Author: Kurt Hoehne

Bergan and Glass win Championship of Champions

Kurt Hoehne PNW sailors around the world, US Sailing 0 Comment

Looks like Dalton and Ben were in fine form on the East Coast. Congrats and thanks for doing the PNW proud. Here’s the report from US Sailing.

STAMFORD, Conn. (October 6, 2019) – The Championship of Champions, hosted by Stamford Yacht Club came to a close Sunday afternoon after three days of exciting racing in windy conditions on Long Island Sound. Dalton Bergan (Seattle, Wash.) and Ben Glass (Seattle, Wash.) won the event to claim the 2019 Jack Brown Trophy.

Dalton Bergan and Ben Glass winning the Championship of Champions in Ideal 18s. Photos by Rick Bannerot, ontheflyphotos.net.

RS Aero North American Champion, Bergan, and his crew, Glass, established a dominant lead early on. They won six of the total 13 races, including both races that occurred on the first day of the regatta. With a considerable lead, they officially sealed their victory after winning the second to last race of the event.

Bergan attributed their success to their consistent focus on the water, “We put a lot of effort into setting up the boat before every race.” Glass added, “We went upwind to check our settings over and over again without resting much between races. It seems to have paid off.”

Bergan and Glass, center.

Both of the victors enjoyed the Championship’s unique crowd of fellow competitors, “We didn’t really know what to expect from the competitors at this event,” said Glass. Bergan noted, “It was really interesting to compete against such a broad spectrum of sailors. This is the only place where you’d see this group of people racing against each other in the same fleet.”

To qualify for the Championship of Champions, competitors have to first claim victory at a National or North American Class Championship. This year featured a particularly wide array of competitors. Nine of the sailors were under age 21 and several of the young competitors raced alongside their sibling.

Unlike the sibling teams, Vincent Porter (Chicago, Ill.) and Andrew Barrett (Houston, Texas), hadn’t spent much time sailing with one another and ended up in a tight race for the silver medal. “This is the first time we’ve ever sailed with one another; it was our first time on a boat together. We were college roommates and we decided to do this regatta kind of on a whim,” said Porter. The pair’s lack of practice time didn’t hold them back, though. On the second day of racing, they consistently placed in the top-five and moved up the leaderboard into the silver medal position.

Despite the solid lead over third-place sailors, Chris Raab (Sunset Beach, Calif.) and Geoffrey Ewenson (Annapolis, Md.), Porter and Barrett kept things exciting after finishing 18th in the second to last race, maintaining just a two-point lead over Raab and Ewenson.

“Well, we had just had our worst race of the regatta and honestly at that point, we didn’t worry about the points. We just figured, what the heck, let’s have fun and a good last race,” said Porter. The pair did just that, winning the final race to solidify their spot in second overall, earning Raab and Ewenson the bronze.

Full Results and Standings.

For additional information about this Championship, visit the event website.

The 2019 Championship of Champions is nationally sponsored by Hobie Polarized.

Keelboat Qualifier This Weekend

Kurt Hoehne High School Racing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment

On September 28th and 29th, the Corinthian Yacht Club, Seattle Sailing Club and the J/80 fleet will host the NW District’s Keelboat Qualifier.

There is a recognized need to connect young sailors with keelboats and those currently sailing keelboats in order to strengthen the sailing community. The Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association (NWISA) has long hoped for this partnership and started talking to the J/80 fleet at JFest.

There are approximately 50 High School teams that compete under NWISA, typically on double handed dinghies. Teams that have keelboat racing experience will fill out a resume in the hope of being selected as one of the seven teams to participate in the Keelboat qualifier.

Teams will be asked to attend a Clubhouse discussion Friday night with owners/team. An on-the water 2 hour session with the owner/team will take place Saturday morning. The teams will rotate through all of the J/80s transferring via coach boat. The team that scores the lowest points after completion of the round-robin will travel to Florida in December and compete in Interscholastic Sailing Association’s Keelboat invitational at St. Petersburg Yacht Club, where the top ten teams across the country will sail on J/70s.

SSYC Race to Fight Hunger

Kurt Hoehne Casual Racing, Community 0 Comment
SSYC Race to Fight Hunger

Seattle Singles Yacht Club’s NW Harvest Benefit Race is coming up September 21st. It’s another great way NW sailors can have a little fun while helping the community. For all of us Elliott Bay Thursday Nighters, Duck Dodgers, Friday Take-your-timers etc., this is a great chance for a fun race when all the evening racing has been “blacked out.”

Here’s the NOR.

Here’s the course.

Have fun!

Laser Pacific Coast Championships in Bellingham September 21-22

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Laser Pacific Coast Championships in Bellingham September 21-22

Every year Bellingham Yacht Club puts the great Dale Jepson One Design Regatta (DJOD), and this year it will be really special for Lasers. The 2019 Laser Pacific Coast Championships will be held as part of the event but on a separate course.

Laser Standard, Radial and 4.2 classes will be run on a championship trapezoidal course overseen by PRO Blaine Pedlow. A separate course will run on the bay for other dinghies racing in the annual DJOD which sees and large 505 fleet. The organizers would love to see the Aeros show up too!

Dinner and a party Saturday night at the BYC plus a cool regatta T-shirt are included. Register early so they can prepare; http://www.regattanetwork.com/event/19445#_home. You can also get information directly from the organizer, Mike Powell: mike@mikepowellphoto.com.

With the ongoing interest in the Lasers as an Olympic class, and the burgeoning 4.7 class, this should be a great regatta. Bellingham can deliver some great September sailing, and BYC is a hugely welcoming club.

Maiden’s Mandi Swan, aka “Our” Amanda

Kurt Hoehne Community, PNW sailors around the world, Women Sailors 1 Comment

It turns out the Pacific Northwest can claim one of the spots on the original Maiden crew! The recent Maiden movie and renewed interest in the first all-woman crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race raised the question of our connections to that crew.

  • Images from the original Maiden crew gathering last year. Amanda is second from right in this photo, next to skipper Tracy Edwards.

The boat is currently going around the world with stops to fund raise via The Maiden Factor Foundation for girls’ education internationally.

If you look closely at the closing credits you can see “Mandi Swan” listed as one of the crew. Amanda Swan-Neal, now of Roche Harbor when she isn’t off sailing, wasn’t featured during the documentary, but she was certainly a big part of the project. Amanda (originally from New Zealand) is known to Northwest Sailors for the seminars in our region and the cruising events she offers with husband John Neal at Mahina Expeditions. She’s also known as the Galley Essentials contributor at 48 North.

Amanda took time during a stopover in Fiji to answer a few general questions I had about the race and movie:

“I was on the Maiden Project for 3 years as rigger and was one of the original crew.

“Yes, I’ve just seen Maiden. I was flown to London last year for a screening of the documentary by Black Dog Films but we were told it was not finished. It was the first time we’d been together since the end of the race. Michele was the only crew member not present as she was attempting to sail the NW passage from Greenland on her own boat.

“I was on the Maiden Project for 3 years as rigger and was one of the original crew.   One our our recent crew has Hollywood connections so he has just given me a screener’s copy of the SONY version. SONY picked up the film after it was shown at the Toronto Film Festival.  

“On a personal note it saddens me that the entire crew were not introduced in this Documentary.

“I’m in touch with Tracy (Edwards), and a percentage of the profits from my new Marine Diesel Engine Essentials: A Learning and Coloring Book go to her Maiden Foundation.”

Maiden and the line at Shilshole.

Maiden was here in Seattle for a few days, at both Bell Street and Shilshole, and the crew taking her around the world on its fundraising mission gave a presentation at CYC. I spoke to Belle, one of the crew, about Maiden after her extensive refit. The old IOR warhorse is a much more user friendly and safe boat than during her Whitbread days. A new carbon rig, with shrouds led to the rail and non-overlapping headsails, is a lot better than back in the day. An sprit is designed for asymmetrical flying sails. The coffee grinders are still there, and during the tours plenty of kids (and a few of us adults) took turns.

I saw the movie in the theater, and it was great. If you missed the movie – it’ll surely be in theaters for a while and then live forever online. If you haven’t seen it, you should.

Socrates Nearing Record Landfall in Victoria

Kurt Hoehne Adventure Sailing, Women Sailors 2 Comments
Socrates Nearing Record Landfall in Victoria

I spoke to Jeanne Socrates a few days ago, and among other things, I promised to help get out the word of her impending arrival. She’s about 250 miles from Victoria, and her projected finish is Sept 5. I’m hoping that some of her fans make it out to the Strait to accompany her in the final miles.

For those of you who don’t know, upon completion of this voyage, Jeanne will become the oldest person (76) to accomplish a solo non-stop circumnavigation. One cannot overestimate this achievement.

Along the way she suffered a severe knockdown that took out her wind and solar power generation.

Check out her S/V Nereida Facebook page or her blog here. She’s used her blog as a record of her voyage, so all the details are there from the beginning!

Jeanne’s post from yesterday:

Day 332 Fri-Sat 30-31 Aug 2019 GMT Slow progress again against light headwinds – mountains of Vancouver Island in view!

Friday 4pm PDT (2300GMT) Course has been steady 060T since early morning and sun was peeking through light broken overcast cloud – but now it’s a lot greyer and we’ve had some rain – looks as though more is coming. Pressure has dropped steadily since last night and is now 1007hPa. Weather forecast shows a band of heavy rain expected – especially over tomorrow (Saturday) – as the centre of a Low gets closer. Thinking of reefing down a bit more and heaving to – with ESE wind we can only head NW and I really don’t want to head N any further. 5:50pm Light rain and grey sky.. We’re hove-to and drifting gently SW at about 1kt in ESE wind with boat’s bow pointing S – making a slight ‘slick’ in the water as we slide sideways. Very quiet, calm and peaceful – a good way to reduce stress! I’ve been getting very wound up with trying to head E, fighting the unfavourable winds we’ve been getting. My thinking is to wait for wind from a direction that allows us to head anywhere from E to SE, maybe even S for a short while, before getting underway again. In the meantime, I can look at the radio tuner connections, to try to find the corrosion that I think is causing the transmit/tuning problem I suddenly found we had yesterday. 7pm Light fading and rain getting heavier. Having a chocolate biscuit and brownie with a mug of tea – and relaxing. I’ve counted up (yet again!) how many biscuits are left – one shortbread and one chocolate biscuit (or brownie) a day at tea-time until landfall next week, I reckon! Luxury! Not sure where time went, although did deal with some emails and checked weather ahead but I later noticed that our drift had totally changed to NW – wind had veered a lot and was now coming from S-SSE at around 11kt – time to get sailing again … Saturday 12:30am Now underway, making the most of S wind while it lasts – won’t be long before it backs towards E again. Good to be headed almost due E at a decent speed for a time! Let out 2nd reef and unfurled staysail – making 4kt, often more – wind strength highly variable. Must get some sleep – feeling quite tired – have not got to my bunk so far tonight… 9am Had to come off the wind by changing the boat’s heading more to ENE around 4am – wind had clearly backed more and sails were not happy. Think I must have over-compensated in my sleepy state…. Pity, since we could have gone a bit further E without making as much Northing, but we’re not doing too badly at the moment. 9:30am About to check weather – downloading fresh files and running generator while I get some breakfast – think I should shake out first reef to speed us up, now it’s good daylight. Wind likely to back further into E, meaning we’ll need then to change onto port tack and possibly head SE-ish, although wind might have become very light by then…. 10:45am First reef shaken out. Becoming a lovely sunny day with blue sky and thin, broken white clouds – would be very enjoyable if it weren’t for the knowledge that we’re effectively sailing into a ‘wind-hole’… Our speed is slowly reducing, despite full sail. I can’t believe how difficult the wind gods are making my final run-in. Instead of the ‘normal’ pleasant downwind sail in W, and then NW, winds around the N.Pacific High to the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, I’ve had to fight almost every mile of the way – plus I lost the use of my now-shredded genoa in a gale and, for last two days, my radio – so none of the many sociable contacts I’ve looked forward to making every day. Believe I’m setting another (very unwelcome!) World Record – for the longest nonstop sail once around the world!! Incredibly, it will have taken over 11 months by the time I finally make landfall in Victoria – Wednesday is looking highly unlikely, so maybe on Thursday…? All depends how close I can get to the Strait entrance (Cape Flattery) over the next few days of light winds, ready for some good wind off the coast there by Tuesday. I’m keeping my fingers firmly crossed that I don’t repeat last time’s experience (in July 2013) when I was becalmed just off (in fog) and then within the Strait over 3 nights while trying to complete that final 60 miles. Breakfast – think I’ll make a nice fresh coffee and enjoy it on deck in the sunshine while I pretend I’m just out for a pleasant summertime daysail in good wind… It’s getting so calm as we slow down in the disappearing wind that maybe later I can get to the radio tuner and antenna connections hidden away behind the aft cabin woodwork….. 11:15am Speed down to around 2.5kt and sails not happy… Midday Clouds have cleared away overhead – and I’m just making out the misty outline of the mountains below clouds over Vancouver Island ahead – exciting to see them – landfall will happen soon enough!! Sun is sparkling on the choppy water surface as a noticeable 2m swell comes onto our starboard beam from SSE. Need to relax and enjoy being out here – not many more days to go and I’ll miss it all terribly… Put away the frustrations of the delayed arrival and just take in the seascape. The antenna problem can wait for a short while… My coffee tastes good. ETA: Thursday…?? (Ask the weather gods that have sent these light winds to slow us down…) DTF: Victoria Hbr (Ogden Pt breakwater): 355 n.ml.; Cape Flattery (~60n.ml. from Victoria Hbr entrance): 295 n.ml to E ***************************************************** While sailing around the world, I’m trying to raise funds to help support the superb life-saving work done by the RNLI (Lifeboats) in Britain each and every day of the year, regardless how bad the weather. In fact, the worse it is, the more likely they are out there, helping someone in distress – whether a swimmer, surfer, small boat or big ship, night or day, summer or winter, and it is a charity – no government funding – so they rely on our help to fund their intensive training and maintain their equipment. It would be great if you would take a moment to click on the Lifeboats link here (https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Jeanne-Socrates2), if you’d like to show your support for my efforts at sailing solo, nonstop, unassisted around the globe, trying to set a World Record as the oldest person to do so, by donating something towards the great work the RNLI do every day. If a lot of people put in even a small amount, it all adds up… Thanks a lot! If you can help, it will be very much appreciated. Let’s see if we can reach my target! (I hear that some readers might need to talk to their bank BEFORE trying to make a donation to the RNLI since many US banks routinely block foreign transactions unless they are notified in advance.) ***************************************************
Total distance covered from Victoria, B.C = 27,531Nm
Distance to Victoria B.C = 355Nm

Junior Olympics

Kurt Hoehne Youth Sailing 2 Comments
Junior Olympics

On August 24-25 Seattle Yacht Club hosted the Junior Olympics, sailed off Shilshole and using Corinthian Yacht Club as its base. More than 100 kids competed! The wind was fickle, but a brisk northerly showed up late on Saturday’s racing to help get some solid results in. Following are drone photos from Phil Calvert and on-the-water shots from Dave Shemwell.

As we’ve said often, junior sailing is thriving in the Northwest. This regatta featured Club 420s (11 boats), Flying Juniors (20), Optis (17), Laser Radials (30) and Laser 4.7s (12). The ascendancy of the 4.7 is notable as it’s a great chance for kids too small for a Radial, yet too big for an Opti, to transition into larger performance boats. Results.

Here’s The Sailing Foundation‘s Youth Director Andrew Nelson’s email to the competitors.

Big thanks to everyone who came out to Junior Olympics this weekend at Shilshole. There were a record 141 sailors at JO’s this year, including 20 Opti Green Fleeters! Mother Nature threw some curveballs our way, but the race committee made the most of it. Thanks to Brian Ledbetter and his team of SYC volunteers for their efforts. 


Regatta results are linked on the NWYRC Page. I have also updated the 2019 NWYRC Series Standings. It’s getting close to the end of the season, which is a friendly reminder to please double-check my math. Scores are very tight in several classes and drops will start coming into play after the next regatta.


Dave Shemwell was on the water taking pictures on Saturday. CLICK HERE to see his photos. John Beaver got some got shots at during the Friday practice session. CLICK HERE to view those. Thanks to John and Dave for sharing!


Lost and FoundThe following items were left behind after JOs. Please contact CYC to claim lost items at juniors@cycseattle.org
– Red Magic Marine trapeze harness- Blue and yellow dry bag with Arena Powerskin trunks inside- Small Zhik hiking shorts- Small Hurley rashguard- Olympia 2018/19 sweatshirt with “Hubbard” on the back
Next Up…Johnny Adams Memorial (JAM) Regatta @ Port Madison Yacht Club (Sept. 7-8)Come join us on Bainbridge Island for the annual JAM Regatta. JAM highlights include regatta PJs for all participants, live DJ playing song requests during racing, and an well run and well attended Opti Green Fleet (6 signed up so far!). Please see the Notice of Race for complete details. Registration can be done via the JAM Event Page.


Octoberfest/Northwest Opti Champs @ Sail Sand Point (Sept 14-15)This is the season finale! Expect a big turnout and make sure to stick around for the end of season awards ceremony. Visit the Octoberfest Event Page for registration and details.
We are also running the NW Opti Championships in conjunction with Octoberfest. All Opti Champ Fleet sailors will need to register via usoda.org. In order to register, Opti Champ Fleeters must be USODA class members. Please make sure to read the separate Notice of Race for the NW Opti Champs. 
One other note: Green Fleet will not be part of the USODA NW Opti Champs. Green Fleet will be run by SSP as part of Octoberfest. USODA membership is not required. Greenies should register via the Octoberfest event page. 

Ed. Note: We’ll post Andrew Nelson’s high school racing preview in the coming days.

Bruce’s Briefs: Labor Day Weekend August 30, 31, Sept 1st, and 2nd.

Kurt Hoehne Bruce's Briefs, Weather 0 Comment
Bruce’s Briefs: Labor Day Weekend August 30, 31, Sept 1st, and 2nd.

It is not going to be one of the greatest of all time Labor Days but it’s not going to be a washout either and we are certainly not staring Hurricane Dorian in the face like south Florida. What we do have is yet another unusual weather pattern with a weak ridge of high-pressure over the Salish Sea that is sandwiched between a couple of weak low-pressure systems. This will bring a weak onshore flow down the Strait of JdF until another weak frontal system impacts the coastal buffer system and deteriorates. The current surface winds have already shifted to the pre-frontal southeasterly phase along the coast and in the Strait of Georgia. After this system passes another weak high-pressure system will build offshore bringing another weak onshore flow to the area and some warm, summer-like temperatures to the area starting early next week and lasting until next weekend.

  • August 30 Surface Analysis
  • August 31 Surface Forecast
  • September 1 Surface Forecast
  • Sept 2 Surface Forecast
  • September 3 500MB
  • September 3 Surface Forecast

Generally speaking, the pressure gradient is going to be very weak and that will result in light air over the area. The other interesting feature is in the 500MB charts which show a persistent cut-off upper level low pressure system which will just hang around giving us cloudy and cool conditions but not a lot of moisture.

Regardless, crabbing is still excellent in the San Juan’s and in the Straits, just be sure to check the regulations to make sure it’s still open in your area.

Enjoy the weekend!    

Bellingham Youth Regatta

Kurt Hoehne Youth Sailing 0 Comment
Bellingham Youth Regatta

The good folk at Bellingham, and especially Mike Powell, put together a tremendously successful youth regatta this past weekend. Hopefully we can get some first-hand accounts from what went on on the water. Winners included Mira Anders/Cedric Kenniep in the 29ers, Peter “Alden” McGonagle/ Ella Barnard in the FJ class, Isabelle McNabb in the Laser 4.7 class, Max Doane in the Laser Radials and Dieter Creitz in the Optis.

Here’s Mike Powell from his Facebook Post: : “What an amazing weekend on the bay, I ran my first full regatta this past weekend. 86 boats, 102 sailors all raced hard and sent home wet. The Bellingham Youth Regatta was a great success thanks to the efforts of so many BYC members that made my job easy.”

Powell, a professional photographer, took the featured photos in this post and made an album available here. Full results are here.

Bellingham Yacht Club and all the parents should be commended for getting those kids on the water. Youth sailing is not just alive in the PNW, it’s booming.

Maiden, the Movie. Maiden, the boat will be in Seattle.

Kurt Hoehne Community, Women Sailors , 1 Comment
Maiden, the Movie. Maiden, the boat will be in Seattle.

Go see the movie “Maiden.” Take your daughters. Just as importantly, take your sons.

The movie shows just what it took for Tracy Edwards, impressive and flawed as she was, to get the first female round the world crewed boat to both the start and finish lines of the Whibread Round the World Race in 1989-90. By the end of the movie, it’s pretty clear how much force of will it took for Edwards to overcome the inertia, and, yes, resistance to fielding an all-woman entry.

I’m lucky. I grew up sailing where a woman (my mom) was an indispensible part of the crew. When a rock star was signed up on the crew and suggested they dump my mom, the crew said, “No Enid, no us.” When we couldn’t get our C&C 27 out of its own way, my dad asked for help from Judy Nye (yes that Nye, and if you don’t know the name, Google Murphy and Nye) The best helmsmen I’ve ever sailed with were women. And yes, I’m aware of the irony of that statement.

Basically, those women were sailors, just as men onboard were sailors. As were the women on Tracy Edwards’ crew. But they were taking on the professional men on the water and jaded journalists on shore. They had to overcome a lot of preconceptions.

I wasn’t there, but I doubt there was a lot of intentional “hold the women down” Neanderthals among the male sailors. I’m guessing those male sailors felt they were the best, and didn’t give much credence to anyone crashing into their world. And it seems some of them, notably and not surprisingly Steinlager II skipper Peter Blake, did more than their share to help them along.

Back to the movie. It does a great job painting the picture of Tracy Edwards, an overwhelmed 20-something year old that grabbed on to the Whitbread like a lioness, and wouldn’t let go. She’d be the first to admit lack of experience going into the race. But that didn’t stop her. It showed the thrill of victory and agony of defeat, as the saying goes. But as Maiden crossed the finish line, the footage shows just what it meant to the world. You’d be a fool not to feel it too sitting in the audience.

No sailing movie is perfect, and few even rate OK in my book. But “Maiden” is very good. I wanted to hear more about the actual sailing and more backstories of the crew, but there simply wasn’t the time. Also, sailing an old IOR warhorse around the world was a lot more physically demanding than the movie showed. One of the things that could have easily been pointed out, was that the staggering performance of Steinlager II was the main show of the Whitbread that year. Had it not been for that, no doubt the Maiden team would have gotten even more notoriety.

Tracy Edward, with binocs, during the Whitbread.

My wife was amazed that after that performance by the women, more women aren’t sailing at the top level. It is surprising, in a way. In fact, the organizing authorities had to allow extra crew (an advantage) to encourage racers to include women on the crew in the last round the world race. Unfortunately, there are few boats racing at that level, and more qualified male racers all the time. The pickings are slim for anyone to crack into the top echelon.

Hey, the US women’s soccer team has won the World Cup four times and is still seeking the appropriate level of respect.

The actual boat Maiden will be in Seattle in a couple of days, and the boat will be open for tours on the 13th. Maiden is the centerpiece of a the fundraising project “The Maiden Factor” which is raising fund for girls’ education. There will be a program at Corinthian Yacht Club that night, though tickets are sold out. Schelleen Rathkopf (Whidbey/Pt. Roberts Race Week Poo-bah) is on the Vancouver BC-Seattle WA delivery.