Quarter Century of Women’s History

When the 25th annual Linda Elias Memorial Women’s One-Design Challenge is held October 15-16, three clear statements will be made.

The first is that women’s sailing on the west coast is continuing to grow; that this regatta is here to stay, and that this event has established itself as a premier regatta with a quarter of a century of sailboat racing history.

The Long Beach/Los Angeles Women’s Sailing Association was created in 1992 which is when they started the Women’s One-Design regatta in an effort to promote women’s sailing in Southern California.

Linda Elias—the namesake for the current regatta—won the regatta three of the first five years. Elias passed away in 2003 and the LB/LA WSA rededicated the event to her memory.

Two-time winner Shala Youngerman (2014, 2015) will be returning for a shot at a three-peat at the helm of one of the Long Beach Sailing Foundation’s Catalina 37s, a boat she knows and handles quite well.

But, she will have her work cut out for her. All 11 boats have been chartered for the regatta which is made up of teams from the state of Washington down to San Diego, including a San Francisco Yacht Club team returning to the event after nearly a decade.

The Long Beach Yacht Club Women’s Sailing Team with co-skippers Lisa Meier and Wendy Corzine finished in second place last year and will be returning this year in their quest to take home the first place trophy. Of all of the teams, they probably have the most experience on the Catalina 37s.

The two-day umpired fleet race regatta, hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club, will take place in Long Beach Harbor, in the same area where LBYC’s Congressional Cup World Match Racing Tour regatta takes place each year just off of the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier.

Event details: http://www.lbyc.org/events/publicEventDetails.aspx?id=332&tab=0

Source: LBYC