It’s hardly like the old S.O.C.K.S. regattas of the 1990s, where there were up to 9 one design dinghy fleets (including Europe’s-!-, 28 Lasers and A-class Cats). But there was good racing last weekend off Shilshole, including an ever-stronger fleet of RS Aeros. In a sense, CYC’s POD (or PNW) regatta is a grandchild of the old S.O.C.K.S. regatta, with the NOOD regatta in between.
The weekend’s POD was largely keelboat one-designs, with J/105, J/80 and Melges 24 fleets. The bright spot in the dinghy side of things was the RS Aero fleet, with seven boats competing in at least one race.
Thanks to Matt Wood and Diana Yuen for giving us the lowdown from the committee boat:
On Saturday there were mostly shifty north to north-easterlies, and light but moderately building all day. By mid afternoon it was 8 to 10 knots, with a VERY large ebb pushing to fleet to the North. On the RC side of things, it was tricky to set and keep the marks in place in that amount of current.
It started light on Sunday and shifted to nothing – we had to recall the first start and postpone the rest. After lunch it picked up quite a bit and the best race conditions were at the end of the day. In one memorable moment the lone Hobie 16 started paddling by hand before the start – when the wind was really dead. In the last race, Underdog’s main halyard sheared off and Stellar J got its spinnaker tangled up under the boat and both had to retire. Aside from that, the classes were all fairly competitive and fun to watch.
And this from our man in the RS Aero straps, Jacques Garrigues:
It was out of the south on Saturday and started mid range and slowly dropped down towards the end. Although the participation was low (5 Aeros and no Lasers), those of us on the water commented over beers what a good time we had. On Sunday the first start was in dying southerly, no second start, Aeros heading in, no wait a minute – a northerly is on the horizon. Cool. Fills in nicely and we are racing. The breeze built all day from the north against a HUGE ebb, therefore a big and CONFUSED sea state. It was full on hiking so a really good workout and the boats were close, sometimes overlapped at the finish. At beers we were all feeling good about being on the water and we all agreed that each time we get in our boats we learn something NEW.
It is an incredible sport in that with the ever changing conditions a new scenario always plays out which you need to deal with. We were happy to be out there even though it would have been nice to have more company. I would say the race management was very good, pretty much incident free but approaching the weather mark in an Aero and a group of Melges 24 you need to pick your battles very carefully.
Help requested for the Leukemia Cup – June 9
By Matt Wood, Fleet Captain Race Corinthian Yacht Club Seattle
I am co-chair of the Leukemia Cup this year. We’re looking for people to volunteer day of event (contact me : matthewewood@outlook.com ) and to sign up or sponsor boats. It’ll take place from Elliott Bay Marina in it’s Thursday evening format, but will be on Saturday June 9th.
POD photos by Diana Yuen.
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.