Donor Connie Allen

Connie Allen of Detroit loves sailing and would like to encourage other women to do what she did — jump on a boat and try it.

Allen is also the first recipient of the Elizabeth “Libby” Mistele Trophy, which the Detroit Yacht Club awards to the Woman Sailor of the Year. Mistele raced out of the DYC in the 1940s, beating all the men in the days when a woman on board was almost unheard of.

So Allen came up with a great way to combine her three interests: An admiration of Mistele and gratitude for the award, an avid interest in sailing and a desire to encourage other women to enter the sport of sailing.

“To honor her, I’m donating the cost of a woman non-member of the DYC to take the Flying Scots class this year,” Allen said. Her overall goal is to encourage women to try sailing who may not otherwise have taken the class.

Allen herself learned to sail by taking the Flying Scots class.

“I started sailing 10 years ago when I took the class at the DYC and it’s just meant so much to me in terms of just finding something that I love, meeting other people who feel the same way,” Allen said.

“Now I teach the Flying Scots and I sometimes see how tentative women are,” Allen said. “We just try to encourage women to do this and not be intimidated by the fact that there may be just one of two women taking the class.”

Interested women simply need to send a letter of interest, explaining why they want to take the class to the Detroit Yacht Club, 1 Riverbank Drive, Detroit, MI 48207. A committee will consider all applications and select the winner.