Written by Maryellen Ferring and Joanne Aspinall
From Maryellen:
Fay Powell is your 2025 Ruth Beals Cup winner! Fay, with crew Will Nowak and Olivia Jackman, spun around Lake Pleasant twice in just over three hours and finished just 52 seconds in front of Olivia Stanley and the always-dominant Lorch team. Both were on the handicap-friendly Santana 20s, just overtaking Joanne Aspinall and Tony Chapman on Tony’s Buccaneer 18 on corrected time.
I finished 4th on corrected time on our faster-rated J/70, but I hit my goal: line honors. First across the finish line. I popped a bottle of champagne and thanked our crew of David Newland, Chip Ragan, and Mike Ferring.
Lake Pleasant fooled us all again. The forecast warned of very light wind for Saturday, October 18, the kind that leaves us bob-bob-bobbin and wishing for a friendly breeze. Surprisingly, the lake offered us 6-10 knots instead. Spotty, as usual, but combined with the warm sun, the day made for fun sailing.
Emory Heisler and his RC crew laid out a nice course, heading south for the start, then around Horse Island and a west mark. Twice around seemed optimistic, but the wind held. We managed to pull out a nice lead on the pack on the second run to Horse but then watched them close as we headed for the west mark and the finish. Fay and Will seemed to make their gains on the first lap, staying on the west side and catching friendly wind.
It all made for good conversation at the Spring Canyon dinner, when Martin Lorch traded his crew outfit for an apron and whipped up excellent roast chicken, green beans, and roast potatoes. A fitting day for this edition of the race that honors AYC’s founder.
From Joanne:
A few—actually, many—thank-yous are in order! First to Emory Heisler, our PRO, and the many folks on the race committee: Bruce Andress, Roger Pawley, Ken Whitley, John Woodrow, and Pete Jeffers. Thanks to Andrew Fulton for taking some great photos of the day, which can be found on our SmugMug page.
Cheers to the chef, Martin Lorch, and all who helped him. The food was delicious! Tipsy cheers to Will Nowak for blending up the margaritas!
Thanks to Catherine Bruce for purchasing the very cool—and useful—bags we received instead of shirts this year, and to Olivia Stanley for designing the logo. A special thank you to Sagebrush Dermatology for donating suntan lotion samples, and to AYC member Erika Parker for donating Young Living essential oil products, both of which were included in the bags. Freebies are always fun!
Catherine also organized the charity donation drive. Inspired by her work with the Birthday Regatta, Catherine’s goal is to support a different charity at all of our main AYC events. If you’re interested in helping with a charity drive at future events, let us know here. Catherine and Eric dropped off a carload of donations, plus a cash donation, to Sojourner Center, a local domestic abuse shelter. So this regatta not only supported women on the water, but also off the water. Thank you to everyone who donated!!
And, last but not least, a big thank you to the weather gods for gifting us a beautiful day for this year’s Ruth Beals Cup!!
