Race ensenada / Linda Boerum

We met with Los Angeles Sailtime Member Linda Boerum on the eve of the race, at her Shoreline Yacht club. Linda will be racing on SV Happy Hours, Naos Yachts’ own Beneteau Oceanis 41.1, a boat she knows well, sailing on her as a Sailtime member since 2022. She skippers the boat quite often from San Pedro and also entered the 2022 Christmas Parade where she won Best Use of Lights & Best New Boat. She came to Naos Yachts in February with a simple question: Would you support me racing the Newport Ensenada race on SV Happy Hour? We gladly said yes and provided technical support whenever needed.

On April 27, Linda had invited her crew to join us for a casual chat about sailing and racing.

Linda grew up sailing on Sabots in Long Beach and became an avid racer, entering the Ensenada race 6 times, winning trophies 4 out of the 6 times. Her husband was a lake power boater, she introduced him to sailing. Their daughter Chrissy told us “I started sailing when I was a baby, my parents put me in the sink and I was apparently very comfortable.. I haven't stopped sailing and racing since then”. Linda and Tom confirmed that Chrissy was 4 weeks old the first time they took her sailing, and as there was no changing table on their 55 Soverall they just made do with counter tops.

What you also need to know about Linda is that she is a breast cancer survivor. She took a year off to take care of her health and is now looking forward to sailing with her family as often as possible. Once this first Ensenada race is behind them, they are planning to enter the Pacific Cup in 2026.

Linda introduced her crew starting with Chrissy, her daughter and co-captain. The crew is a mix of confirmed sailors and newer members of the sailing community: her husband Tom Dunn, Jack Roy,and Tara Miller. The skipper will also take over the provisioning duties, “I want to ensure that my crew has ample good food during the race, typically during a race and an overnight passage one needs to eat every 4 hours so I’m planning for easy to eat oatmeal, hot chocolate and other foods. I am also the navigator, I’ve mapped the route based on the weather which is unfortunately a forecast with very little wind this year”

She has set a plan for the watches “with a large crew like ours we will have 3 people on deck at all times: 1 will be the skipper, 1 will be the navigator and 1 will be the look-out. We’re hoping to arrive mid-day Saturday, but it really depends on the wind and in any case I’ve entered this race because it’s really fun. This boat is a beauty, and I really hope we’ll be able to arrive before some of the other older Beneteaus. It’s going to push my limits, and I know that when I’m done and I step off the boat there will be a little swagger in my steps” she adds laughing.

When asked why they joined this crew and this race, the crew echoed this feeling “it’s a fun race”, “I wanted to join this boat and this captain”, “It’s a challenge and it’s fun”. Some have raced to Ensenada before, others have only just started racing but all are in agreement that Linda put together a great project and they did not hesitate when she invited them to join her.

The SYC Commodore interrupted our talk with a request that Linda, Chrissy and their crew join them in the bar where they were cheered on by the club members.

...a week later...

Linda told us that it was an experience that she doesn’t regret, she learned a lot from this race and is looking forward to the next one with her family.