For families using hospice services, day-to-day life can be anything but smooth sailing.

Thanks to community volunteers and a cadre of enthusiastic sailors, however, those families are getting a boost.

The Sequim Bay Yacht Club’s annual Reach For Hospice fundraiser regatta, held on Sept. 17, has this year’s fundraising effort more than halfway to the club’s goal of raising $20,000.

See more photos from the regatta here.

Funds go to Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, a community group providing in-home end of life care without charge.

Entirely supported by community donations and grants, VHOCC is run by nine professional nurses on staff to address symptom management and provide for family support and education, along with 146 active volunteers who provide respite care and support for family members, deliver equipment, run the organization’s office and more. The group also offers grief and bereavement support and classes on such topics s financial management and cooking-for-one for survivors.

Yacht club members plan on collecting throughout the end of the year to meet that goal, Yacht Club Commodore Durkee Richards said.

After selling about $300 worth of quilt raffle tickets last week, the club plans on selling more until a drawing at the Change of Watch ceremony in December, Richards said.

The Reach for Hospice dates back to 1991, when a group of dedicated sailors and hospice supporters raced around Smith Island. Since then, the event has evolved into a sailing regatta on Sequim Bay with multiple boat classes and racing starts. Club members have raised more than $282,500 over the years.

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

Racing on the bay

Saturday’s Reach for Hospice event featured nine boats in a pair of races divisions, and despite a delay because of lack of wind, saw all races completed.

The crew of Sparkle out of Port Townsend took top honors in the A Division, with second place going to Dan and Carol Benjamin racing Whirlwind, and third to Bob McClinton and his crew aboard Intrepid.

Skipper Alan Clark and the crew of Malolo were the winners of the B-Division. Second place went to Richards and his crew racing Sirius, and Torben Blichfeld and crew aboard Gorm won third place.

Top crews see their names engraved on the Fred Tidyman Trophy.

Taking home the Mickey McGuffin Sportsmanship Award for their contributions to the Sequim Bay Yacht Club were M.J. and Durkee Richards. “We may be the public face of the club,” M.J. Richards said, “but we have many unsung heroes contributing to the success and health of the club.”

In all, 95 attended a potluck dinner following the races. The club also hosted Bette Wood, patient care manager for Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County, who shared some of the history of VHOCC and talked about the group’s mission.