June 16, 2003

WOMEN'S ONE-DESIGN RENAMED FOR LINDA ELIAS

Linda Elias

LONG BEACH, Calif.---One of the world's most prestigious all-woman sailing events has been renamed for a three-time winner, Linda Elias, who died last January at age 52 after a nine-year battle with cancer.

The Long Beach/Los Angeles Women's Sailing Association has rededicated its annual Women's One Design Challenge as the Linda Elias Memorial Women's One Design Challenge. The 12th competition, involving 10 teams sailing Catalina 37s, is scheduled Oct. 18-19 out of the Long Beach Yacht Club.

Elias won three of the first five Women's 1D titles in 1992, '94 and '96---the last while struggling through effects of chemotherapy treatments for ovarian cancer.

"It was exhausting," she said. "I had a hard time just standing up downwind steering the boat. But I felt fortunate just to be out on the boat sailing with a group of ladies I really enjoy. Winning was a bonus."

The team went on to prepare for the 1997 Transpacific Yacht Race. A few days before the start, complications from her six surgeries forced Elias to drop out, but she found the strength to meet her team in Honolulu at the end of the race.

She returned to race the Transpac in 1999, following earlier participation in '89, '91 and '93.

Elias, a winner of the Southern California Yachting Association's Peggy Slater Yachtswoman of the Year award, was a past commodore of Voyagers Yacht Club in Newport Beach and a founder of the Women's Ocean Racing Sailing Association and the L.B/L.A. Women’s Sailing Association.

She also was one of the founders of the Team Spirit Breast and Ovarian Cancer 10K Walk, which has raised $170,000 over the past three years to help others.

Camille Daniels, a longtime friend and sailing partner, said, "She was eager to teach other women who were interested in learning how to race. She was a mentor and an inspiration to many racing sailors. She taught each year at the Women’s Sailing Convention. She opened the door for women to be respected sailors in our community."

A sailing scholarship in Elias' name has been established through the Long Beach Yacht Club Sailing Foundation. The Linda Elias Sailing Scholarship is to be presented annually commencing 2004.

Entry information on this year's Linda Elias Memorial Women's One Design Challenge is available by contacting Molly McCloud at the Long Beach Yacht Club Sailing Foundation, (562) 493-5173.