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Ron Holland Continues with Sailing’s Simple Pleasures

Beyond his designing some of the world’s fastest, most successful race boats and elegant, large cruising yachts, one of the things we most appreciate about naval architect Ron Holland is his simple love of sailing. This shines through clearly when someone with his sailing pedigree continues to participate in weekend PHRF racing aboard his own bright-red Coronado 25, Kia Aura, and, most recently, in the Vancouver, BC, Leukemia Cup Regatta.

Ron Holland Kia Aura Coronado 25
To give the competitors a fighting chance, the Kia Aura crew left the outboard in at the start.
© 2021 Stefano Berg

As Ron explained, in the racing shot above, “The outboard was down because we found we were in the wrong starting area and had to hustle to the correct one and be ready for the downwind start.” Being on the water is the first and most important thing.

The Kia Aura crew of Laura Fuge from NZ on the helm, Ron Holland from NZ/BC on spinny, plus Chris Barker (foredeck), Susan Fielder, and Chris Hilsden, all from Canada, were racing in the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club Leukemia Cup last month. It’s just another way of having a good time with friends and supporting a good cause while keeping it simple aboard a California-built ‘plastic classic’ from the ’70s.

4 Comments

  1. Ross angel 2 years ago

    Long live Ron Holland’s love of sailing …the simplicity of this picture with you hanging with friends is worth a thousand words…
    Ross Angel

    • Tim Henry 2 years ago

      Ross — We hope this doesn’t sound weird, but we love that you love Ron Holland’s love of sailing. To put it another way, when you see that someone is passionate about sailing (and that someone unexpectedly confounds your expectations), it’s contagious. It makes you remember that you’re passionate about sailing, too.

  2. milly Biller 2 years ago

    Ron Holland is one of the nicest, funniest, most humble and accomplished sailors that I have ever had the privilege to meet. This fits him to a T !!!

  3. John Callahan 2 years ago

    I do not personally know Ron Holland – but I am intimately familiar with the Coronado 25. He chose well. It is a sweet sailing boat, and due to its unsightly flush deck and large windows, it has more interior light and space than many 30 footers from that vintage. I grew up sailing and racing in SF Bay on my dad’s Coronado 25, and acquired one decades later for easy Bay and Delta cruising. Kudos to Ron Holland – and the everlasting Coronado 25! -John Callahan

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