This month’s spotlight is on the Richmond Yacht Club (RYC), one of its oldest members and one of its newer members. In interviewing our subjects for this piece, two things stood out: the club’s culture of volunteerism and their emphasis on kids and family.

The club was founded in 1932, charging annual dues of $5. Over the years they have had five clubhouses, enjoying their current location in a space built largely through volunteer effort. They have around 1,400 members.

A milestone in their history was the creation of their Junior Program in 1951. We had the privilege of interviewing Susie Hubbard, who entered the Junior Program in 1952, at age 8. Susie is the second oldest living graduate of the program, after Bill Claussen. Susie is still active, and over the years has held the offices of Vice Commodore, Commodore, Director, and several terms as Treasurer.

Susie got a plywood El Toro for her birthday during her first year as a Junior. Now an international racing class, the El Toro was born on the shores of the Bay in 1937 by RYC members and soon gained popularity at the club. The club’s famous Bullship Race, a challenging Bay race for the 8-foot dinghies, began in 1952, the same year Susie got her boat.

The Junior Program is run by volunteer coaches from October through April. During the summer it is run by professional staff. This year, that meant Renee Corpuz Lahne.

Renee grew up in Southern California with parents who raced a Hobie 16. At an age 11, Renee’s mother signed up Renee and her siblings for a sailing program where she sailed on Sabots, CFJs, Club 420s, and Lasers. She says her parents were taking them to regattas nearly every weekend. Renee went to the University of Hawaii to be on their sailing team, winning the 2001 Women’s National Championship.

Out of college, Renee found full-time coaching jobs, saying her sociology major helped her to understand her students’ backgrounds and thought patterns. In 2014 Renee took a job coaching the Sausalito Yacht Club’s Junior Program, a position she held for seven years.

Renee’s passion comes through as she talks. She likes getting her kids briefly away from their screens, as she strives to be the coach’s coach—that person who helps to bring along the next generation. Beyond sailing, she says she is teaching them independence, problem solving, organization, spatial awareness, communication, and how to advocate for themselves.

We first met Renee in May, at SailGP. In June we worked with her to stage the SSC’s first RYC event. We are delighted to have made the connection, both with Renee and the club. We look forward to much more to come.

On May 25 we met with Ben Shaw at the Sailing Science Center World Headquarters to record a new episode of his Out the Gate Podcast. The last time we sat with Ben was in 2019 and a lot has happened since then. The new episode went live on June 19. You can listen to it here (39:04).

A row of RS Tera dinghies line the dock at the Richmond Yacht Club on June 8^th. The experience of independence has been a recurring theme in the recollections of early solo sailing experiences by the subjects of our newsletter spotlights. It is the beginning of many people's personal growth journeys, facilitated through sailing.