Dana West Yacht Club Holds Annual Charity Race

DANA POINT一 June gloom held on to the Southern California coast on Friday, June 4 but good winds greeted racers as they raised their sails for the regatta Sailing for Life, the 24th annual charity race through Dana West Yacht Club, for the American Cancer Society.

The first race started just off the coast of Newport Beach between the bright orange flotation device, fondly called the tetrahedron for its series of angles, and the Race Committee boat at 1 p.m. on June 4.

Out of the 18 boats that entered the series, only 12 boats entered the Friday race marked by pink and blue ribbons to indicate their classes.

The race ended off the coast of Dana Point, and racers were greeted by not just the race committee but an audience of local sea lions who were resting on the finish line.

The first boat to cross the finish line at 3:30 p.m. was Getting Off skippered by Walter Folsom who took first place in the Cruising Fleet A class with 1 point and a corrected time of 2 hours and 7 minutes.

Skipper Jim Barnes aboard SHOT took first place in the PHRF B class with a corrected time of 2 hours and 4 minutes.

Cruising Fleet B was led by skipper Jock Mcgraw in the bright yellow TEKEELA with a corrected time of 2 hours and 17 minutes.

In a class of their own Freestyle, skippered by Jerry Wetzler came in with a corrected time of 2 hours and

13 minutes.

The Friday event ended just after 4:40 p.m. when the final boat crossed the line with a corrected time of 3 hours and 5 minutes.

The next two days of races added a one-design Beneteau class for the first time, Roger Salway previous race chair and director of Dana West Yacht Club said that the class will become a permanent fixture.

There were four boats in the Beneteau class, Kraken skippered by Thomas Shepard from Oceanside Yacht Club took the overall series with 9 points.

In the PHRF B class, Firewater skippered by Rick Bennet from the Lake Mission Viejo Yacht Club was top in the series with 11 points.                                     

 Skippers Sue Griesbach and Bob Langan took first place in the Cruising Fleet A class with a total of 5 points aboard Tomol.

Finally, in the Cruising Fleet B class Skipper, Jock Mcgraw of TEKEELA from Dana West Yacht Club and American Legion Yacht Club took first place with 5 points.

This year racers raised over $12,000, according to Salway this is the most raised by just the boaters.

Griesbach and Langan, the skippers on Tomol broke the record for the most raised by a single boat, raising $3,800.

The previous record is $2,200 raised in 2019. There are web auction items up through June 12 at 6 p.m., the bidding has raised $9,000 so far and it’s predicted that the club will raise between $27,000 and $30,000 by the end of the week.

For more information or to bid on the items see https://dwyc.org/.