Faye Bennett

growing up, Faye Bennet was in charge of all the major youth regattas. she ran a tight ship, but she was your first experience with real regattas, following the rules, and dealing with racers from other areas. she was always there, so i hope she knows how much she was appreciated.
 
I did not know anything about Faye Bennett, either. She sounds like a wonderful person. Let's keep this thread topic to her now, please.
 
I've known Faye since I started in junior sailing 18 years ago. I'd always talk to her when I saw her and she was always there to help out, judge or anything you needed. She was always kind and there were so many people who knew her. She led the way for many things US Sailing and it's a huge loss. It will be a shame to not see her out on the water in her inflatable on LBI in NJ.
 
Suppose this is the most appropriate place to say a few words about Faye, since I first met Faye when I was 14 years old at my first big laser regatta (big to me at least), the Smythe Finals at Noroton YC in 1980. I was 6'3'' and 110 pounds, and as you might expect, got dead last in some strong easterlies. I was so far back, they asked me to stop racing so they could get the next race started...several times. At the same time, I was getting hazed by many of the older/bigger competitors throughout the event for being such a pinner.

Faye came up to me after the first day, and said to me, "honey, until the time limit's expired, you can race it out." She didn't coddle me, she didn't say nice things to make me feel better, she just said she could see I was still trying, was pissed at the RC for making me stop, and I should be able to finish. So for the rest of the event I did, making everyone wait for me.

How could one little old lady make someone proud of finishing last by a mile? That was Faye Bennett...

God speed Faye!!

Steve Bourdow
 
sbourdow said:
She didn't coddle me, she didn't say nice things to make me feel better, she just said she could see I was still trying, was pissed at the RC for making me stop, and I should be able to finish.
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I didn't know her, but that speaks volumes about what kind of person she was. A big loss to sailing.
 
I'm bumping this as its close to a few years since her passing. And as I rebuilt my brothers old Sunny this summer, I really started looking back on my career as a Junior on LBI, and searching up all the old names. Faye (and her husband Jake) really played a crucial role in my life, they pushed me into a Laser while everyone else was saying "No". Jake allowed me to sail his boats until I bought my own. They would come out to coach whenever they were free or during inter-clubs. They really pushed hard for my old club to get in to a Laser fleet. I can't even describe how appreciative I am of both of them.
I loved Faye's attitude on sailing. Most people could not deal with Faye's "tell it like it is" attitude. But she was right, she knew what she was talking about, and if you listened, you would most definitely improve. Sugar coat nothing- My Father share's the same attitude (not popular in the snooty YC world), and she was the only person at the YC he knew by name, and truly enjoyed conversing with. I really wish I could roll back 15-20 years.

I'm about to tear up. I only hope my children will have the opportunity to have good people like Faye and Jake around in the future.
 
sbourdow said:
Suppose this is the most appropriate place to say a few words about Faye, since I first met Faye when I was 14 years old at my first big laser regatta (big to me at least), the Smythe Finals at Noroton YC in 1980. I was 6'3'' and 110 pounds, and as you might expect, got dead last in some strong easterlies. I was so far back, they asked me to stop racing so they could get the next race started...several times. At the same time, I was getting hazed by many of the older/bigger competitors throughout the event for being such a pinner.

Faye came up to me after the first day, and said to me, "honey, until the time limit's expired, you can race it out." She didn't coddle me, she didn't say nice things to make me feel better, she just said she could see I was still trying, was pissed at the RC for making me stop, and I should be able to finish. So for the rest of the event I did, making everyone wait for me.

How could one little old lady make someone proud of finishing last by a mile? That was Faye Bennett...

God speed Faye!!

Steve Bourdow
Click to expand...

Hi Steve,

I am the historian at SBYC where Faye was based. I loved your story and would like to paraphrase and quote from it for our (slowly!!) emerging book on the club's history from 1922 to 1952. In fact I would like to use the paragraph beginning "How could one little old lady...." as the ending for Faye's short biography. Would you be prepared to give me permission and to mention you by name?

Sorry, I don't know how else to contact you. Faye was an inspiration for so many (including me). Are you the FD sailor?

Wendy
 
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