Meet Rhiannon's Crew

Our goal is to win as many of the individual leg races as possible, and with those wins claim the class win for the entire Puerto Vallarta race. Our team includes five members:

Captain Bill Tarr – Bill began class racing in college on Catalina 15 and Ghost 13 sailboats, racing against UCLA and other Southern California colleges. He later served as Commodore of the California State University Sailing Club and was awarded their “Bluewater Skipper” rating as he moved up to larger boats. As crew and watch captain on a Baltic 38 sloop, he has raced in the Newport to Ensenada and Marina del Rey to San Diego ocean races, winning the San Diego race in their Division.

Bill and his wife Stacy have lived and cruised on their 44 foot cutter Rhiannon for the past 11 years in Southern California and Mexico and have cruised in both Tahiti (2005) and Fiji (2007). Bill is employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District as an administrator.

Stacy Sinclair-Tarr – Stacy began sailing 12 years ago and together with her husband Bill, purchased and re-fitted their 44 foot cutter-rigged sailboat Rhiannon. She has crewed on non-stop sailboat deliveries from Seattle to Los Angeles and Marina del Rey to Ensenada. As a Flag member of the Del Rey Yacht Club (the sponsoring club for the 2009 Puerto Vallarta Race) she has been active in the club’s Race Committee, starting and finishing both long and short distance races. She has cruised with her husband Bill in Southern California, Mexico, Tahiti and Fiji.

Stacy is an independent education consultant to corporations and public school districts. She lives with Bill on Rhiannon.

Kerry Rackliffe – Kerry has been sailing since her dad put her in the forepeak of a 110 when she was six months old – so that Daddy-O could babysit and race with his sailing buddies at the same time! Since then she has owned four boats and sailed extensively in Chesapeake Bay, the Caribbean, San Francisco Bay and Southern California. Her 9,000 mile off-shore experience includes a Panama Canal transit.

She has been sailing with Jack Rackliffe for 19 years.


Jack Rackliffe – Jack was brought up as a power boater, but realized he couldn’t afford fuel for a power boat after graduating from college. He bought a Sailfish and taught himself to sail off of Cape Cod.

An ocean engineering career brought him to Southern California where he single-handed an Islander 30 before meeting the two loves of his life, Kerry and their Peterson 44, Mamouna.

Jack and Kerry reside in Marina Del Rey, California.


Jeff Zurschmeide – Jeff is a novice in the world of sailing, but has extensive experience in endurance automobile racing and extreme adventure rallying. He’s looking forward to a steep learning curve as the junior member of Rhiannon’s crew and he cheerfully responds to his onboard nickname, "Little Buddy."

Jeff resides in Tualatin, Oregon, and makes his living as an adventure and automotive journalist. His work appears regularly in Forever MX-5, SportsCar and Subiesport magazines and the Portland Tribune newspaper. Additionally, his writing and photos have been published in Sticks & Stones Outdoor Adventures, Auto News of the Americas, Grassroots Motorsports, AutoExec, Victory Lane, MC2 and several other magazines, and many online outlets.