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