Written by Joanne Aspinall; Photos by Mike and Maryellen Ferring; Feature photo: Thank you to the 2025-2026 AYC Board of Directors
In many parts of the country, the sailing season is just kicking in; here in Arizona, we’re covering our boats to shield them from the sun, and perhaps focusing on travel to cooler locales. Our AYC calendar of events also slows down; but not before we have one last “hurrah” of the year!
Our “Change of Command” party, held on May 9th at Vincent on Camelback, was an opportunity to celebrate our 2025-2026 Board of Directors, volunteers, race winners, and AYC members, while also looking forward to the coming year. We dined on beef short ribs, basil pesto salmon, and cheese ravioli while socializing with friends old and new. After dinner, we were treated to a delicious assortment of pastries and a year-end summary presentation led by Commodore Roger Pawley.
First, we recognized the 16 Staff Commodores in attendance at the dinner. We barely had room to fit them all, but, somehow, event photographer Mike Ferring and his accomplice, Maryellen Ferring, were able to gather all that leadership in one photo!
Roger summarized the club’s various accomplishments this year – 26 new members added; new boat names for Signal and Mark Set; new equipment on the RC boats, including Scotty, our invaluable anchor yanker; the success of our permanent race committee; and, most notably, the cleanup and use of our new “home”, Spring Canyon! A big thank you to Bruce Andress, the outgoing Race Captain, for all of his hard work on arranging for the use of Spring Canyon!
We also applauded the outgoing Rear Commodore, Gary Eagle, for his work in lining up the outstanding speakers for our monthly membership meetings. Hearing from Captain Wendy Sarnoff in September and Alli Bell in February were special treats! Speaking of amazing ladies, the Women of AYC were recognized for their active participation on the Board, various committees, including the RC, and in cruising events and racing.
Arizona Sailing Foundation President Bruce Andress introduced the ASF Board and thanked the many volunteers who made it possible for the adult and children’s on-the-water classes to sail again. A special gift was awarded to Emory Heisler for his tireless dedication to spreading the joy of sailing through the ASF program.
We congratulated our racing winners from the past year, including Ruth Beals Cup winner Fay Powell, and our fleet champs from Lake Pleasant and TTL. Paul Miachika, the 2026 Club Champion, was unable to attend the dinner, but sent a letter, read by Sunfish fleet captain Bob Naylor, in appreciation of the many people that make AYC racing possible: “Without all your collective dedicated participation and efforts, the Arizona Yacht Club would not function as well as it does, and events like tonight’s celebration, Fall and Spring Series, and other regattas and social gatherings would not be possible, or at least not as well attended, and fun to be a part of.”
John Woodrow, the current AYC Board Secretary, was awarded the Turned Turtle award for the capsize of his catamaran, which proved very difficult to get righted at the Tall Cactus Regatta. We are happy to report that John stayed right-side-up for the entire dinner and celebration!
AYC also honored two outgoing Board members whose contributions to the club have gone above and beyond their job duties. Joe Motil was awarded the Volunteer Service Award for the many events he helped organize in his capacity as Cruising Captain and his support of various racing events, including the Birthday Regatta and ASU regattas. Joe and Bonnie’s cooking expertise is now well known in the club and beyond! Bruce Andress was awarded the Sportsmanship Award for his countless hours bringing the Spring Canyon and permanent race committee dreams to a reality. Joe & Bonnie Motil and Bruce & Dianna Andress were awarded with Distinguished Life Memberships to AYC as a token of our appreciation.
The favorite award of the evening (favorite for all except maybe for the nominees) was voted on – Ye Blunder Bucket! There was fierce competition for this prize:
- Matt Baker was nominated for parking his Sunfish and Jeep on both sides of the gravel parking spot dividerÂ
- Bill Olney for his many blunders during the AYC raft up, including almost sinking his new-to-him sailboat by forgetting the water ballast plug
- Cedric Lorch for his poor knot-tying skills on the main halyard while “helping” on a Capri 14.2
- Emory Heisler for teaching Melissa and Peter Sutton the wrong technique and setting racing marks adrift by forgetting the anchorsÂ
- Deb Heisler made a (very weak) attempt to protect her husband by nominating Bruce Andress for not informing Melissa and Peter on how to set the marks
- Mike Parker for spending all day attempting to rig a boat, forgetting parts that made him and Andrew, his crew, miss an entire day of racing
- Marshall Williamson for hitting the Signal boat and causing damage to the sailboat meant to teach newbies how to race
To raucous applause, Bill Olney was awarded the not-so-coveted bucket! Bill is brand new to the club, but has already proven himself to have a good sense of humor. Let’s hope he doesn’t need the bucket for bailing out his boat anymore!
And finally, the actual “Change of Command” was performed. A big thank you to Commodore Roger Pawley and the rest of the 2025-2026 Board, who helped make this a fantastic year. With the words, “The helm is yours!”, master of ceremonies Mike Ferring inducted Cedric Lorch as the 2026-2027 AYC Commodore. At 29, Cedric is our youngest Commodore, but definitely not without experience – he has been an active member since before birth!
We welcome Cedric, the new Board, and all of our members, old and new, with excitement for the coming year!
More photos from the event can be found on our SmugMug.
