Jumping the gun just a bit, let’s extend a huge welcome to Elise Mazareas and Joe Fava who have been spotted kicking the tires on a few boats. No strangers to Fleet 5, both of these tremendous sailors have raced with us before, but on other peoples? boats and seldom together. Elise, who is a BC All American, was recruited originally to Fleet 5 in 2001 by Kim Pandapas to replace Christina for the season (only on the boat, of course) while she cared for newborn Christopher. Elise pinch hit at various times in subsequent seasons with Kim and others, and in the past couple of years has been racing with Charlie Pendleton & Jim Raisides. She’s also been moonlighting lately on an IOD and a J105, which shattered for her any illusion that there is anything out there better than a Rhodes. Joe Fava, also a late 90s vintage college sailor, raced for several seasons with Mike Carpenter & BJ Mansfield, often helming that very successful program. Business took him across the pond for a few years, but now he’s back and ready to go. Ladies and gentleman, these two are a lethal combination. They are both successful college sailors who know their way around a race course. They’re smart, they’re light (under 300 pounds of crew weight), they’re fast and very experienced in our boat and with our fleet. The bar is about to go up. This is going to be fun.
Also jumping the gun, rumor has it that former sail maker Ian Peebles, a veteran of our fleet, was spotted in Chris Small’s shop carefully reattaching the keel to his boat. Ian sailed with various people over the years, and was predecessor to The Kid on the very competitive Kaznoski program. His project boat has taken a little longer than he probably would have liked, but now it looks like he may be on track to make the Spring Series. We hope so.