67th Birthday Regatta: Blustering Wind, No Wind, Ideal Wind

By Joanne Aspinall, Regatta Chair

On February 14-16th, close to 60 boats convened at Lake Pleasant for some “Pleasant Days and Pleasant Nights” at the 2025 AYC Birthday Regatta for Charity. 

Overall, a fun weekend was had sailing with old and new friends, all for a good cause —over $24,000 was raised for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Phoenix Children’s Hospital, the Arizona Sailing Foundation, and ASU Sailing!

Friday’s Race for Charity saw a smaller contingent of a dozen boats braving the challenging conditions of cooler weather (well, by AZ standards) and gusty winds. Winds ranged from 8-18 knots, with some gusts recorded over 22 knots.  Friday evening, sailors warmed up with some fresh tacos from Don Taco Catering, hot cocoa (with perhaps a shot of Baileys or Peppermint Schnapps), and S’mores by the fire pit.  Congratulations to David Peltier (Portsmouth) and David Newland (PHRF), who took home the Friday awards! 

Saturday started bright and early with a delicious and hearty breakfast of eggs, pancakes, potatoes, bacon, and more, cooked by AYC chefs Joe and Bonnie Motil.  After an introduction to the new AYC Emergency Action Plan and the US Coast Guard Auxiliary team that would be out on the water, the sailors made their way out to the course and…well…drifted.  A lot.  Finally, a bit of a breeze picked up in the late afternoon; some folks headed back to the bar early, while others stayed out to take advantage of the late wind. 

Saturday evening’s festivities included an Italian dinner of chicken marsala from Z Catering, dancing courtesy of The Party Favers and DJ Scott, and about 20 different raffle prizes, ranging from tools to golf clubs to sailing lessons with Southwest Sailing.

The 50/50 Raffle was won by multi-hull sailor Steven Dawson, who generously gave his portion back to ASU Sailing!  Margaritas, wine and beer were procured at the festive bar, which was constructed by George Sheller and manned by our beautiful bartenders Andi and Matt “Just call me Stacey” Baker.  We sang Happy Birthday to Lynn Simzyk (who was *not* turning 67) and AYC (who *was* turning 67) and handed out some fun awards.

This year, we had visitors from Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, and Michigan. Joyce Seale joined us from New Zealand as our winner of the “Who Traveled Furthest” award!  But having Joyce here meant much more than traveling miles, as Commodore Martin Lorch explained – Joyce was our first woman commodore in 1991-92, and having her back in AZ was a special treat!  Many of our more “experienced” members enjoyed reminiscing with Joyce, looking at old pictures, and swapping stories.

If Friday’s wind was too heavy and Saturday’s too light, Sunday’s wind was “just right,” as Goldilocks would say. After grabbing a quick breakfast provided by the Lake Pleasant Sailing Club, fleets tried to get in as much racing as possible in the ideal conditions, ending with three to six races for the weekend, depending on the fleet. 

Back on shore, more beer and stories flowed through the crowd, and the winners received their awards. Race results can be found on the AYC results page. 

Pictures from Mike Ferring, George Sheller, Andrew Fulton, and Ron Simzyk have been uploaded to our SmugMug account, so check them out here. If you want to share a few of your images, please follow the directions on our Photo Share/View page.

A huge THANK YOU to our sponsors, Pleasant Harbor Marina, Peerless Plumbing, Sagebrush Dermatology, and all our volunteers; without you, this event could not have happened!

Phew, that’s a lot. (I’m sorry if we missed your name by accident!)