I got a note from my high school pal Pam last week that her brother, sailing legend Andy Schwenk, was going to be joining Rick Raduziner — owner of the Santa Cruz 27, Lickety Split — to compete in the 2024 Santa Cruz 27 National Championships at Lake Tahoe July 12-14. Andy was a couple of years behind me in high school in Anacortes, WA and I had the good fortune to sail with him and his dad, Dr. Walter Schwenk, aboard the iconic Santa Cruz 33, Ajax, back in the day.
Andy’s been afloat pretty much his whole life, and has chalked up 54 trips across the Pacific to Hawaii and back while racing in the Victoria to Maui, Transpac and Pacific Cup competitions. Professionally, Andy is a marine surveyor, rigging expert, delivery skipper and Port Captain of the Richmond Yacht Club in the Bay Area. Andy made headlines a few years ago when he developed necrotizing fasciitis from a minor ankle scrape after the 2022 Pacific Cup race. A few days into the return voyage, Andy had to be transfered to a passing tanker and later airlifted to the mainland, where he spent a month at Stanford hospital while a team of physicians worked to save his leg.
I drove up to Tahoe Yacht Club last Friday to see if I could find Andy after the skipper’s meeting, and recognized him instantly. We visited for a few minutes before he and Rick dashed off to prep the boat for the race. With high pressure hanging over the Tahoe basin, winds were light and shifty, and Lickety Split managed a respectable 5th out of a dozen boats.
The day before, Debbie and I snuck up for a wonderful afternoon sail in 12-15 knot winds to Sugar Pine State Park, where we dropped the hook in about 14 ft. and both went swimming for the first time this year. The water was about 70º F. at the surface, so we dove in and splashed around a bit before climbing back aboard to dry off under the shade of our makeshift “bimini.” The winds dropped off to just a breath later in the evening, so we took a leisurely motor along the shoreline looking at all the lovely homes and boats as the sun lowered in the sky. After all the wrenching on the boat earlier this year — including replacing the hard-to-find Lucas alternator just last week — it felt like we’d finally settled into our summer groove. We’re looking forward to more. Until then …
Fair winds! DB
Originally Published: https://sailing-splendido.com/2024/07/14/catching-up-with-sailor-andy-schwenk-our-first-splash-of-the-summer/
