Site Logo

SBYC’s Reach and Row all-time fundraising tops $500K

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, October 11, 2023

By Sequim Gazette Staff

tsr
1/5
tsr
Photo by John Thompson/SBYC It’s crowded conditions at the leeward turning mark in race three of the Reach and Row for Hospice event in Sequim Bay on Sept. 23. Pictured, from left, are S/V Litonya, S/V Imua, S/V Kiva, S/V Sirius and S/V Malalo.
Photo by Kathy Frank / Sean Halberg, second from left, and youth rowers from the Olympic Peninsula Rowers Association members (from left) Lyla Brown, Cooper Disque and Quince Chanway celebrate a second place finish in the Sept. 16 Reach and Row for Hospice event on Sequim Bay.
Photo by Kathy Frank Port Townsend’s Sandra Wanstall and Ron Moller place first in the Reach and Row for Hospice event on Sept. 16.
Photo by John Thompson/SBYC / The crew of S/V Kicks, skippered by Erika Hanson-Dahlin with Summer Dio, Sherne Marie McMillan (back to the camera) and Liz Allyn as crew.

Generous and competitive spirits of sailors and rowers with the Sequim Bay Yacht Club hit a major milestone in their efforts to support local hospice services.

The 2023 Reach and Row for Hospice, a benefit for Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County (VHOCC) held over two weekends in September, raised an estimated $8,000 and pushed its 2023 fundraising to more than $22,000 — putting the club’s all-time contributions associated with the event over the half-million mark to about $509,000.

The September races for rowers, paddlers and sailors are the culmination of a fundraiser that begins each spring. All funds are earmarked to provide respite care through VHOCC.

Rowers from Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Bremerton took the top places in the row portion of the fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 16. More than $2,300 was raised by 23 craft.

Ron Moller and Sandra Wanstall, both of Port Townsend, sculling in a double as Worthwhile Endeavor, took first overall in the 5k race in Sequim Bay with a time of 22:41.1.

A quad with three youth rowers from the Olympic Peninsula Rowing Association — Lyla Brown, Cooper Disque and Quince Chanway — and their coach Sean Halberg, all of Port Angeles, placed second with a time of 24.23.8.

The Port Townsend team of Four Rats — David Winters, Elizabeth Moller, Ted Shoulberg, and Kathleen Woods-Smith — placed third with a time of 24.511.3, followed by Glen Eppick, also of Port Townsend, at 26.15.5, and More Wood, with Mark Underwood and Donna Moore, of Bremerton, at 27.14.6.

Top Sequim Bay Yacht Club finishers were Amy Holms and Christi Jolly, racing as Tennis Bracelet, sixth at 27.35.9, and Frank DeSalvo, in Andiamo, seventh at 29.52.8.

A full report with times and places is at webscorer.com/race?raceid=328786.

On Saturday, Sept. 23, the club’s sailing portion of the event took place, a regatta the drew 10 boats: four from Port Angeles and six from Sequim. Sailors were divided into two groups: those who flew a spinnaker and those who didn’t. Uncooperative winds created problems all day, club members reported.

In the spinnaker class, Mike Kalahar’s Litonya won the first two races but then slipped in the third as the fluky wind left him stranded; the first two results were enough to give him the overall victory, however. Alan Clark’s Imua was second overall, coming back from fifth place in the first race to nab two silvers in the light wind races. Kiva was the top-finishing Port Angeles boat skippered by Keith Dahlin. A victory in the third race moved him up to third place overall.

Mike Tetreau’s Honu won all three races in the non-spinnaker class. Second went to Erika Hanson-Dahlin’s all-woman crew aboard Kicks.

“Their singing and dancing made up for the lack of wind and brought a ray of sunshine to an otherwise dreary day,” club members reported.

Bernie Armstrong’s Pinafore, a heavy cruising boat, just needed a lot more wind and finished a distant third.

For more about Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, visit vhocc.org.

For more about the Sequim Bay Yacht Club, see sequimbayyacht.club.

You Might Like