February 14, 2017

Lori Tewksbury and Bob Walden

"Years and years ago I dated a guy with a sailboat," writes Lori Tewksbury of Martinez. "After I stopped dating him, I missed the boat. A few years later I was looking for something to do that was totally separate from work and remembered how much I like sailing and joined the Cal Sailing Club. From there, I got asked to race on keelboats and then, and then…"

"I found a dinghy at Boy Scout summer camp when I was a kid and figured it out," says Bob Walden. "From there, whenever I got the chance I found a way to sail."

The two met racing offshore on Petard, Keith Buck's Farr 36, almost 10 years ago.

"We both race a lot, and even before Lori bought Hang 20, we raced most weekends," they explained. Lori co-owns the Express 27 Hang 20, ex-Great White with boat partner Moni Blum. "It works out great in our relationship because when we're both busy, we're both racing. We plan our vacation time and such around the race calendar."

Bob and Lori at Venice Beach. © Lori Tewksbury

Togetherness includes boat maintenance and talking about the racing. And, Lori is helping Bob's foredeck with his new sails. "We also enjoy meeting up after racing and hanging out together and with friends."

Bob plans to race Sea Star, his Cal 39, with the new jibs and main. He's looking forward to the day when the boat is out of the yard with 200 pounds of old bottom paint gone. Lori has a full schedule racing Hang 20 with Moni, doing fleet, long distance and offshore racing crewed and doublehanded.

Continue on to Sailing Valentines, Part 2…