VHOCC the big winner at Reach Row for Hospice sailing regatta

By Sequim Gazette Staff • October 9, 2024 1:35 am

Perennial competitors, a quartet of high school students and a women’s team supported by Soroptimist International of Port Angeles took top honors in Sequim Bay Yacht Club’s Sept. 21 Reach & Row for Hospice sailing regatta, the club’s second fall race to benefit Volunteer Hospice of Clallam County (VHOCC).

In other honors, Port Angeles High School and University of Washington alumna Jeanne Neal, now a Sequim resident racing with SBYC’s rowing program, received the John Halberg Award, presented annually to a rower who has made significant contributions to both the rowing program and the yacht club in general.

At the Sept. 21 competition, Mike Kalahar in Litonya placed first — a repeat from 2023 — and long-time SBYC racer Rudy Heessels, piloting WindChild, placed second among the four Class A boats; both are Sequim residents.

First place in both the B and C categories went to crews organized through the Port Angeles Community Boating Program.

Malolo, with four high school students and skipper Fern Knobel, a coach of the Port Angeles-based Community Boating Program, bested Sirius — skippered by former SBYC commodore Durkee Richards — in the Class B category.

In the Class C category, first place went to Kicks, skippered by Erin Walters of Port Angeles, representing the Women’s Program of the Community Boating Program (communityboatingprogram.org/womens-sailing.html). Its learn-to-sail program received financial support from Port Angeles Soroptimist members.

Other racers were Blown Away, skippered by Sequim’s Scott McKay, third in the Class A category, followed by Jomo, skippered by Keith Dahlin of Port Angeles. In Class C, Dave Kreps of Sequim skippered Selkie to second place and Mike Tetreau, also of Sequim, skippered Honu to third place.

The yacht club’s fundraising for VHOCC continues through mid-December with the sale of tickets for the raffle of a hand-crafted side table with a sailboat motif created by Ken Williams, a Port Angeles boater and former SBYC member. All funds raised through the raffle and the Reach & Row for Hospice events benefit VHOCC’s respite care fund, to support the loved ones of the terminally ill.

For more information about SBYC, its fundraising and its sailing and rowing courses, see sequimbayyacht.club. For more information about VHOCC, see volunteerhospice.org. For more information about the Community Boating Program, open to all Clallam County residents, see communityboatingprogram.org.

Photo courtesy of Sequim Bay Yacht Club Malolo, with four high school students and skipper Fern Knobel, bested Sirius — skippered by former SBYC commodore Durkee Richards — in the Class B category at the Reach & Row for Hospice sailing regatta on Sept. 21.

Photo courtesy of Sequim Bay Yacht Club / Crew members of Kicks celebrate a first place finish in the Class C category at the Reach Row for Hospice sailing regatta in September.