Women’s History Month: A Tribute to Women Sailors

Note: This was first published in March 2021 and is being republished to bring it up to date.

Famous sailors like Columbus, Hudson, and Smith noted the earliest history of women at sea, but they were IN the sea—as mermaid spottings and written about in Captains’ journals. Based on the dangers seafarers faced and the traditional role women held, it’s understandable that females were landlocked. But not all!

Certainly not a few early 1700 pirates like Ann Bonny and Mary Read, Hannah Snell 1745 (aka James Gray), and Mary Lacy 1759 (aka William Chandler). Despite their gender, Hannah, Mary, and others found a way to answer the calling of the sea. Check out this interesting article, 10 Famous Women Seafarers, Pirates & Sailors Who Made History.

Today we have hundreds of examples of women who have conquered the world of sailing. Women like Dawn Riley, Betsy Alison, Tracy Edwards, and Cole Brauer.

While thinking of Women’s History Month, my focus shifted to the women of AYC. The fact that our founder was a woman makes me a bit beyond proud. Undeniably, AYC would not be what it is today without the presence and contributions of our women: the female sailors and the women supporting a male sailor in the pursuit of their passion. Salute!!!

AYC women in leadership

Our founder, Ruth Beals, was a determined visionary who set the course for these women to take the helm and serve as Commodores, leaders, and role models. They inspire each of us.

The summaries below feel inadequate without defining each position’s tasks and associated hours, so you must imagine it. We recognize that these women made multiple, varied, and long-lasting contributions to AYC.

Joyce Seale: First AYC Woman Commodore, Vice Commodore, Jr. and Sr. Staff Commodore, and Compass Points Publisher for four years. Joyce served as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Catalina National Sailing Association for six years and promoted Catalina 22 nationally. Joyce was recognized with a Distinguished Life Membership for her contributions.

Terry Easley: Commodore, Vice Commodore, Jr. and Sr. Staff Commodore.

Tia Renshaw: Commodore, Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore, Jr. and Sr. Staff Commodore, Racing Fleet Captain, Thistle Fleet Captain, Club Historian, Birthday Regatta Chair. Tia partnered with George Sheller and Martin Lorch to help educate the “leaders, movers, and shakers” to form the community development team for designers of Tempe Town Lake. Working with renowned sailors, she helped create a Women in Sailing program on the West Coast. Tia was the first woman to serve in the top five flag officer positions, beginning with Rear Commodore and serving five continuous years on the board.

Patty Rosky: Commodore, Vice Commodore, Secretary, Women’s Chair, Birthday Regatta Chair, Challenger Fleet Captain. The Challenger Fleet was an idea Patty came up with – in a nutshell, she did matchmaking between boats and new members to get them on the water and into sailing and racing.

Cindy Pillote: Commodore, Vice Commodore, Jr. & Sr. Staff Commodore (twice), Birthday Regatta Chair, Membership Director, Secretary, Buccaneer Fleet Captain, ASF President for three years, and an ongoing ASF board member.

Deb Heisler: Commodore, Vice Commodore, Rear Commodore, Jr. & Sr. Staff Commodore. Deb is the second woman to run through the top five Flag Officer positions, which takes five years. She was instrumental in finding us a larger meeting venue and has secured many dynamic female guest speakers for our monthly meetings. She has also recruited several women to serve in leadership positions on the AYC board.
Deb continues to serve AYC as the Website Content Manager and handles many behind-the-scenes administrative tasks for our club.

Other Prominent Women of AYC

Below are five AYC women I’ve chosen to highlight. They have served this club with their time, talents, and seemingly endless energy and have served as role models for other women. Their passion for sailing and love for our club is unmistakable.

Maryellen Ferring joined AYC in 2000 and co-founded the Ruth Beals Cup Regatta – and has sailed in almost every Ruth Beals Cup race since. As a two-time Birthday Regatta co-organizer and fundraiser, Maryellen was instrumental in our club raising over $100,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society in 2008 & 2014.
Within ASF, Maryellen served two terms as President. She instructed and coached the Adult Learn to Sail class for 15 years. Along with her husband, Mike, she developed the Learn to Race class, which she continues to teach each year.
She has organized our annual Commodore Celebration four times and secured top-name monthly meeting speakers: Tunnicliffe, Gladstone, Jobson, Isler, and more. Due to her planning, attention to detail, and classy touch, we’ve all enjoyed these and dozens of other AYC social events. Maryellen races at Lake Pleasant and TTL and has participated on the Race Committee each season. In 2021, Maryellen was the first recipient of AYC’s new Volunteer Service Award.

Wendy Larsen has been a member for over 20 years and served on the AYC Board as Secretary and Membership Director. Along with Maryellen Ferring and Marilyn Moyer Ward, she co-founded the Ruth Beals Cup Regatta.
Wendy served as Principal Race Officer (PRO) for 10+ years and has donated her time and talents to ASF as a board member and instructor. She has raced at TTL and Lake Pleasant and received the AYC US Sailing Sportsmanship Award in 2016.
If you’ve attended a past Birthday Regatta, you’ve probably met Wendy. For 15 years, she served on the registration team alongside Al and Sandy Lehman. If that’s not enough, she is an apprentice boatbuilder and aka the “cookie lady.” 

Lori Reger joined the club in 2010 and soon began volunteering by helping the Membership Directors with administrative details and greeting people at our monthly meetings. For 13 years, we were welcomed by Lori’s friendly smile at meetings.
Lori also volunteered as the Club Secretary for three terms, beginning in 2013 and then again in 2021-22. She became Rear Commodore in 2021-2022. She enjoys sailing her Sunfish on TTL and occasionally crewing at Lake Pleasant. Lori began serving on the Race Committee in 2011 shortly after joining and has worked RC every Birthday Regatta since. She continues to volunteer her talents on RC during our season racing and for special events. It is not uncommon to see Lori lending a hand at other regattas and social events throughout the year. In 2017, she received the Sportsmanship Award for her dedicated service to AYC.

JoAnne Aspinall joined AYC in 2021 and has volunteered consistently since joining. Let the list begin: Joanne jumped right in to assist with Opening Day 2021 by volunteering to cut up lots of onions; organized the 2022 Adopt a Highway clean-up, served as organizer for the annual campout in 2022, 2023 and 2024; served as Birthday Regatta co-chair in 2023 and as the event Chair in 2024 and 2025. She also organized the Clean Regatta certifications for these events. Joanne was awarded the Volunteer Service Award in 2024 for her efforts and contributions. Most members never organize one Birthday Regatta, let alone three!

Jen Lee – Club Champion. Jen showed up as a new member in 2021 and, in the fall, began racing Sunburn as part of the Sunfish fleet. And race she did! She captured the title as Sunfish Fleet Champ that year and the next, which qualified her for the Club Championship race held each spring.
In the 2022 championship race, Jen skippered a keelboat and a Santana 20 for the first time. Not one to be intimidated or slowed down, Jen and crew, Joel Hurley, took first place in strong, white cap-producing winds. This was a history-making moment with Jen becoming the first female to be crowned our Club Champion!
In 2023, Jen repeated her win as Club Champion aboard a Capri 14.2 in a highly modified match race. And as the sitting Club Champion, Jen was automatically eligible to race and defend her title in 2024. Competing on FJs, she successfully edged out Sunfish Fleet champ Kate Crowther to become a three-time Club Champion.
Jen served on the Women of AYC committee, where she took on the role of Vice Chair. She helped organize the 2024 Ruth Beals Regatta and also co-produced and ran a Women’s Sailing Clinic so other women could gain from her expertise as a racer.

So Many Contributors

Many additional women have offered their time as part of the AYC or ASF Board, and by helping make our programs and events a reality. The following names come to mind and I offer my apologies if this list and photo collage is not all-inclusive.

Women and Girls of AYC – A Photo Collage

“It is one week yesterday since I again took up my abode on land. . . . One would think I might feel very well contented here after the 7 1/2 months residence at sea, but it is not so. I am less happy here than there.”
Martha Brewer Brown ~1848