AS SEEN IN SAILING MAGAZINE MARCH 2025

Serious fun on and off the water

The 45 anniversary of the Heineken Regatta was a thrill for competitors and spectators alike

The St. Maarten Heineken Regatta is an iconic, bucket-list event in the Caribbean, and I’ve been fortunate to attend multiple times over in its 45-year history. I’ve been on race boats, chase boats, bareboats and multihulls and regardless of my ride, this thrilling competition in paradise has never ceased to delight me. But this year when I was shore-bound, stopping over in St. Maarten on a long layover, I gained a new perspective on this legendary Caribbean Race series. It was as much fun to watch, as it was to participate.

Read the entire article HERE

“We are not going back”

AS SEEN IN SAILING MAGAZINE January 2025

"We are not going back”

By BETSY SENESCU

Action-packed racing in a highly competitive fleet: It’s not the America’s Cup, it’s the Women’s America’s Cup where the sailors hope one day to be allowed back into the main event

Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli's Maria Giubilei & Margherita Porro

After a thrilling victory in the inaugural Puig Women’s America’s Cup in Barcelona, Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli trimmer Maria Giubilei declared, “We are not going back!”

One of the four crew racing the state-of-the-art foiling AC40s for Italy, Giubilei said, “We have just demonstrated that women can do it. We can do it so it’s impossible that we go backwards: we are not going back.”

Women have been participating in the America’s Cup since the 1880s and participation peaked in 1995 when America3campaigned a competitive all-women team. Since then women have continued to hold vital positions on America’s Cup campaigns, but a spot on the boat has been elusive.

Read how women have come one step closer to a seat at the table HERE

Fun at Fifty

Sunsail hosts a bareboat charter flotilla to celebrate their 50th anniversary

AS SEEN IN SAILING MAGAZINE - October 2024

Gazing at the azure waters of Pirates Bight, where yachts gently bobbed and red battle flags smacked in the breeze, I watched as a small armada of dinghies approached the shore. Their crews alighted, nimbly balancing cocktails and props, and paraded up the sand to present their libations with a godlike reverence.

The fleet lines up smartly in the easterly breeze after the sprint to Anegada.

Betsy Senescu photo 

I was one of a panel of judges in a rum drink contest on the British Virgin Islands’ Norman Island and it was serious business. Concoctions like the Blueberry Zing, Chilicolada and Rumscicle (and occasionally a bribe) were proffered, to varying reactions. The affair was lively and creative, a bit naughty and, I’ll confess, an absolute blast

When invited to take part in Sunsail’s 50th anniversary flotilla in the British Virgin Islands, I admit I hesitated. Flotillas, I thought, smacked of follow-the-leader boating and constraints. But I could not have been more wrong. Our week was fluid and stress-free, a medley of parties, activities and friendly competitions on the water and off, and I disembarked with a new attitude and appreciation of sailing en masse.

Read the entire article HERE

As seen in SAILING magazine  

Prepare for liftoff

2024 July 1

   

The America’s Cup kicks off in Barcelona in August, with action on and off the race course

The 37th America’s Cup is right around the corner and what an extravaganza it promises to be, as six teams vie for victory in one of the world’s longest-running and prestigious sporting events. And this year, leading up to the big event are seven weeks of thrilling racing action to satisfy the whims of every sailor.

Read the entire article HERE 

Voyage for the sea

AS SEEN IN JAN 2024 SAILING MAGAZINE

The Polynesian voyaging canoe Hōkūle’a recently completed 2,800nm of its Moananuiākea tour, bringing a message of unity and restoration to thousands along the North American Pacific Coast.

The double-hulled traditional-style vessel had embarked from Juneau, Alaska mid-June on the first leg of a planned 43,000nm, four-year expedition. Over five months the voyagers visited 35 communities, connecting with indigenous people and groups who share Hōkūle’a’s vision of healing and protecting the planet.

SEE THE COMPLETE ARTICLE HERE

Through the big ditch

AS SEEN IN JULY 2023 SAILING MAGAZINE 

The ups and downs of a transit through the Panama Canal

Of my many madcap boating adventures around the world, transiting the Panama Canal is the one that always elicits the most oohs and aahs. It’s been declared “the epitome of man’s mastery over nature,” and “a mighty symbol of a centuries old dream come true,” by some, but most people just call it a bucket list item.

I’d checked the canal off my bucket list nearly 10 years ago, but that gave me a leg up when friends David and Sheri Normandin were looking for experienced crew for their upcoming passage. It definitely is the kind of experience you would do again and again so I jumped at the chance to revisit the Big Ditch.

READ ABOUT THE WHOLE ADVENTURE HERE

AS SEEN IN ULTIMATE SAILING

WORTH THE WAIT

The pandemic put a lot of things on hold and one of the most significant was the 2020 Olympic Games. Across every nation, the world’s finest athletes were holding their collective breath, waiting for the Games to resume. Along with them: primo photographers Jesús Renedo and Pedro Martinez – working as “Sailing Energy” – official photographers for the 2020 Games!

One of their major, most difficult tasks that year, in fact, was just getting the paperwork completed to enter Japan. Covid had a huge impact on protocol, he added: “The paperwork was crazy and lots of media peers gave up, as it was really complex.”

But Pedro and Jesús persevered. Arriving in Japan, “It was like reaching the summit of a mountaintop! And such a privilege, as many fellow photographers were not able to make it.”

Disembarking to an empty airport was “mind-blowing,” they continued. The country was locked down and in the middle of curfew. “This was our second Olympic Games and it could not have been more different than Rio 2016.”

 FULL ARTICLE

As seen in Sailing Magazine 

RACING THE CHARTER WAY

Spice up a charter by throwing in some competitive fun

Chartering isn’t always about lolling around at anchor in turquoise splendor. For avid racers, bareboat chartering offers a chance to enjoy competition in new and exciting venues, with fresh opponents and an international flair. That’s how we ended up at the Caribbean Multihull Challenge, a relatively new event in the winter racing season, organized by the people who made the Heineken Regatta synonymous with seriously fun racing in paradise.

 FULL ARTICLE 

Perseverance pays off big

As seen in Sailing Magazine 

PERSEVERANCE PAYS OFF

Sailors overcame hurdles on their way to great racing at the J/70 World Championship

When California Yacht Club tried, and tried again, to host the J/70 World Championship regatta, members of the Marina del Rey, California-based yacht club and neighboring organizations stepped through the year of pandemic postponements, protocol and obstacles to pull off a world-class competition.

“This event has been years in the making,” said Chair Marylyn Hoenemeyer, who pressed on even as travel constraints and uncertainty threatened to disrupt the regatta. But in early August they prevailed, welcoming 62 competitors from 11 nations for five days of racing in Santa Monica Bay. 

FULL ARTICLE 

BETSY CROWFOOT-SENESCU HONORED AS AMERICAN RED CROSS 2022 RISING STAR 

Betsy Senescu is a long-time communications visual storyteller and blogger/writer volunteer who has made many contributions. In 2021 & 2022, she volunteered her time and talents to capture photos and videos that were used to capture the work of the Red Cross and our supporters in action. Betsy’s work “behind the scenes” has enabled us to share the Red Cross story far and wide.

LINK 

 FOR THE AMERICAN RED CROSS

Rainbow Sandals Founder Has Giving in His ‘Sole’

Rainbow Sandals founder Jay ‘Sparky’ Longley has philanthropy in both his soul and sole, he joked, as the long-time sandal manufacturer presented a $50,000 donation to the American Red Cross of Orange County.

“You guys are the best; a huge organization doing wonderful things all over the world,” Longley declared, as he acknowledged the 152 Red Cross Societies around the globe, and the work the Red Cross is currently undertaking in Texas following winter storm Uri.

“When I started, I never had the money or the time to help anybody else, but now I’m in a position to, and I really like giving back,” Longley continued. “I try to help everyone a little bit. I figure everybody needs a little help and it’s fun to give. I just do a little bit – and hope that people follow my lead.”

FULL STORY

Ense-nada? Si Si!

As seen in July 2021 Sailing Magazine 

Viva Ensenada

For nearly three-quarters of a century, the Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race has drawn racers with fun and challenging sailing. 

After being sidelined during the long pandemic pause, the annual Newport to Ensenada Yacht Race in late April marked our long-awaited return to sailboat racing. We scrambled to make our boat race ready: restocking gear and re-certifying everything that had lapsed during the hiatus. Yippee Kai Yay is a lean, mean, racing machine with no fancy galley, so our provisioning boils down to sandwiches, Cup-a-Soup, coffee, cocoa and the like. Hot drinks are sacrosanct on an overnight distance race! But one hour after the race start I realized I had left the kettle at home, and there would be no boiling anything that night. It was an epic fail. I glumly returned on deck and announced my screw-up to the rest of the crew. No worries, the crew’s ear-to-ear smiles could not be erased. We were out on the water again, reaching in a gentle breeze straight down the rhumbline beneath cloud-speckled skies, in our favorite regatta of the year. Hot water be damned—we were racing to Mexico. Read the whole story HERE

Red Cross Awarded OC Nonprofit of the Year

Published as part of my volunteer work as Public Information Officer at the Red Cross

American Red Cross of Orange County Receives Nonprofit of the Year Award

When California State Assemblymember Dr. Steven Choi presented the American Red Cross of Orange County the 2021 Nonprofit of the Year Award, he revealed how the vital work of the Red Cross had recently hit close to home.Dr. Choi, who represents the 68th Assembly District, noted, “I had to evacuate my house last year when a wildfire in Irvine threatened the Orchard Hills area where I live. I had to evacuate for three days and I would have been under your care; It would have been me in one of the shelters,” he acknowledged, if not for a daughter living nearby. “Every time we run into disaster, the first organization that pops up is the Red Cross.”

Read the entire article on the Red Cross website HERE

Cruising to the Coronados

AS SEEN IN SAILING MAGAZINE Just 16 miles from San Diego, Mexico’s Coronado Islands are a perfect spot for a staycation cruise Exotic destinations will always have their allure, but 2020 has been the year of the staycation. For landlubbers, it meant camping in the backyard, but for sailors it became the perfect excuse to become re-acquainted with our local waters. That’s just what my friend Capt. Diane Berol had in mind when she invited me for a staycation in San Diego aboard her 40-foot Pacific Seacraft Voyagemaker Celtic Song. The boat is plenty big for two people to social distance, yet easy for two to manage. Read the entire story here

Broadcast Journalism

Who's that girl behind the mic? 

In addition to writing and photography for print, I also have 20 years experience working on documentaries, web and television (ESPN) broadcasts, including Roy E. Disney and Leslie Disney's 'A Century Across the Pacific' film.

Here's a clip from an interview I did with Ken Read, skipper of Comanche, after they 'crushed the Transpac record' in July 2017. That's me, posing questions.

Watch on youtube HERE

Interviewing Ken Read for newsfeed 

Co-producing ESPN content, including interview with Dean Barker

ESP 

Radio interview during Long Beach Race Week

More from the pages of SAILING MAGAZINE: April 2020

Shifting gears to cruising mode 

I never intended to pull a bait and switch. When my husband Barry and I invited avid racing friends to join us in the Caribbean, our intent was to compete in the Golden Rock Regatta­—a weeklong event that combines buoy racing with lively courses from island to island  in mid-November.

Barry looks toward St Barts, on a delightful reach aboard our Sunsail charter boat

On the agenda was a week of serious fun racing around St. Maarten, with exhilarating courses to St. Eustatius, St. Barts and Anguilla. But as the race dates approached, with sponsorship money dwindling in post-hurricane St. Maarten, the field fizzled. The Golden Rock Regatta had hit rock bottom, and the races were scrapped ... 

Read the complete story HERE

American Red Cross: Public Information Officer

In addition to my professional career, I am a volunteer Public Information Officer for the American Red Cross. Here is another of my recent articles:

Home & Wildfire Prep Campaign Sparks New Career for one Volunteer 

March 10, 2020

By Betsy Senescu, American Red Cross volunteer

In October 2019, as seasonal Santa Ana winds fanned arid Riverside County, a fire ignited in the parched mountains of Jurupa Valley. No one saw it start. Residents reported, “It just started burning.”

Luckily, they were prepared ...

Read the whole story HERE

Elegant Eight Metres

As seen in the pages of Sailing-World 

Elegant Eight Metres

At the 8-Metre World Championship in Toronto, a royal presence and a deep Corinthian spirit maintain the “class” in this classic fleet.

Sept 2017 -- Sailing is the king of sports, and the sport of kings. King Harald, of Norway, was lauded for making a concerted effort to attend the 2016 8-Metre World Championships in Toronto as an ambassador for the 2017 World Championship in Fredrikstad, Norway. 

Toronto skyline backdrops the fleet. Photo UltimateSailing

In Toronto he raced the distinctive green-hulled 8-Metre Sira, originally his father King Olav’s. It was transported across the Atlantic on a specially built cradle on 80-meter Royal Yacht K/S Norge, which graced the Toronto waterfront, and where King Harald admitted he was “on vacation.”

“One of the things I like about sailing is, to the wind, it doesn’t make any difference who you are or what you are — the wind blows on everybody the same way. 

Read the entire feature HERE 

American Red Cross: Public Information Officer

In addition to my professional career, I am a volunteer Public Information Officer for the American Red Cross. Here is one of my recent articles on a campaign I worked on:

Sound the Alarm: A Volunteer’s Perspective

I arrived at the meeting place bleary-eyed, at 8:00 a.m. sharp. By some miracle, a crew of others had already established a small festival-like atmosphere, with registration and information tents, bagels and thankfully, coffee. 

As a volunteer at my first Sound the Alarm event, I’d signed up to help install free smoke alarms in one of our local communities, going door to door like Girls Scouts selling cookies. But, instead of hawking thin mints, we were peddling the gift of safety and life...

Read the article HERE:

The land of the green bottles & turquoise seas

I'm heading back to St. Maarten for the 40th Heineken Regatta - looking forward to seeing what's changed since I last covered it nine years ago! The racing? The parties? Or just me?!

Here's my article as published in Sailing Magazine from 2011 LINK

Photos for this article by the great, late Bob Grieser