Dorade returned to racing on San Francisco Bay this weekend with a big splash, winning the new classic division in the Leukemia Cup Regatta sailing against many fine boats including Paul and Chris Kaplan’s magnificent Santana, driven by Ted Turner and Gary Jobson, who were gracious enough to pose on Dorade before the start of the race. It was especially thrilling to squeak out a victory against a man who was probably sailed and won more races on San Francisco Bay than anyone else — Hank Easom and his beautiful and fast eight-metre Yucca — he crossed the line fourteen seconds ahead of us but we won on corrected time.
For the first time ever in competition (as far as we know), Dorade had an all-female crew. And what a crew it was! Led by JJ Fetter, who has multiple Olympic medals and is a four-time Rolex Yachtswoman of the year, led a team that included Liz Baylis, Susan Daly, Melinda Erkelens, Laurel Gaudet, Pam Healy, Paige Brooks, Genny Tulloch, Mellisa Purdy, and Sally Honey. Together these women have a pile of national and international titles and championships between them, and their age range spans four decades. Don’t tell the guys, but from where I could see back at the mizzen, the boat’s never been sailed better! On top of that, we won the top individual fundraiser award — so thank you to everyone who sent in a pledge on behalf of Dorade! It’s not too late to add to the total at
http://gsf.regatta.llsevent.org/
Pictured above:
Top row left to right: Liz Baylis, Susan Daly, Laurel Gaudet, Pam Healy
Bottom row left to right: Paige Brooks, Genny Tulloch, Mellisa Purdy, Ted Turner, JJ Fetter, Gary Jobson, Pam Rorke Levy, Sally Honey
Not shown: Melinda Erkelens
More race photos by David Dibble