Here's Our Story

How it started

In 2016, at a local restaurant where many of us sailors gathered, a friend suggested that we have a women's progressive dinner party, going from boat to boat at Camachee Cove Marina, sharing food and friendship and, of course, the love of sailing.

 

As the evening progressed of story sharing of sailing and racing, one of our avid female sailors (who also races) quipped, "We should do an all-women's sailboat race!"  Or course, while most of us laughed and shrugged, seeming somewhat skeptical, there were enough of us that pondered and thought it was a GREAT idea!

 

Sure, many of us had raced our sailboats, but only a few had actually been at the helm during a race.  Still, even fewer had actually taken their own sailboat off the dock!  

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But the seed of this idea was planted, and so we started growing a plan... 

 

What would we name our race?  The instigator of this crazy idea chimed in, "Let's call it a Bikini Race... and we can all wear bikinis!"  The response: "Sure! Why not?"  Maybe not all wearing bikinis (LOL).

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Bikini Race

As the plan unfolded, we decided to have two classes for the inaugural Bikini Race: one class of all-women crew and one class of mixed crew to include our male sailmates.  However, above all else, there had to be a woman at the helm at all times during the race, and there had to be an equal or greater number of women on the mixed crewed sailboats.

 

Our inaugural race brought twelve sailboats to the starting line, three of which were all-women crewed!  It was a great success and we had so much fun making this idea a reality. But it didn't end there. The group of sailors wanted to do it again! 

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Spring Fo*ward Race

(Yes, we know it's spelled wrong... there's a story...)

In an effort to keep the momentum going, we added another race in the spring of 2017.  The Spring Foward race was created specifically around and named for the weekend of Daylight Savings, and timed to get boats on the water in preparation for the local spring racing season and in advance of St. Augustine Race Week.  This second event of its kind proved to be another great success with ten sailboats competing with both all-women and mixed crews.

 

With the encouragement and support of all who had participated in these events, we decided to do more so that's when we turned the Bikini Race into a fundraising event, including a celebratory launch party on the night before.  All net proceeds from the race would be donated to a local organization that was associated with helping women and children in need. 

 

Fundraising Efforts

In 2017 and 2018, SASS donated $3700 and $5000, respectively, to the Betty Griffin Center.  In 2019, we added a second beneficiary, Rethreaded, and donated $5000 to each organization. 

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Wendy Thomson Memorial Race

Sadly, in 2019, we lost a beloved and prominent figure in the sailing community, Wendy Thomson.  Wendy, a co-founding member of SASS, was the driving force behind the creation and development of the youth summer sailing program at the St. Augustine Yacht Club.  Her impact on local youth sailing was something that SASS wanted to recognize, so a combined youth and off-shore sailboat race seemed the most appropriate way to remember her.  In Wendy's honor, SASS added a third race which is scheduled during the month of May, to coincide with the celebration of Mother's Day.

 

Then Covid hit. In 2020 during the pandemic we launched the "Vote for a Boat Challenge" in an effort to get boats registered for the race and to continue our mission to help women in our community.  With this Challenge in place we were able to donate $6000 to Betty Griffin and provided each family in the shelter a $100 gift card to a local retailer. 

 

In 2021 with the pandemic still in full sail, we were able to donate $8000.

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2022: $5,000 each to SASS for Survivors at the Betty Griffin Center and to SASS Women's Rebound Fund at St. Francis House.

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2023: $6,000 each to SASS for Survivors at the Betty Griffin Center and to SASS Women's Rebound Fund at St. Francis House.

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2024: $6,000 each to SASS for Survivors at the Betty Griffin Center and to SASS Women's Rebound Fund at St. Francis House.

 

Since its inception, SASS has raised and donated over $56,000 thanks to our sailors, sponsors and supporters.  As we look toward our upcoming Annual Bikini Races, we hope to continue to exceed our past fundraising totals each year.

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What's Next

2025 will mark our Tenth Anniversary and our signature event, the SASS Bikini Race.  Plans for this year's race include a launch party at the City Municipal Marina on Friday, August 1. The race will be held on Saturday, August 2 (Sunday, August 3 rainday). Plans will include live music, food provided by Meehan's Irish Pub, adult beverages provided by Sailbird Distilling and an awards presentation and more...This event will be open to the public!

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We are looking for sponsors, donations and anything to make this our most successful year yet - we hope you will join us!