The Skiff Sailing Foundation is pleased to announce that Barry and Betsy Senescu have donated the Class40 YIPPEE KAI YAY to be campaigned by Team Aurora. Team Aurora brings together international women sailors with a shared goal of competing at a high level while creating opportunities for women in sailing. Connected through The Magenta Project network, Aurora is now developing an all-female Class40 program centered on the Transpac, together with West Coast training, racing and offshore skills development. The donation of YIPPEE KAI YAY gives that program a boat with an unusually appropriate history. Barry and Betsy have dedicated the gift in memory of Susan C. “Sue” Senescu and Arent “Barry” Schuyler—two people whose own involvement in sailing helped create opportunities for women to pursue ambitious goals on the water. BARRY SCHUYLER AND ANTARA In 1992 Santa Barbara philanthropist and UCSB professor Barry Schuyler offered his Cal 40 ANTARA to the Women’s Ocean Racing Sailing Association to campaign in the Transpacific Yacht Race. Only the second all-woman team in the Race’s 87-year history, they finished third in the 1993 Transpac, and followed up with a second campaign in 1995. In 1997 Schuyler offered Betsy (then Crowfoot) seed money to charter a bigger faster boat, and the S/C 50 BAYWOLF campaign was launched under the leadership of Linda Elias. The team logged the fastest all-women effort in the history of the race, finishing in a cracking 9 days, 19 hours in a windy, record-breaking Transpac year. One of those team members on ANTARA ‘95 was Sue Senescu. SUE SENESCU AND YIPPEE KAI YAY YIPPEE KAI YAY was conceived around Sue Senescu’s own offshore racing ambitions. By 2008 Sue had already sailed four Transpacs: ANTARA 1995 and PEGASUS 1997 with all-women crews, returning aboard HORIZON in 2003, and finishing second in Class aboard MADRINA in 2005. She was also a Transpacific Yacht Club Director and a Staff Commodore of Dana Point Yacht Club. For what she hoped would be her fifth Transpac, Sue and her husband Barry commissioned a new Class40 from designer Jim Antrim, built by Columbia Yachts in Costa Mesa: the first of its kind built in California specifically for Pacific Ocean racing. Sue was not simply an owner; she was closely involved with Antrim and Columbia throughout design and construction, down to the deck hardware and sail-handling systems. Because the boat would sometimes race with all-women crews, she paid particular attention to making the systems efficient to operate without brute strength. Safety features, handholds, tether points and a layout suited to shorthanded sailing were also part of that approach, and YIPPEE KAI YAY was launched in 2009. In addition to racing Sue also used YIPPEE KAI YAY to introduce others to offshore sailing, coaching other women, Juniors and the JSerra Catholic High School Sailing Team in boat handling, navigation, safety and seamanship, until her untimely passing in 2015. That history now continues with TEAM AURORA. ARENT “BARRY” SCHUYLER AND LIZ CLARK In later years, Barry Schuyler met Liz Clark - then a UCSB student who many now know as a Patagonia Surf Ambassador and author - who dreamed of sailing and surfing around the world. An avid philanthropist and patron of dreams, Schuyler offered her the use of his Contessa 26, FREYA and Clark adeptly put the boat through its paces; but Betsy and friends put a bug in Schulyer’s ear that the 26-footer was too small for a circumnavigation. Hence he proposed to match funds with Clark to acquire a suitable vessel: not surprisingly another Cal 40, dubbed SWELL. Schuyler had recognized an ambitious sailor and put a real resource behind her, inspiring her to develop the skills and platform needed to pursue her dream on her own. He remained involved during the extensive refit, helping Liz prepare SWELL for the arduous offshore voyage ahead. In 2005 she set sail from Santa Barbara to begin the extended bluewater and surfing adventure for which she later became widely known, as author of SWELL: A SAILING SURFER’S VOYAGE OF AWAKENING. “Barry Schuyler’s generosity and encouragement launched me on a path I could never have dreamed,” says Betsy Senescu. “Competing in three Transpacs gave me immeasurable skills and confidence which not only advanced my sailing opportunities but also my career as a journalist. Participating in this legendary bluewater race provided me access to, and a level of respect from, employers, colleagues and interview subjects around the world. It completely changed the trajectory of my life: I cannot imagine what it would look like without that first leap of faith and offer from Barry Schuyler and his wife Jean. So it is with this sense of gratitude that my husband Barry Senescu and I have decided to donate YIPPEE KAI YAY to provide that ‘leg up’ - authentic big boat ocean racing sailing opportunities to women, to empower them with confidence and skill, and proved entree to higher levels in the sport and society as a whole.” - Betsy Senescu A NEW CHAPTER WITH TEAM AURORA The boat will be prepared for West Coast training and competition as Aurora builds toward the Transpac. Along the way, the program is intended not only to develop the team itself, but also to create opportunities for more women to gain meaningful offshore racing experience.