When Don Tristan de Luna first sailed through the pass connecting the emerald green waters of the Gulf of Mexico with what we now call Pensacola Bay, on Aug. 14, 1559, he found new lands to claim for Spain.

Today, 448 years later, the afternoon sea breezes that favor this area still beckon sailors to hoist the main and set the sails.

However, today’s sailors aren’t looking for new lands to explore. They’re practicing learned skills, enjoying a lifestyle, and trading vehicular exhaust fumes, telecommunications noise overload, and workday stress for the decidedly nautical mix of salty air, laughing gulls and lapping waves.

If you look closely, you’ll find women at the helm and manning the wench of many of these vessels. These days, it’s likely some of them are practicing for this summer’s trilogy of regattas — Fast Women Regatta, Bikini Regatta, Race for the Roses — for all-female crews or 50 percent female crews.

These races were only realized through the hard work and dedication of female sailors who were determined to chart a new course in the century-old pleasure-sailing history of Pensacola.

YACHT CLUBS FORMED
Pleasure sailing, locally, began when Pensacola Yacht and Motor Boat Club formed in November 1908. Its origins were fueled by a vibrant city whose citizens channeled their energy into social and fraternal organizations.

Now known as Pensacola Yacht Club, PYC is a charter member of the Gulf Yachting Association.

The origin of today’s Navy Yacht Club of Pensacola dates back to April 1931, when PYC challenged the Naval Air Station to a race in Fish class boats. Although the Navy was beaten that day, later that month they avenged their loss by besting PYC in four races — and the sailing competition continues to this day.

Almost 50 years would pass before another yacht club would form.

Besides wet boat slips, The Marina offered a full service restaurant and a cozy bar called The Hooker’s Nook.

In August 1980, a group of 30 who patronized Sabine Marina, decided to form a yacht club at the Pensacola Beach because one had to be either active or retired military to belong to NYCP, and PYC was all the way across the bay.

The Hooker’s Nook was the first home of the newly formed Pensacola Beach Yacht Club. Later, PBYC followed PYC and NYCP’s lead and joined the ranks of the Gulf Yachting Association.

Throughout sailing’s history, men have dominated the sport. Men traditionally organized races, bequeathed perpetual awards, skippered boats, and of course, won the trophies.

Tradition Changes Course
Tradition may have continued, except for the addition of a new race to Navy’s racing schedule in 1981.

Lloyd Stagg, a member of NYCP, suggested a race designating that the boat’s skipper must be a female, though the remainder of the crew could be men. The name of the race would be the Bikini Regatta.

The following year, the rules were changed to include 50 percent female crew — with a woman on the helm at all times. Those rules are still in effect, and Navy will be hosting its 27th annual Bikini Regatta on July 28.

Six years later, in 1987 an all-female crew aboard “Sandpebble,’’ won the first all-female class at the Bikini Regatta and took third against the other mixed-crew sailboats.

Local businesswoman Ellen Hunt, 49, and members of that winning crew- Karen Kriegel, Debra Dunlap, Suzanne Garrett, Sue Pedersen, and Janet Peters- were ecstatic with their win.

Recognizing the opportunity to involve more women in the sport and to showcase the talents and skills of women competitors, Ellen decided to pitch the idea of an all-female regatta to Pensacola Beach Yacht Club that same year.

Pensacola Beach resident, Glenn Windham was PBYC’s commodore when Ellen presented the proposal to the board.

“The issues the club had were how much it would cost, where on the race calendar it would fit, and how PBYC, which had no clubhouse at that time, could pull it off,” remembered Windham. “The idea had great merit, and I wholeheartedly supported the proposal.

“It worked very well and helped put PBYC up there with the other larger clubs on the Gulf Coast. Thanks to Ellen and her committee, (her fellow crew members plus Nelda Jacques), we all looked good enough to wear roses,” he laughed.

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Ellen after the concept was approved.

It was then that she learned she was pregnant with twins and would not be able to compete in the first Race for the Roses, as the regatta was to be called.

She spent the next several months continuing to work in her hairstyling business while preparing for a major lifestyle change — and coordinating a major racing event with unique needs.

The Inaugural Regatta
Foremost was finding boats for the women sailors to use in the regatta. Most boats were, and still are, owned by men.

The regatta had no budget. Committee members knocked on the doors of nearby florists and asked for donations of long-stemmed red roses to be awarded to the winners of the inaugural all-female competition.

The women didn’t realize they should have asked them to be de-thorned first.

The committee designed and sold commemorative T-shirts. A post-race party with hot dogs and hamburgers was held under a tent erected behind the Pensacola Beach’s then chamber of commerce office (which occupied the old Pensacola Beach Pure Service gas station property).

Ten vessels registered for the Aug. 20, 1988, inaugural event. The fleet was evenly divided between spinnaker and non-spinnaker boats. Westerly 12- to 15-knot winds accompanied the women on a challenging 13.8-nautical-mile course around Pensacola Bay.

Veteran racer Kathy Barrett of Gulf Breeze remembers that first race well.

“Other than finding 12 women who wanted to race,” Barrett began, “the most difficult part of the race was convincing my husband to relinquish his brand new Shock 35, “Gotcha,’’ to a group of novice sailors.

“Fortunately, we sailed the race without incident and returned to the marina to find all 12 husbands and boyfriends lined up on the t-dock cheering. After a near-perfect docking, the t-dock collapsed, placing all the supporters in the water, thus washing away much skepticism,” she laughed.

Susan Kurzweg of Mobile, Ala., won spinnaker class aboard “Express Lane,’’ followed by Karen Kriegel (Ellen’s sailing partner of 20 years) aboard “Sandpebble’’ and Barrett in third place on “Gotcha.’’

The non-spinnaker class was won by Gretchen Benisek, on “At E’s Too,’’ with Ivy Smith taking second in “Bay-B-Plz’’ and Camille Barr earning third in “Camille.’’

SAILING WILL NEVER BE THE SAME
From that day on, sailing’s identity would be forever changed along the Gulf Coast.

The second year, 17 boats participated and through word of mouth, the regatta attracted competitors from Fort Walton Beach to Gulf Shores.

As the regatta continued to grow, champagne was added to the long-stemmed red roses trophies for winners, and the inclusion of “goodie bags” for all women participants became a yearly must-have.

In 1991, an open multihull class was added to the regatta. Five catamarans sailed a course off Quietwater Beach in Santa Rosa Sound, while the monohulls raced in Pensacola Bay.

Because of the efforts of the women who coordinated the yearly event, the Race for the Roses quickly became PBYC’s largest sailing and social function of the year. The women networked tirelessly for the loan of men-owned boats.

By 1993, a record 28 boats competed. Regional publicity applauding PBYC’s successful women-only event brought South Florida sailors to our shores.

Borrowing a local boat owner’s Capri 25, skipper Ellen Henderson and her crew from Clearwater competed on a boat they had never sailed, in waters they had never visited, and took home the non-spinnaker fleet trophy.

Mishaps, natural and man-made, have been remarkably few.

A 24-foot Bahama Islander called “Happy Mullet’’ dismasted during the 1990 regatta, but no injuries were reported.
Tropical storm Dean’s assault on Pensacola Beach during the weekend of July 29, 1995, postponed that year’s regatta until Sept. 24.

Then in 2005, government officials denied public access to the beach a few weeks after Hurricane Dennis’ landfall on July 10, postponing the regatta for one week.

As the event grew, efforts expanded to increase participation. The first Optimist Dinghy division was included in 2000’s Race for the Roses. Twenty young girls aged 8 to 16 competed in four Opti fleets.

GAINING RECOGNITION
But perhaps the biggest milestone for the area’s premiere women-only sailing event came in 2001.

PBYC’s Rick Zern submitted a proposal to the Gulf Yachting Association to designate the regatta as the Performance Handicap Racing Fleet (PHRF) Women’s Championship.

The GYA, which encompasses 33 yacht clubs across the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida, approved it, and it became a GYA sanctioned event.

The GYA-Women’s PHRF Championship now consists of a series of races over two days and is a traveling regatta, to encourage more women sailors from throughout the Gulf Coast to participate.

However, the premiere women-only race that gave birth to this GYA event, the Race for the Roses, is and will always be a Pensacola Beach Yacht Club regatta.

In January 2003, PBYC lost a good friend and longtime supporter of women’s sailing, Amanda Werner. In her honor, a special trophy called the “Amanda Werner Spirit of Sailing Award’’ was designed that same year and is awarded annually to the crew that exemplifies the character and spirit that Amanda possessed.

As testament to the area’s connection with women-focused sailing events, there are now three.

The Point Yacht Club, located on Perdido Bay, Ala., added a women’s regatta to their schedule years ago. Wanting to tie theirs with those in Pensacola, they proposed a perpetual Trilogy Trophy be designed and awarded to the highest-scoring boat in all three women’s races. This year marks the sixth anniversary of the Trilogy Trophy as part of their Fast Women Regatta on July 14.

At PBYC, this year’s roses committee, chaired by Ellen Hunt, is busily preparing to celebrate yet another milestone — the 20th anniversary of the Race for the Roses on Aug. 4.

A perpetual trophy resides at the clubhouse at Sabine Marina, listing the names of both spinnaker and non-spinnaker overall from winners each year.

From humble beginnings when race committee members stripped thorns from donated roses, to major sponsors who have helped PBYC’s unique race mature and blossom, the Race for the Roses will continue to evolve, encouraging,
challenging and applauding women sailors of all ages.

LINDA THOMPSON

Roses winner thrives on adrenaline and camaraderie of sailing

TARIS SAVELL

“When I’m sailing, all the ‘bad stuff’ in life seems to just blow away, and I’m focused only on what’s going on in the boat at the time.’’
That feeling is just one of the reasons that Linda Thompson loves sailing.
She is one of the many women participating in the Race For The Roses and is competing in the Trilogy that also includes Bikini Cup and the Fast Women’s Regatta in Alabama.
Water sports come naturally to Thompson, who grew up in Gulf Breeze and started sailing when she was 5.
“That’s when my parents bought our first family boat, a Columbia 23. After college, I moved to Dallas and started racing on local lakes when my husband and I bought a J-24 named Renegade,’’ she said.
In 2001, the enthusiastic sailor moved back here and remembers “being so excited to be home on the waters where I grew up.’’
She immediately put together a crew for the 2001 Race For The Roses and won second place. Her crew has always included her sister-in-law and co-owner of their current boat, Leayn Dunbar, her mother, Anne Geisel, and others.
For Linda, sailboat racing is a very team-oriented activity, and she credits her crew for the successes.
“I have not found any other sport that generates the same kind of camaraderie that sailing generates, both on and off the water,’’ she said. One of those successes was last year’s first-place win in both class and fleet in her boat, Rum Aground, a 33-foot Tripp.
It’s easy for “landlubbers’’ to think of sailing as an adventure in relaxation, skimming across the waters and sunning. However Thompson has another spin on the sport.
“When I’m driving the boat, it’s more mentally tiring, but sometimes when I’ve crewed a race, I’m exhausted but still have that sense of accomplishment that keeps the adrenaline flowing long after the race is over.’’
Her love for sailing has motivated Thompson to spend time with junior sailors, kids who are just getting started in the sport, and the main thing she tries to get across is never to give up.
She admits sailing can be very frustrating when you’re just starting out, and it may seem like everyone knows more than you do, so it’s easy to get discouraged.
“But, if you just hang in there, you’ll learn something each time. Someone once said, ‘Each race is just practice for the next one,’ meaning you can never achieve perfection; you just make baby-step improvements.’’
Does Linda Thompson have time for other activities? Oh, yes, “I volunteer at my boy’s school, play tennis, run and do anything outdoors.’’

ELLEN HUNT

For Roses founder, sailing is a feat of accomplishment, and a felling of calm

TARIS SAVELL

Last year’s Amanda Werner Spirit of Sailing Award recipient — and organizer of the inaugural Race For The Roses — is Ellen Hunt, who has won overall fleet winner, has served as Roses committee chair, served on the committee several years, and is the chair for the 2007 event.
Ellen Hunt, 49, styles, sets, and cuts hair every day with her husband, Jeff, at Head Hunter Salon, but sailing has become a relaxing passion for her.
The mother of 18-year-old twin boys, Ellen began sailing when she was 26 years old and recalls, “I never grew up around boats. Jeff and I got interested in sailing through a friend, Rick Oerting. We were mesmerized by the way the wind worked with the sails to push the boat through the water,’’ Hunt said. The couple bought a 17-foot Venture a year later.
“This boat didn’t have lifelines, and I would hoist the sails, and Jeff would steer. I thought about this and decided that maybe Jeff should be the one to hoist the sails because I don’t swim well, so we did change positions,’’ she said.
When Hunt talks about sailing, she always does it in terms of “we’’ because it’s a family event, with the exception of their sons.
“When Austin and Palmer were 10 or 11, I enrolled them in the junior sailing program at Pensacola Beach Yacht Club. They enjoy the little boats, and eventually they became volunteers for that program. However, they don’t have the salt in their veins like Mom and Dad do for racing,’’ she said.
The Race For The Roses began in 1988 as a spin-off from the Bikini Cup race. In that race, the crew had to be half male and half female, with a female at the helm.
Ellen Hunt and others took it a step further and made it an all-female sailboat race. According to the chairperson, women are very competitive, and it just seemed like a good time to step into this domain.
“Another yacht club approached me about hosting the race, but at that time, that yacht club didn’t allow women to vote at their membership meetings. It was a man’s-only voting facility. Needless to say, I wasn’t interested in entertaining that thought,’’ Hunt said.
When Hunt is sailing, her thoughts are focused, and she concentrates on what’s in front of her.
“I watch the wind and sails,’’ Hunt said. “Sailing is a mental wellness. It’s very calming,’’ even when the waters are not so calm.’’
Hunt has seven crew members, some of whom have been with her for quite some time, such as Karen Kriegel, who Hunt said is the main person on the boat who keeps them thinking and talking about their next tactic.
For Hunt, winning the Roses is “a great feeling of accomplishment. It’s your crew and yourself. Losing is disappointing, and then there is always next year. Isn’t that what they say about football?’’’