesn’t seem to be available online, at least not yet. I think it’s their policy to hold online material from the magazine until subscribers have had a chance to read it.
Also, The Arizona Republic ran a story about the ASF High School Sailing program, written by an ASU student, . “It’s a powerful feeling to know that you’re controlling this 100-pound piece of fiberglass,” she quotes Maddie Cordova as saying. Learning to sail, learning to right a capsized boat; it’s all part of the curriculum in the program. Here’s more information about the classes.
