While Sunday’s racing may have determined PSSC winners and losers, it’ll be Saturday’s gusty chaos that will be remembered. The CYC-Seattle series was once again sailed on two courses off Shilshole, with the North course races abandoned after two races. The South course enjoyed a full day of four races Saturday and Sunday.
Unfortunately the Dibley 250 sportboat Carbon, new to owner Iain Christenson, didn’t even make it to the first start. While flying along at about 15 knots, the bow buried in a wave and “the boat stopped, rig kept going….we just couldnt’ get through that one wave,” explained Christenson.
If you haven’t been there already, it’s well worth heading over to Jan’s site to see all the photos.
Given their history, it came as no surprise that one of the Sierra 26s got in real trouble. While in all likelihood flying along, Uno broached and turtled, leaving at least one person separated from the boat in the aftermath. And, once again, the photo team of Skip and Jan Anderson stood by for the rescue and were prepared to tow Uno when the Farr 30 Nefarious took care of that task while the Andersons returned the crew member to shore. It should be noted that the other Sierra 26, Dos, finished both races that day. 
On Saturday the two Sierras walked all over the cruiser racers in their class to finish first and second overall for the weekend. I am bothered by both the fact that a boat in this event can turn turtle, putting crew and rescuers at risk, and that they can come back to finish second (broke the tie with Different Drummer) after a DNF and DNS in a six race, no throwout series.
Songs could be written about one epic Here and Now broach, that showed while J/29s don’t go turtle, they can certainly lay down for a while. The broach came when a 35 knot gust hit during a gybe. Proving that even more traditional keelboats can leave a trail of bodies in the water, the crew had to scramble back aboard before finishing the race.
But the real story for this PSSC was the Moore 24 class. Ben Braden rightly credits the boat – it’s a great design, fast and seaworthy – for the resurgence. His blog post says it all.
But it’s always more than the boat: It’s always about the people as well. Ben’s wife Jennifer and fleet captain Sarah Mars drummed up the interest for the event and Sail Northwest hosted a well-earned feast on Saturday night. It was easily the best racing out there with 12 identical boats on the line and a great mix of winners in Sunday’s milder conditions.
A word about the race committee. It wasn’t easy on the RC boats, bouncing at anchor and getting seasick. One member of the team on the South course’s YC6 committee boat even ended up injuring a hand that required surgery that night. She was on the water the next day! Competitors can be thankful that the North course was shut down when it was, South course stayed open and the race committee stuck it out on the water. Well done, CYC.
CYC’s Racing fleet captain, Matt Woods, provided a lot of the above information and added “We were expecting big air on Saturday. Perhaps not quite as much, and not right off the get-go. West Point wind showed 25 to 33 consistently, with a peak gust of 38 around 130 PM. Temperatures were mild though.
“One of the issues on the North course was that we were unable to securely anchor the weather marks, and it was unsafe to continue to expose the whaler drivers to those conditions. Plus many competitors were leaving the course.
“One of the biggest incidents I was aware of was Here and Now‘s broach. She laid there for a good minute until the boat rotated and got back on her feet. Several of the crew ended up on the water, and climbed back on board. They doused the kite and finished the race. Very sport. Happened right behind us on the J/29 Wings.
Good times.”
North course results, South course results.
Kurt grew up racing and cruising in the Midwest, and has raced Lasers since the late 1970s. Currently he is a broker at Swiftsure Yachts. He has been Assistant Editor at Sailing Magazine and a short stint as Editor of Northwest Yachting. Through Meadow Point Publishing he handles various marketing duties for smaller local companies. He currently is partners on a C&C 36 which he cruises throughout the Northwest. He’s married to the amazing Abby and is father to Ian and Gabe.
Great write-up Kurt, thanks for sharing the details. I was unable to race myself last weekend but was very curious what happened especially after the big winds on Sat.