(Phoenix, AZ)- J/24s sailing in the middle of the Arizona desert at Arizona YC?
A place renowned for armadillos, rattlesnakes, tumbleweed that can
knock a car over and gigantic scorpions that, if stepped on, happily
sting you to death?! Nevertheless, right there on Lake Pleasant, just a
short hop from Phoenix, Arizona are several J’s sailing on the
beautiful lake ringed by magnificent mountains. It’s a fun, active
group of J/24s, J/27s and J/80s. We recently got an amusing update from the captain of MERMAID RESCUE, a famous J/24 down in those parts sailed by Victor Felice and many happy friends. According to Victor, “yes, there is such a thing as the “Arizona Yacht Club”. Yes, we do race– a lot, and in incredibly diverse (and sometimes adverse) conditions. The only constant is the weather is always great!
I
race my J/24 MERMAID RESCUE and there are two others here. There are
also three J/80s– two always race. And, there’s a well-sailed J/27.I know we are not San Francisco, Monte Carlo or the BVI, but considering we are in a desert, the quality of our racing can be quite impressive.
MERMAID RESCUE in particular is known as being “the boat to be on” if you want to race, learn how to race or have an amazingly good time on the lake.”
When we asked Victor how the boat got its name MERMAID RESCUE, he said, “Ah yes.. the name. A couple of years ago at Club Med in the Turks & Caicos, my best friend and I were trolling the beach on a Hobie F18 looking for 'hot chicks n stuff'. Sadly all we found were older tourists (that should’ve kept their clothes on!); and not attractive at all. I said "this is terrible, lets sail out to the reef and rescue some mermaids.” A few months later, I told my friend I was buying a boat. He said no, you are not - I said yes I am (ad nauseaum). In the end a deal was done and I bought the J/24 in San Francisco and it was called GRAY JAY. We felt a name change was in order. So, the last time we had sailed, we were rescuing mermaids- so to speak. And that's how she got her new name (and the graphics of course!).
Maybe it is my impeccable sailing skills, or the 'attractive' image on the side of the boat, but just say "J/24" at Lake Pleasant and the reply always is "Oh! Mermaid Rescue!" Works for me! All the best from Phoenix, Victor.” For more J/24 MERMAID RESUCE info, photos, videos Other J/Boats on the Lake can be seen here.
