The Women and Cruising Blog » Racing http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog Women cruisers share their experiences, info and news Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:15:29 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Ellen Sanpere races her home, combining cruising and racing http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2009/08/take-your-passion-cruising-racing/ http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2009/08/take-your-passion-cruising-racing/#comments Sun, 09 Aug 2009 01:48:00 +0000 Ellen Sanpere http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/?p=302 It only took about 40 years and two failed marriages for me to discover my passion is sailing. The question, “Would you like to go sailing?” was not one I could ever answer in the negative. My calendar revolves around regattas and racing schedules to this day.

As a young adult, I raced every [...]]]> Upwind It only took about 40 years and two failed marriages for me to discover my passion is sailing. The question, “Would you like to go sailing?” was not one I could ever answer in the negative. My calendar revolves around regattas and racing schedules to this day.

As a young adult, I raced every weekend in Chicago, and later Annapolis. When the skipper bought a J-33, I flew to J-World Performance Sailing School to learn a higher-tech version. At J-World, I sailed with a man whose wife would eventually introduce me to the man of my dreams, a sailor and a racer, of course. He lived on his racing boat and raced his “house.”

Tony and Ellen This man is 10 years older than I am, and when his company’s downsizing gave him an opportunity to retire at age 55, he took it. He had made it clear from the first, he wanted to sail his 35’ sailboat to the Caribbean to race before he got too old. My decision was to go with him, as spending ten more years with my company seemed like cruel and unusual punishment for the crime of being over-40 and female. We would be able to live simply on his retirement income and would cruise from race to race in the islands.

International Rolex Regatta St. Thomas, USVI March 25-27, 2005 Antonio & Ellen Sanpere's (Christiansted, VI) Soverel 27 CAYENNITA, winner of the Non Spinnaker Racing class. © 2005 Dan Nerney/Rolex Editorial free.After a 42-day trip down the ICW to Key West and a season of racing in the Virgin Islands, we decided 35 feet was a little small for the two of us and my two large felines, and we sold the boat and bought a 51’ sloop, a tired old charter boat that we fixed up little by little. We lived aboard and cruised throughout the Caribbean, did some racing on other people’s boats, and I became the mother of the mother ship. I didn’t mind not getting banged up on little racing boats one bit, yet still enjoyed the camaraderie of the race crew.Signal Boat

I also got involved in the race committee on the water, and I love being in the midst of the action, camera strung around my neck. Making friends with other RC members led to working on other race committees as a “celebrity” guest on occasion.

Fourteen years after leaving our land-based existence, we still live aboard. Ellen working on the race committeeWe don’t cruise as much as we did, but racing still rules our lives. As the end of our live-aboard days approaches, we have purchased a J-36 for my husband to race even after we sell the 51’ sloop and move into a condo in St. Croix (someday). My involvement with the local race committee has expanded to becoming the media contact for the St. Croix Yacht Club Hospice Regatta, but I won’t let that stop me from being on the water with the racers waiting for my “Prep” flag signal.

About Ellen Sanpere

Free lance writer, photographer and life-long racer, Ellen Sanpere has lived on Cayenne III, mostly in St. Croix, USVI, with husband, Tony, since 1998, with annual visits to Chicago, IL where she sails Lake Michigan.

Her articles have appeared in the Caribbean Compass, Latitudes & Attitudes, All At Sea, Cruising World, The Boca, SpinSheet. She is also a contributor to Gwen Hamlin’s “Admiral’s Angle” column (Latitudes and Attitudes Magazine.)

Related articles

What’s your passion? Have you taken it cruising?
Let us know. Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

]]> http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2009/08/take-your-passion-cruising-racing/feed/ 0 Ellen Sanpere working with the St. Croix Hospice Regatta http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2009/05/ellen-sanpere-is-volunteering-with-the-st-croix-hospice-regatta/ http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2009/05/ellen-sanpere-is-volunteering-with-the-st-croix-hospice-regatta/#comments Sun, 31 May 2009 00:15:27 +0000 Kathy Parsons http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/?p=119 Cruiser Ellen Sanpere has been a terrific champion of volunteering as you cruise. She started the “Volunteering” section on the Women and Cruising Resources page. She worked with Fundamigos in Venezuela for a number of seasons. Now that she is hanging around in the Virgin Islands, she has been giving [...]]]> Ellen_Sanpere Cruiser Ellen Sanpere has been a terrific champion of volunteering as you cruise. She started the “Volunteering” section on the Women and Cruising Resources page. She worked with Fundamigos in Venezuela for a number of seasons. Now that she is hanging around in the Virgin Islands, she has been giving of her time and talents to a number of causes on St Croix.

She works with the Coral Reef Jam which works to improve St. Croix coral reef conservation efforts through community education, stewardship and conservation programs. They had a great Beach Party with music and beach clean-up last weekend.

And she has been working long and hard as Press Contact for the St. Croix Hospice Regatta.

Ellen writes:

We’d love to have cruisers participate in our regatta. The cruisers who come here to race will also love visiting St. Croix. One warning, however: many who have cruised here never leave.

crewSpinnakers

Here’s some info on the Regatta:

The St. Croix Yacht Club has announced acceptance of their annual international regatta by the National Hospice Regatta Alliance with fiscal non-profit sponsorship by the St. Croix Foundation. Regatta organizers intend to attract both new sponsors and new racers to this charitable event, while raising awareness and funds for their local hospice, Continuum Care, Inc. The date to save is February 19-21, 2010.

New race courses, including a long distance course especially designed for first time racers and live-aboard cruisers, will entice those heavy displacement vessels that don’t normally participate in standard windward/leeward racing. Hard-core racers (those without a six-month supply of wine and canned goods) will find the “sausage” and “triangle” courses they love in the Buck Island Channel, and one-design dinghy racers will race inside the reef in beautiful Teague Bay. A separate Teague Bay racing circle will host the under-15 set in Optimist dinghies. According to regatta director, Juliet San Martin, “We’ll give a start to anybody who shows up to race.”

The St. Croix Yacht Club Hospice Regatta is the first leg of the Caribbean Ocean Racing Triangle (C.O.R.T.), which continues in Culebra and the British Virgin Islands in March.

As in the past, shore-side activities will include the famous Cruzan Rum party on Friday evening in the big tent, daily continental breakfast, live musical entertainment, and a weigh-in for winning skippers to receive his/her weight in Cruzan Rum. New in 2010: expanded on-site first aid facilities and a fundraising component to benefit Continuum Care, Inc., provider of hospice care in the Virgin Islands since 2000.

While hospice care is a fully covered benefit under Medicare Part A and other health care plans, over 40% of patients on St. Croix have no insurance coverage at all. Continuum Care’s end-of-life services are provided regardless of a patient’s ability to pay, according to CCI founder Tracy Sanders, including emergency care, pain relief, caregiver and family education and grief counseling. Funds raised by the regatta will help to ensure continuing coverage for all who require supportive care in their final days.

St. Croix Yacht Club, founded in 1952, has hosted an international regatta since 1993. The international regatta continues to be an all-volunteer event, well known for its legendary Crucian hospitality. The regatta’s affiliation with the National Hospice Regatta Alliance brings to the Virgin Islands great racing inspired by competition, enhanced with compassion.

About Ellen Sanpere

Free lance writer, photographer and life-long racer, Ellen Sanpere has lived on Cayenne III, mostly in St. Croix, USVI, with husband, Tony, since 1998, with annual visits to Chicago, IL where she sails Lake Michigan.

Her articles have appeared in the Caribbean Compass, Latitudes & Attitudes, All At Sea, Cruising World, The Boca, SpinSheet. She is also a contributor to Gwen Hamlin’s “Admiral’s Angle” column (Latitudes and Attitudes Magazine.)

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Let us know of other volunteer efforts that cruisers may want to get involved with.
Email kathy@forcruisers.com or leave a comment below.

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