First-Ever Swiftsure For Ron Rosenberg

Ron Rosenberg raced his first-ever Swiftsure aboard Le Reve. Far from his first racing experience, Ron has raced since he was 9 – starting with a Sabot (gosh, how many of us have) through 5 world titles on Solings, Etchells, J-24s, 5.5 metres, and the ISAF Youth Worlds. Deep, deep, deep yacht racing. 

Ron found himself doing the landmark 75th Swiftsure International Yacht Race when he was invited aboard Le Reve, Michael Breivik’s Oceanis 45 from Seattle Yacht Club. Take a look at Ron’s “My Rookie Swiftsure Experience” insights in the May 30th Scuttlebutt News. Le Reve went on to win First Overall, First in Class (Heavy), and First in Division 1 of the 2018 Cape Flattery Race.

With Alan Stovell, Commodore of the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, Ron shared an email of his experience which Alan has kindly shared with Swiftsure. 

Hi Alan,

I hope this note finds you and your great Canadian sales team all very well.

I want to begin with an apology to you… I was at the Swiftsure Race skipper’s meeting  (first time ever for me) with a few hundred sailing friends and I did see you, and I did hear your well-spoken remarks (you do look good in a blue blazer, by the way : ) but as soon as the meeting ended, I lost sight of you and despite a couple of laps around the room and even asking some other blue blazers where you could be found… I failed to catch up with you in person. 

I did however thoroughly enjoy myself throughout my entire Rookie Swiftsure Experience, and was moved to encourage others to get their boats (racing or cruising) out of the marina, off the docks, and get out and enjoy this incredible Swiftsure Race… even if you don’t have a racing boat.  So I wrote this article that was immediately published by Scuttlebutt and then shared widely by many other sailing sites.  

I simply tried to provide others with the process/road map for preparation that we used, and in a self-deprecating way, shared our great experience (surprise-we won!) and let others know that this is a race that is well worth focusing on, preparing for, and attending at some point in life, and that the organizers really do a remarkable job being inclusive, making it fun and easy and they warmly welcome all sailors.  My miss was that I did not manage to share this article with anyone running the event, or from RVYC.  

Alan, I’m sharing this with you now in hopes that if you see any value in doing so, please kindly forward this article to any of those responsible for the success of this great event, and please let any future PR people or race organizers know that they have my express permission to use any of this article in any way they see fit to help encourage others to attend, or otherwise improve and grow their great event over the coming years. I know our Le reve team will be back again in 2019, and I hope many sailors that have watched from the sidelines in past years will also consider joining in the fun.

Many thanks Alan, and I look forward to seeing you at METS in a few weeks,

Gratefully yours,

Ron Rosenberg

Thank you, Ron, for sharing and letting us know how much you enjoyed your first Swiftsure. We look forward to seeing you, and Le Reve, again in 2019. 

Ron encourages anyone who is curious to get out and race Swiftsure. If you’re interested, please get in touch.

Charlotte Gann, Swiftsure Media Relations publicity@swiftsure.org

Swiftsure – Always a Challenge.