The lake looked like glass at the 2pm start time. A flicker of breeze wafted from the west at 2:15. PRO George Tingom, screamed "Start 'em!" Okay, he probably didn't, but the day needed some action. Most of the Tempe Town Lake race group this Sunday
By Bob Naylor, Regatta Organizer And what a weekend it was! The Birthday Regatta and Leukemia Cup was Arizona winter sailing at its finest. Blue skies, sunny warm days, and light to moderate winds made for lots of great racing. Hundreds of sailors and supporters enjoyed
Cruising Captain Heather McClain has organized an event for AYC members to race on two famous America's Cup boats in San Diego Harbor, Stars and Stripes and Il Moro. It's a trip Dave and Amy Henning took last year (that's them grinding above) and Dave
How difficult do you suppose it was for a woman to start selling sailboats in the desert in the 1950s? Drop a stake in a vacant lot and call it a sailboat store. Gather a nucleus of sailors and turn it into something called the
By Deb Heisler, Rear Commodore With thousands of islands and places ranging from marine parks through old English inspired cities, the British Columbia Region is a water playland that has it all. Eagles swoop down for dinner, whales surface with curiosity and sea lions bask on
Recently we had higher winds at Lake Pleasant than on an average race day and two people landed in the water after a knockdown under spinnaker. The water temp was only about 60 degrees. The remaining crew members struggled to get the boat back under control
Grant Younger says he did it on a whim. At 11:55, five minutes before the entry deadline, he grabbed five pictures off the AYC Instagram account and submitted them for recognition in the whimsically-named Tempe Instagrammys. Then he got an email saying that one of
You can order Saturday night dinner here. Deadline for entry has passed, but you can still register to race with a late fee. The biggest AYC event of the year is days away, the three-day regatta and maximum party starts on Friday (2/7) with practice in
By Deb Heisler, Rear Commodore We are continuing our AYC-hosted Happy Hours each month at various locations around the valley. An evening of food, stories and a brew or two are a fun way to engage with fellow sailors and potential new members. Feel free to invite
Spring racing kicked off Sunday (1/12) at Tempe Town Lake and Saturday (1/18) at Lake Pleasant. Even though the season is underway, it's not too late to jump in: Sign up now and get the race documents on the racing page. Mark Trainor summed up the
One of the earliest and most colorful members of the Arizona Yacht Club, Don DeFreze, passed away November 26 and on January 25, some of his buddies from AYC came out to remember him and to tell stories about this entertaining character. In an interview we
By Deb Heisler, Rear Commodore It’s something we don’t often think about, but our very existence in Arizona relies on the mighty Colorado, Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and the reservoirs of Roosevelt Lake, the Salt and Verde rivers. Where does all this water come from? Where
How dld the first Tempe Town Lake race series go for the new Sunfish class? Quite well, thank you, and congratulate longtime Sunfish fan Gary Oberbeck for a fall series home run. Gary not only won the fleet, but he did it with a perfect
By Deb Heisler and Marc Danner This year the annual holiday party and pirate gift exchange was a great success with over 70 people attending. As usual, there was lots of laughter, moans of defeat, and a few people who had to keep picking a new
By Bob Naylor You can order Saturday night dinner here. Deadline for entry has passed, but you can still register with a late fee. Celebrate the improbability of a yacht club thriving in the middle of the Arizona desert for 62-years! Happy Birthday, AYC! Register and race
Lake Pleasant called up the biggest wind of the season for AYC’s final day of the fall series, enough wind to break boats and send lots of sailors back to shore. By late morning racing was over and the final standings locked down. Congratulations to the
At the November monthly meeting, Brooke Miller accepted the 2019 Ruth Beals award for winning the annual women-at-the-helm race named for the club's founder. Brooke corrected over the other competitors in the October 12 race around the islands on Lake Pleasant with crew Jeff Coulter on
By David Newland, Lake Pleasant Lake Captain I remember the first time I stared at a Lake Pleasant mark set bucket and wondered about that cleat bolted to the side (…and those bricks). After some instruction (and trial and error), I figured it out. And, fortunately,
Update on Wednesday, December 4: The campaign to raise money for Steve and Christina has reached $7,000 and the Ferrings have sent a matching check for an additional $5,000, bringing the total raised to $12,000 and climbing. In February 2018, Steve Campo was gut-punched with a
The Governor’s Cup regatta will be Saturday, November 23, with the first boats starting at 12:30 pm from a start line at the south end of Lake Pleasant. This is a pursuit race, so your handicap determines the time you start and your start time will