Episode #182: Lauren Bell on Teaching Lifetime Sailors
In this episode of Good Jibes, we chat with Lauren Bell about teaching kids to sail and in the process, creating sailing connections to last a lifetime. Lauren is the President of the Santa Barbara Youth Sailing Foundation (SBYSF) which recently received the Garrett Horder Award for supporting youth sailing education.
Tune in as Lauren shares with host John Arndt how she became hooked on 505s, how the SBYSF works, the magic of multigenerational sailing, the wonderful places sailing will take you, and how to overcome your biggest fears on the water.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll hear in this episode:
- How interested are the youth in sailing these days?
- How is the Santa Barbara Youth Program structured?
- What does Lauren fear about sailing?
- Who are the Tachy Moms?
- What’s the common thread between the children and adults who get into sailing?
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and your other favorite podcast spots — follow and leave a 5-star review if you’re feeling the Good Jibes!
Connect with Lauren at SBYSF.org and SBYC.org.
Watch the story of their new clubhouse at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbeHg3aLBbo
Check out the episode and show notes below for much more detail.
Show Notes
- Lauren Bell on Teaching Lifetime Sailors
- [0:21] Welcome to Good Jibes with Latitude 38
- [0:58] Welcome Lauren Bell!
- [2:32] What’s a sailing story that’s shaped you?
- [6:48] Why don’t all skippers wear goggles?
- [9:44] How did Laren learn how to sail?
- [11:20] SailGP, the world’s most exciting racing on water, returns to California this spring with back-to-back events: the Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix on March 15-16 and the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix on March 22-23. Experience two action-packed weekends as 12 national teams battle it out in high-speed, 50-foot foiling catamarans flying at over 60 mph. With national pride, personal glory, and $12.8 million in prize money on the line, the stakes have never been higher for sailing’s top athletes. Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic, close-to-shore racing set against the iconic backdrops of the Port of LA in SoCal and the Golden Gate Bridge on the Bay. Enjoy the ultimate day out by the water and get your tickets now at SailGP.com
- [12:16] How does the Monterey program differ from what Lauren does now?
- [15:43] What is the shape of the youth foundation sailing program? And how many kids go through it per year?
- [17:03] Does Lauren teach only the basics or also promote racing?
- [18:19] What’s the enthusiasm for sailing from youth these days?
- [22:10] What is the kids trajectory after this program?
- [23:52] Who are the Tachy Moms?
- [24:55] When is the sailing season in Santa Barbara?
- [27:14] Does the family have a 505 to practice in?
- [27:54] What’s changing in the youth sailing foundation?
- [29:33] What’s the common thread between the children and adults who get into sailing?
- [31:19] Does Lauren have siblings who sail?
- [32:09] A sinking boat, a ball of yarn, and a story for another time
- [33:30] What do the participants do when they get out of the program?
- [34:26] Does Lauren cruise often?
- [36:14] What inspires Lauren to be part of the youth program?
- [37:03] SailGP, the world’s most exciting racing on water, returns to California this spring with back-to-back events: the Rolex Los Angeles Sail Grand Prix on March 15-16 and the Oracle San Francisco Sail Grand Prix on March 22-23. Experience two action-packed weekends as 12 national teams battle it out in high-speed, 50-foot foiling catamarans flying at over 60 mph. With national pride, personal glory, and $12.8 million in prize money on the line, the stakes have never been higher for sailing’s top athletes. Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic, close-to-shore racing set against the iconic backdrops of the Port of LA in SoCal and the Golden Gate Bridge on the Bay. Enjoy the ultimate day out by the water and get your tickets now at SailGP.com
- Short Tacks
- [38:00] Lauren’s favorite boat?
- [38:51] Where’s her favorite sailing venue?
- [39:22] What does Lauren do to overcome fear of the water?
- [40:18] What does Lauren fear about sailing?
- [41:03] The sailing themed book Lauren loves – Ready, Set, Sail
- [43:16] Watch the story of their new clubhouse!
- Make sure to follow Good Jibes with Latitude 38 on your favorite podcast spot and leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts
- Check out the February 2025 issue of Latitude 38 Sailing Magazine
- Theme Song: “Pineapple Dream” by Solxis
Transcript:
Please note: this transcript is not 100% accurate.
Lauren Bell 0:02
One of my favorite parts of being part of this program and working with the kids is seeing where sailing takes them.
John Arndt 0:21
Welcome aboard everyone. We’re back at another episode of Good Jibes. My name is John Arndt. I’m the Publisher of Latitude 38 and your host today for a new episode of Good HJibes. We do one each week with a West Coast sailor to talk a little bit about the world of cruising or racing, just plain sailing, anything that’s fun on the water, under sail, and it’s all brought to you by latitude 38 the sailing magazine for West Coast sailors since 1977 and today we have our guest, Lauren Bell. Welcome aboard, Lauren.
Lauren Bell 0:55
Thank you so much, John for having me. Great. Well, we
John Arndt 0:59
we recently met Lauren at the Pacific Coast yachting Association Award ceremony where we learned she was being awarded the Garrett hoarder Memorial Trophy for her work supporting youth sailing education as president of the Santa Barbara youth sailing Foundation, and we learned a little bit more about that as another great community organization really helping kids the opportunity that she’s had, and I’ve had in my life, to grow up sailing. So a little more background. Lauren, she grew up, or was actually born in South Africa, but came to Monterey Bay and started sailing at the Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club in small boats and with her dad in the shields class, where it’s a very busy fleet of shields on the West Coast, which is very cool, and she’s a graduate of UCSB in mechanical engineering. She works in automotive safety and testing, and now she’s living in Santa Barbara and running as president of the Santa Barbara youth sailing foundation. But sailing Mel just 24 is in Harvard 20s, and we can talk a little bit more about that as we get into this, but as we kick off here, I just want to ask you, Lauren, maybe a memorable sailing event, adventure race that influenced you and you grew up?
Lauren Bell 2:13
Yeah. So honestly, this was one of the most difficult questions I had to prepare for this, for this interview, but what I’ve decided to go with is a story that I’m excited to share, because it’s a recent story that’s impacted me. It’s given me a new confidence and joy in sailing that I feel so strongly. And I don’t quite know where it’s going to take me yet, but I feel it and I’m excited for the future and where it’s taking me, both personally, professionally, in my sailing career and in my marriage, actually. So it’s about my first time driving a 505 last year. Oh I will start by prefacing it by saying that my husband, John Bell, has been racing 505 since he was a teenager. So he’s going on 25 years with that boat. He’s super experienced. He’s traveled around the world racing that boat, and I’m pretty certain he could do most of the crew work blindfolded. I’ve been around watching him for as long as I can remember, but I’ve never stepped foot in one myself. So I don’t know how he convinces me, but I agree to Skipper in a race for him. He’s got a boat already secured. He’s got our boys childcare sorted out. And so I agree to race in a, and I quote, a little regatta out of Alameda Bay Yacht Club during a and I quote, a time of year, it’s not very windy in Long Beach. Oh, and because, because we are two full time working parents, we have no time to practice beforehand. But John’s like, we’ll just head out on the water early the morning of the Regatta. You’ll be fine. So 10 days out, I check the weather forecast, and I know John, who swears he never checks one forecast did two, although neither of us ever said or admitted anything to each other beforehand that there was a forecast. There was forecast to be a storm system moving through Long Beach around regatta weekend. But I mean, how accurate can a 10 day out forecast be? Well, turns out it can be very, very accurate. So we pulled into the Yacht Club parking lot at about 9am Saturday morning to wind, lots and lots of wind. The boat that we were borrowing was missing trap wires, so we made a rush trip down the street to Howard Hamlin, amazing sailing garage to cut slice and. Huddle in a warm place out of the now pouring rain and wind, lots and lots of wind. Then back to the Yacht Club. We launched the boat, and honestly, I was in such a tizzy from all the running around that morning, I didn’t even realize that as John pushed us off the dock. The tiller was in my hand, and we were going,
John Arndt 5:26
you’re suddenly there.
Lauren Bell 5:28
We capsized on the sale out. And my sweet John’s response was, Well, we got that out of the way. Spoiler alert, there would be, I think five more cap sizes that day. But honestly, I kind of lost count at some point. By the time we got out to the race course, we were literally on final approach to the starting line of the first race. We had no time for a line site, no preset the Spinnaker, no sail around. Just go also. Here are some names of the other sailors on the water during this and I quote a little regatta out of a, b, y, C, Mike Martin and Adam Lowery, Howard, Hamlin and Andy Zinn, Jeff Miller, Kevin Taher, Rob Waterman, if you know 505 sailing, you know these names, So picture this my first time ever even being in a 505 we make it to the top mark. It’s blowing like 20 plus. Set the spinnaker for the very first time, and John just pops out there on the wire. I mean, I’m thinking to myself, Is this my real life? The rest of the day was a blur, a literal blur. I learned this that weekend, that as a skipper in breeze and chop, you literally can see nothing. I don’t know why all 505, sailors or skippers aren’t in goggles. I thought we did 10 races that day, but when I looked back at the results, it was two, two races. We were scheduled to do one more, and the race committee actually ended up sending us in early due to storm conditions and seriously, no visibility out there. Wow, wow. So as we pass through the finish line on our last race of the day, John proudly looks back at me and tells me to send it back to the dock. Well, I sent it all right, um, I turned down so fast that I yeeted. Do you know that term? No, what is I learned it from my eight and 10 year old sons. Yit is a verb that means to throw something with force, often without regard for the object being thrown. So I yeeted, John forward off the bow and myself off the stern. It was a huge yard sale to end my very first day driving a 505,
John Arndt 8:08
holy smoke. But
Lauren Bell 8:10
let me tell you, I am so hooked on that boat now. But mostly I share this story because it’s one where I made myself proud. I impressed myself for trying something completely out of my comfort zone, something new. And yes, we are still married and actually racing 505, together again in three weeks in the same regatta out of a, b, y, C, during a and I quote, time of year, it’s never very windy in Long Beach. Lauren,
John Arndt 8:48
wow, that sounds pretty good. Well, we’ve talked to Mike Martin and yeah and Adam and yeah, they are Heck of a boat, and they certainly create a passion. And California, you’re up against the best in the world. Of course,
Lauren Bell 9:03
very true, very true. 505,
John Arndt 9:05
powerhouse. And those boats, yeah, I think they’re, what, 5070, years old as a design. And yet, I just spoke to someone else who said it’s their favorite boat. It’s yeah, they are amazing boats. They truly are Yeah. So I don’t know that sounds like a quite a jump in the into the deep end experience, but that sounds like you had to be a good Skipper too. I mean, you obviously are very good sailor, because you can’t jump into 505, and get around the course in those conditions without being a good sailor. But you started in Monterey Peninsula youth sailing yourself. How. How did that get going? Your parents were sailors, or to begin with,
Lauren Bell 9:43
you know, actually my I learned at the same time that my dad learned I took the junior program out of Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club, at the same time that my dad learned through the local Adult School How to. Sale. So we truly learned together. At the same time, I learned to sail in opties, lasers, FJs and our club had a lone map, a
John Arndt 10:11
taste of SoCal down there, exactly, yeah.
Lauren Bell 10:16
And then during middle school and high school, I sailed for the local high school, the local school teams. My dad always proudly gave me the tiller of his shields, even when I was still learning. But truly, I didn’t commit wholeheartedly until joining the sailing team at the University of California, Santa Barbara UCSB,
John Arndt 10:38
right? So you joined the sailing team, so you and your dad both learned to sail, but both got into racing. Your dad got a shields. How many boats? How many shields are down there? Monterey that? I mean, they have a pretty good fleet, right? They do.
Lauren Bell 10:51
I don’t know the current number, but I’m going to, I’m going to say that there’s at least 10. And, yeah, they’ve got a great West Coast fleet. Yeah,
John Arndt 10:58
yeah. And maybe, I don’t know if there any other West Coast fleets. It’s, I know there’s a strong fleet in Newport Rhode Island. Are there any other West I believe
Lauren Bell 11:05
that there are some down in Long Beach and Newport Beach. Oh, yeah, that I believe UC Irvine uses them as some of their learn to sail boats. Yeah. Okay.
John Arndt 11:17
Yeah. Great. Sail GP, the world’s most exciting racing on the water returns to California this spring with back to back events, the Rolex Los Angeles sail Grand Prix on March, 15 and 16th, and the Oracle San Francisco sail Grand Prix on March, 22 23rd experience these two action packed weekends as 12 national teams battle it out in high speed, 50 foot foiling catamarans flying at over 60 miles per hour with national pride, personal glory and $12.8 million in prize money on the line, the stakes have never been higher for sailings top athletes. Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic close to shore racing set against the iconic backdrops of the Port of Los Angeles and so Cal and the Golden Gate Bridge on the bay. Enjoy the ultimate day out by the water and get your tickets now at sale, gp.com, that’s s, a, i, L, G, p.com, maybe the Monterey program. How does that compare to what you did or doing now with Santa Barbara. I mean, is there a comparison between what your youth sailing experience and the kind of program you’re running
Lauren Bell 12:27
now? Growing up, the high school program was really just parent run, and it was a very small team. It was just two boats, you know, four kids, and we would load up in a in a minivan, and we would drive up and down the coast. There wasn’t an organization or a foundation that was supporting that. It was really just a, you know, it was just family and kids and let’s go and just do this. Yeah, great. I would say that the the Youth Foundation that I’m working with now is an amazing, an amazing foundation. It was formed actually in 1967 so we’re going on, you know, well into our 50th plus year. Yeah, it was sort of by members of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club. And we consist of nine board members, including Santa Barbara yacht Club’s rear Commodore. However, our day to day operations are really in the Good Hands of our program director and head coach, Nick K shack, and then our foundation really relies on donations tuition and then an annual endowment withdraw. We’re extremely fortunate to have so many people involved in the organization and some amazing donors, including the Santa Riya club women’s group, who over many basically since the inception of our foundation, helped provided scholarships to many of our learn to sail summer sailors, which includes participants in the Police Activities League, who we also partner with. So it’s a very strong foundation. We have a lot of moving parts. We have a lot of volunteers, a lot of parents, a lot of kids. So it’s a really fun group to be a part of. How
John Arndt 14:23
did you end up getting involved? You’ve been living in Santa Barbara and member of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club and or how did that come about? Were you teaching ever? Did you ever teach sailing?
Lauren Bell 14:32
You know, I coached sailing, maybe when I was like 1617, years old, at Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club. But I find myself better as a project manager than I do as a coach in the boat. I think we have great, great, you know, coaches that that do that. Yeah, you know, that’s what a great part of the Youth Foundation, and especially the fact that we have a lot of kids that go. Through the program and then come back and coach, and even go off to college and come back in the summers to coach. So that’s a really special part of the program. But how I got involved with it is, yeah, I started out as, you know, joining the Yacht Club, and I have two little boys myself. They are eight and 10 years old, and as they started to grow up and get into sailing, you know, I started to be around the summer sailing program and took on a director position with the Youth Foundation. I moved to the secretary position, and was in that for about three years, and then just this past year, took on the president role. Wow.
John Arndt 15:41
Terrific. Congratulations on that, and again on your award. How many kids go through? Is it a year round program or what? What is the shape of the program? So
Lauren Bell 15:50
our sailing program is organized into a spring, summer and fall semesters. The spring and fall semesters include after school sailing instruction for both high school students and our opti fleet sailors. And then the summer semester includes four two week sessions and one one week session with morning classes for more of the intro and learn to sail kiddos and classes in the afternoon that are for the more advanced sailing and racing. Our summer program this past year had 246
John Arndt 16:30
sailors. Holy smokes. Yeah. And
Lauren Bell 16:33
then for those kids that are interested in even more opportunities on the water, they can participate in our laser and 420 programs that run throughout the year. Wow,
John Arndt 16:44
that in the laser, 420 programs are part of the Santa Barbara Yacht
Lauren Bell 16:47
Club. No, this is all. This is all under our Youth Foundation.
John Arndt 16:52
Wow, does the Santa Barbara yacht club have its own separate Junior program, or is this kind of,
Lauren Bell 16:57
this is part and parcel with the with the Yacht Club, yeah,
John Arndt 17:01
yeah, wow, terrific. So are you teaching sailing basics? Are these kids also going into racing like you is there a racing program with all of this at high school sailing?
Lauren Bell 17:10
Yes, there is a racing program as well. So we, you know, we support through, you know, funding and coaching the high school FJ sailors, as well as lasers and 420s as well as we also have an opti fleet of racers as well. So we not only do we learn to sail, we also promote the racing. And then when we can even get kids in some of the big boat Wednesday night or weekend races through the Yacht Club, we love to get kids on those bigger keel boats as well, just give them so much more experience as well. As you know, it’s great to have, you know, the shared benefit, yeah, of having some kids on your boat. I mean, they’re greatly enthusiastic and want to learn, and nine times out of 10 you learn something from them.
John Arndt 18:01
Yeah, yeah, no, I think that’s one of the things we’ve talked about with several people. Is sort of multi generational sailing. You know, not kids just segregated into their own age group, but getting them on board with adults is really a great opportunity and inspiration for them. So that’s you manage to do it. I mean, as far as capacity, you guys add capacity as far as number of kids, I mean, or what’s the enthusiasm for sailing in general from kids these days in the area?
Lauren Bell 18:28
I’ll say we’re pretty darn at capacity. You know, our summer, our summer program sells out within five minutes. Oh, really, often times. You know, one thing that’s been amazing for our program is that just this past actually, in November of 2023 we completed our long planned clubhouse was completed. That was years in the making, and months and months of planning, we had to coordinate with the sailing schedule and the harbor department and the city planning and architects and contractors and so ultimately, that culminated in the first week of November in 2023 we had a new doc section that was built at the Santa Barbara launch ramp. Then volunteers detached our old dock, and it was a storage shed and at the time, and they carefully towed that to the launch ramp where it was removed for demolition. While that was happening, we had an approximately 300 square foot brand new clubhouse that had been built off site, craned onto a flatbed truck that was moved down the main Ocean Road, Cabrillo Boulevard, and attached to the new dock at the launch ramp. Using a crane they on site, they fastened the. Structure to the floating dock. They launched it into the water, and they were ready to tow it around back to our location, that’s at the Basa Marina, one in Santa Barbara. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had different plans. It was gusting Gus exceeding 20 knots and making it completely impractical to toe this structure around the harbor. And so undeterred, we had a group of amazing volunteers come back before dawn the next day to help tow the structure around the corner, you know, down the main channel around the corner to where our our dock lives, and they attached it through the afternoon. So we had an official we called it a kelp cutting to officially open our Clubhouse last year, and in the months since, we’ve been working to add all the finishing touches and make this really a home for the kids, as well as a state of the art teaching and training facility. Your question, going back to your question about, you know, are you at capacity? Yes, we are, but we feel so fortunate to have this new facility that really allows the kids to move about the dock better. It gives them, you know, bleacher seating for when we’re teaching them, as opposed to just, you know, sitting with a whiteboard in front of a tough shed. So it’s this has been a the biggest game changer for us recently is, is this new clubhouse, and we’re actually working on our second phase of that improvement, which is a couple of dock improvements, and that’s fingers crossed that’s going to be done before summer sailing starts this year. Ah,
John Arndt 21:50
terrific. Yeah. Well, I think that’s one of the biggest challenges most clubs and organizations face, is doing things on the waterfront is super challenging. There’s a lot of constraints and zoning and regulation, and it’s really hard. So congratulations on getting that accomplished and getting so much. Yeah, no, that’s, that’s terrific. So the kids too, they come back as instructors, and are they heading off too into college sailing teams or things like that? What? What? What’s trajectory after they get moved past youth sailing there, yeah, and
Lauren Bell 22:21
I’ll say one of my favorite parts of being part of this program and working with the kids is seeing where sailing takes them. We have kids in our program that have gone on to Olympic sailing campaigns, Ivy League college sailing teams. One owns a marine service company that is the tow boat contract out of Ventura and the Channel Islands. And most recently, I learned that one of our kids in the program is actually being mentored in sailing photography by our very own and world renowned Sharon green,
John Arndt 22:57
fabulous, yeah, couldn’t do better than that for a mentor, exactly, I know. Oh, that’s, that’s, that’s great for them. Yeah, terrific. We had Sharon on a podcast
Lauren Bell 23:08
of, I know I’ve listened to that one, great.
John Arndt 23:11
Yeah? No, she was great. And so, well, that makes me think about harbor 20s too. She’s a harbor 20 sailor too, right? You’ve got, you said, you’ve got a group down there called the the tacky moms who are right. So you’re growing youth sailing and adult sailing as well.
Lauren Bell 23:26
That’s right. And just to be clear, it’s spelled T, A, C, H, y, not the other way of tacky. And spelled that way, it actually means rapid or fast,
John Arndt 23:38
and tachometer, exactly. Yeah. And
Lauren Bell 23:41
so my, my very good friend Sarah, and I, we have put together sort of a makeshift team that we call the tacky moms, where we are trying to get as many female sailors, particularly moms, but any female sailor back on on the race course who have, for whatever reason, taken a break from sailing, be it to raise children or to, you know, try something else, but just try to get them back on the race course. And we are up to 25 and counting, new harbor 20 crews.
John Arndt 24:17
Wow. How many harbor 20s do you have in the fleet down there. How many? How many boats?
Lauren Bell 24:23
It’s one of our largest one designs. Yeah, I’m gonna need to get back to you on that. I’m gonna say it’s one of our largest ones. So I’m gonna say 15, really, yeah. And the, the special thing about harbor 20s in Santa Barbara is that we have spinnakers on our you do? You
John Arndt 24:41
do? Yeah, that’s interesting, yeah, because they don’t normally sail, they’re really just too wide sails, right? Okay, great, yeah. So what’s the sailing scene like there in Santa Barbara? When do you race them? Is that a Wednesday night boat, or is that a weekend racing or
Lauren Bell 24:55
Yeah? So the sailing in Santa Barbara is great. I believe. We have one of the longest wet Wednesday seasons in the country. We go from daylight savings time change to daylight savings time change. So that is 32 weeks of Wednesday night sailing that you can do here in Santa Barbara. Fabulous coming up soon. Yes, it is. And the races are run right off of the yacht Club’s upper deck, which is a great vantage point for everybody to watch the racing we race most weekends of the year with a nice westerly breeze that kicks in about 1pm like clockwork. Like clockwork, yeah. And we have a thriving one design and PHR fleet and a very new but quickly growing RC remote control fleet as
John Arndt 25:42
well. You do, okay? Oh, great, yeah. And you mentioned you also do some Mel, just 24 sailing, and won a Corinthian couple of Corinthian Mel, just 24 championships. What’s Yeah, tell us about the Mel, just 24 racing you have done. Are you still doing any of that? I’m
Lauren Bell 25:58
still doing it. I own, my husband and I co own the mail, just 24 named mocos, and we won the Corinthian US national championship that was held here in Santa, Barbara, California in 2024 Wow. I also crewed on the mail, just 24 average, and we also won the Corinthian national championship in 2018
John Arndt 26:23
above average. Yes, exactly.
Lauren Bell 26:26
So, yeah. So Mel, just, not just as my other true love, but that hiking like that’s tough. My friend, the Harvard 20 is a little nice. It’s got cushions and get
John Arndt 26:38
to sit inside. Are you allowed to hike in a harbor 20, is it? You know, sit in board. Boom, no,
Lauren Bell 26:43
I there’s you cannot hike in a harbor 20. Sounds like you’re allowed one arm up on the rail. About It
John Arndt 26:52
sounds very civilized, very Yeah, wow. So, so now you’re squeaking in harbor 20s. Mel, just 20 fours, and going to squeeze in some 505 sailing as well. How are you going to fit that in?
Lauren Bell 27:06
That’s, I don’t know how it’s all going to work, but it works out somehow. There’s a lot of calendars that we have the family
John Arndt 27:13
so, so do you have a 505 to race? Do you have a family one, or you have access to one that you’re joining the group with?
Lauren Bell 27:20
We do have one. We bought one last year, soon after that regatta that I talked about earlier,
John Arndt 27:28
new passion. Oh, that’s great. So, so yeah, well, you’ve got some good people to line up against there, so you’re going to be upping your game, probably pretty rapidly if you hang hanging with that crowd,
Lauren Bell 27:40
I know, yeah, all about asking questions and learning. That’s, that’s my jam. Yeah, well, that’s
John Arndt 27:46
good. Well, that’s and that’s probably good for the youth sailing foundation as well. What’s changing in that, in youth sailing foundation world, as far as how kids are learning, maybe, or what’s sort of new goals? Are you doing STEM training as well, anything like that. Or is it primarily sailing, sailing focused,
Lauren Bell 28:04
you know, there’s a great foundation that’s been laid there that we, you know, we’re constantly trying to innovate, and we’ve added the 420 fleet just this past two years. I think what I’ve noticed is that the type of boat ebbs and flows. You know, we during COVID, it went very laser driven with the individual sailors, yeah, and we know that the opti fleets are coming back from that. So I think, I think it’s, what’s important is just to continue to keep your eye out of the boat really, and see what, how is, how is sailing changing and making sure to keep our program up to date with that?
John Arndt 28:46
Yeah? Yeah, your 420s club 420s or international. They’re not club 420s Yeah. What inspires, maybe parents to bring kids down to the waterfront? They are, a lot of them, club members already, or they’re getting people from the public and they just see kids having fun out there. Yeah,
Lauren Bell 29:02
we have a combination of both. What I see is two types of parents, and there’s those that sail themselves and want to include their children in their passion and hobby. Yeah, or there’s those parents that don’t sail and they want their children to learn, and in return, teach them about this new hobby or passion. But either way, appreciation of the ocean is sort of the common thread that I see amongst all parents and children that are involved in the program.
John Arndt 29:35
Yeah, great. So, so some parents do that as a way to get themselves involved in sailing. I mean, do you find that teaching kids you how to, how to, then the parents become sailors after the kids have learned
Lauren Bell 29:48
exactly. And I’ll add that, why my parents got me into sailing? Yeah, going back for a moment to sort of the. Drama of growing up as a middle school girl, it’s not always easy. When there was sort of drama at our house, my mom would force my dad and I to get out of there and go sailing together. And so what would start as us not speaking to each other, or rigging the boat together, side by side in silence, would always end up with a great day out on the water and US returning to the dock in better moods, chatting and laughing and working together. So that bond that I have with my dad and my mom now is because of those days on the water together as I was growing up. Yeah. Well,
John Arndt 30:47
that’s a great Well, I love that thought, because, of course, we often talk about that sailing is a great escape. You know, life ashore can be pretty harried, and in noise, a lot of noise, and get out on the water and suddenly all that stuff gets left behind super quickly and Exactly, yeah, and I think, you know, and also, compared to so many other youth sports, I mean, there’s so many other great sports, so you could play soccer, baseball, but there’s not many you do with your parents. You
Lauren Bell 31:11
know, that’s a good point, yeah. And can do your whole life,
John Arndt 31:15
and you can do your whole life, yeah? No, I think that that’s a really fun thing. So do you have siblings that sale as well? Or what
Lauren Bell 31:21
I do? And I’m so glad you asked, because my youngest sister, Ashley, she sails as well. Um, she just this last year, raced double handed Pacific cup with her husband. Oh, wow, aboard the boat Domino. It’s a wilderness 30. Um, I’m so proud of them. They did an amazing job. I got to be in Kaneohe Bay watching them cross the finish line. And so that’s a special bond that I share with my sister as well.
John Arndt 31:49
Wow. So she’s, have you done some Offshore Sailing or offshore racing, or you’re a dinghy around the buoys?
Lauren Bell 31:55
Person? No, sir. I learned very quickly that I am not an offshore overnight sailor.
John Arndt 32:04
Is that another story we should hear that is
Lauren Bell 32:06
a good story. It’s a very long story. It involves a sinking boat, oh, yeah, using yarn to keep it from sinking. But yeah, it’s it’s a bell story.
John Arndt 32:22
Wow. Well, your sister, so, yes, she does that. Does she an offshore racer more than a buoy sailor then or
Lauren Bell 32:28
it? She’s transitioning that way. I mean, she, she went through high school sailing and college sailing as well out of UC Irvine, um, she also sails with my dad on his shields. Yep, but yeah, she is transitioning to much more of the offshore long distance sailing
John Arndt 32:48
these days. Good for her and that that her and her husband have the wilderness 30 They do, yeah, wow, that’s really spectacular. They did it last summer. Yes, just this last summer. Wow. Good for them. Is that their first time doing a double handed offshore. I
Lauren Bell 33:01
was certainly her first time double handed. Um, they’ve both done Transpac. And Austin, her husband, has done Transpac a couple times, and he has done a ton of returns. I think something like this was his 14th crossing this last year. So they are very experienced, very seasoned sailors.
John Arndt 33:20
Yeah, yeah. Oh, fantastic. Well, that’s great. So, so now, yeah, the kids that are going out of the Santa Barbara youth sailing program, do they get offshore? Where do you kind of when they get out of the program, they go off to college, wherever Do you have any access to programs like that that they jump into,
Lauren Bell 33:36
not directly? But I’d say that one of and one of my favorite parts of being involved with sailing is the connections that you make the people that you meet. I mean, all along the way, you’re meeting people who maybe they’re a great dingy sailor, or maybe they’re they prefer offshore, you know, long, long distance racing. And so I think those connections that they make when they’re kids in the Youth Foundation those last a lifetime, you know, and so constantly we see some of these kids, you know, doing California offshore race week, or, you know, a, you know, a cabo race, or a, you know, trans pack. So it’s great to see them come back and really use those connections that they made as kids. I think that the most amazing part of sailing is that those last a lifetime,
John Arndt 34:24
yeah, yeah, great. Well, I gotta ask you, just shift gears. You do? You often yourself get off to any cruising, anything like get out to the channel, islands off, offshore, yeah.
Lauren Bell 34:35
So, like so we, just two years ago, we bought a power boat in Alban 28 Oh, nice. And we are all in on the cruising front anytime we can get over to the Channel Islands. We’re over there. My husband grew up going to Helen’s landing in Catalina Island. It’s the Los Angeles yacht clubs outpost, right? And so that’s where, you know, that’s our happy place. But we’re learning, and we’re exploring the the Channel Islands up by us, yeah, anytime we can get out to Santa Cruz or, you know, San Miguel or Santa Rosa is a great, great weekend. Yeah,
John Arndt 35:15
yeah. No, those are pretty great crews. I’ve never cruised the Channel Islands, but I know many of many Santa Francisco sailors will head down the coast and spend a summer or a few weeks and go back north, but they just sound like I have sailed down the Santa Barbara Channel a couple of times. And
Lauren Bell 35:31
it’s, yeah, that’s, that’s Harry’s at times,
John Arndt 35:34
hairy, but beautiful. Yeah, you guys were okay during all these fires down there is that
Lauren Bell 35:39
we are pretty north of them. Yeah, yeah. Around we’ve had our fair share of fires here over the last decade, but these ones in particular that are happening now are pretty south of us.
John Arndt 35:50
Yeah, wow, yeah, no, that was a pretty frightening thing to look at, and hopefully it settled down for everybody. But boy, yeah, scary. Alright. Well, great. I just want to ask you that sort of anything else that sort of inspires you, as far as teaching sailing and kids and kids, I think just, you know, it sounds like such a great program, and it obviously to have the Women’s Foundation and the yacht club behind this, and getting two 300 kids through or more a year really is a force in the neighborhood. What sort of makes the kids are you so happy about getting kids into sailing? For
Lauren Bell 36:26
me, it’s the connections with people, the relationships that I have made in my life from simply simply sitting next to someone in a boat for hours upon hours, I hope will continue to last. Last me a lifetime, and I hope that those kids, the kids that go through our program, that they also create these amazing connections and relationships with people that will last them a lifetime. Yeah,
John Arndt 36:51
no, I think that’s one of the great powers of it. It’s, it’s, it’s a fun activity, but it’s the people that make it really a powerful community. So that’s, that’s really awesome. Sale. GP, the world’s most exciting racing on the water, returns to California this spring with back to back events, the Rolex Los Angeles sail Grand Prix on March 15 and 16th. And the Oracle San Francisco sale Grand Prix on March, 22 23rd experience these two action packed weekends as 12 national teams battle it out in high speed, 50 foot foiling catamarans flying at over 60 miles per hour with national pride, personal glory and $12.8 million in prize money on the line, the stakes have never been higher for sailings top athletes. Don’t miss your chance to witness this epic close to shore racing set against the iconic backdrops of the Port of Los Angeles and SoCal and the Golden Gate Bridge on the bay. Enjoy the ultimate day out by the water and get your tickets [email protected] that’s s, a, i, L, G, p.com. Great. Well, I’m going to ask you a couple of quick questions here, short tax for us to and I’m just wondering you’ve got, now quite a lineup of boats. But I was going to ask, you know, you got a favorite make, model, or both dream boat that you’d want to have, or maybe you already have it,
Lauren Bell 38:11
I would say the laser. And I’m sorry I will never change to calling it an ilka.
John Arndt 38:19
Yeah, that’s a hard one for all of us, but I think that’s, yeah, a laser is your childhood fun boat. So do you still race those as well?
Lauren Bell 38:25
I do not. I do not, but I maybe one day I would love to race in a master’s race with my dad. My dad still sails a laser. He’s a great grand master at this point, I believe. Oh, and my, one of my goals is to race in a master’s race with
John Arndt 38:42
him. Oh, fantastic. Against him, I guess. Well, I Okay, against him. Can’t be side by side on that one. Yeah. How about a favorite sailing venue? Uh, you’ve been, you’ve traveled, a lot, of you, primarily a California Sailor. Where else? Where’s your maybe it’s right there.
Lauren Bell 39:01
My favorite sailing area is one where I can wake up in my own bed, take a short drive down to the harbor, rig a boat, and be out on the water within an hour. That is my favorite place in the world to sail. Sounds like you’re there, I’m here.
John Arndt 39:20
Yeah, great. When you’re talking to parents, maybe about encouraging their kids to sail, what do you I mean, I guess I sort of have heard this, it’s going to be great for them, but they got any fears or what? What do you do to help people overcome the fear of the water?
Lauren Bell 39:35
So my friend Sarah and I talked a little bit about the tacky moms and something that we say to our potential tacky moms now these are typically adults, to encourage them to get to give sailing a shot. It’s the hardest day on the water is still easier than a day of parenting. So you got this? You.
John Arndt 40:00
Actually, that’s Chris. What’s are parents a little more nervous than kids? Or kids, maybe they’re more scared than have more to be afraid of, or kids get scared?
Lauren Bell 40:09
Yeah? You know, it’s a mixed bag. I’d say, yeah, yeah.
John Arndt 40:14
That’s yeah. That’s funny, huh? How about yourself? You got any fears? Guess, Offshore Sailing. You don’t want to go Offshore Sailing.
Lauren Bell 40:21
No, I’m not. I’m not going Offshore Sailing. I don’t have fears on the water. I have all the fears and worries before I’m on the water. I worry about too much wind. I worry about not enough wind. I worry about who will take care of my kids when I’m on the water, I worry about anchoring and mooring and the rights during a lured Mark rounding, you name it, the moment that I step foot on a boat, I don’t have those fears or worries. I’m just there and I’m present.
John Arndt 40:55
Yeah, you’re in the groove, yeah? Well, that’s a lot, a lot of time at the helm. You get a very good comfort there. Well, last question I have is, just a sailing themed book. Is there any favorite book you’d recommend to our listeners, readers?
Lauren Bell 41:09
So I’ll be honest, I don’t have the bandwidth these days to sit down and read a book, so I brought it with me. I’m going to go with the children’s picture book called Ready Set sail. It’s about a tiger and a turtle going out sailing together, and it has an amazing ability to rhyme accurate sailing terminology, which I fully appreciate you a little. I’ll give you the first page. Yeah, great. Grab your life vest, zip that zipper, throw the bow line to your Skipper. It ends with the tiger and the turtle meeting their buds, bear and pig. And though it doesn’t exactly say it this way, they are meeting at a bar to tell all about their day on the water. And, I mean, isn’t that just exactly perfect and so accurate for this sport of sailing? Yeah,
John Arndt 42:07
perfect. Now that’s a new book for us. We’ve had a lot of you know, people remembering Robin Lee Graham’s dove or Joshua Slocum, but it’s fun to have a new book, and especially a book for kids. So that’s something for the youth sailing people to take home say that the name of it again,
Lauren Bell 42:26
ready, set sail. Ready
John Arndt 42:29
Set sail. Okay, great. We’ll dig it up. Great. Well, Lauren, thank you so much. And one I just asked two, are there any other questions or things you’d like to say to our audience about Santa, Barbara youth sailing, or anything else I should have asked.
Lauren Bell 42:43
I would say to my boys, who I hope will, but I’m honestly will be shocked if they do sit through an entire hour of listening to me on this podcast, rambling about my second favorite thing in the world besides them and their dad, which is sailing. Thank you. Owen and Henry. I love the two of you.
John Arndt 43:04
Oh, Mom, that’s so great. Thanks so much. Well, great. Well, great to have you here and wait. And for people who want to connect with you, they can Google Santa, Barbara, sailing foundation and find out what you’re doing there. Yeah.
Lauren Bell 43:16
So we have SB, y, s, f org and s by c.org, online, both have Facebook and Instagram accounts, and as well as I’ll send you a YouTube link that has the amazing process that we went through to get our Clubhouse craned and towed all around the harbor and get it in place at our base of Marina one. And now
John Arndt 43:40
that’s that’s fun. We’ll try and connect that up in the show notes when we put that online, so people can see what you’ve built down there, and it sounds like a fantastic program. So thank you so much for telling us all about it and for teaching all these kids, getting all these kids in the water they’re in for a treat.
Lauren Bell 43:56
Great. Thank you so much for having me, John!