Author: Kurt Hoehne

A Glorious Saturday for PSSC, and Tragedy Averted

Kurt Hoehne Racing, Seamanship 0 Comment
A Glorious Saturday for PSSC, and Tragedy Averted

The Saturday of CYC-Seattle’s PSSC regatta this past weekend was one for the ages – 18-22 knot winds, big waves, bright sun, grins galore, and at least one tragedy averted.

When Tantivy‘s skipper Stuart Burnell realized crew member Brian Perry fell overboard, into the spinnaker, there was a moment of panic. “Where in the hell is Brian?” he thought. “If he’s wrapped in the chute, in the water,. . .” It was one of the those sailing moments that gets etched in a skipper’s mind, even skippers just reading this. What had started as an irritating, slow chore of clearing a wrap in a spinnaker after a gybe gone wrong, became a potential tragedy.

Brian, it turned out, was sitting in the spinnaker in the water after the boat apparently rolled. A few seconds later he squirted out from the spinnaker behind the boat, relatively unharmed. But that wasn’t quite the end of it. It turns out that as a member of the cockpit crew on the J/109 Brian wasn’t wearing a PFD. He’d come forward to help clear the wrap. And Tantivy wasn’t exactly set up for a quick takedown and man overboard retrieval, with the spinnaker half down and the crew all out of position.

Enter Scott Malone. Malone, who makes a habit of heading out when it’s blowing hard, was out bombing around in his 13′ RS Aero, enjoying blasting around among the big boats. He was near Tantivy as they rounded the weather mark and thought he’d make a go of keeping up with them. They started to scoot away, but wrapped their chute in a gybe, and he thought he saw his chance to catch up. Instead he saw a head pop out of the water.

“I took a land sight behind him and went over. But I actually lost sight of him. It’s amazing how hard it is to see a guy in the water.” When he located the MOB again, Perry waved him to sail in and help. Brian hung on to the side of the Aero until Tantivy, now under power, and a CYC Whaler, turned after about 5-10 minutes. Perry wasn’t eager to let go of Malone’s Aero, but eventually made it to Tantivy where he was retrieved.

Burnell, who wrote about a previous man overboard recovery a couple years ago here on Sailish, says “We are rethinking Tantivy’s life jacket policy!!!” And Malone, who’s crossed oceans singlehanded, came away struck by how difficult it is to actually see a person in the water. There was at least one other MOB, ironically on the other J/109 out, Shada.

This all seems like a great reminder how important it is to wear a life jacket in gnarly conditions and how vital it is to do regular MOB drills. And it doesn’t hurt to have a skilled dinghy sailor trailing right behind you.

The Racing

Once in a while, not nearly often enough, Seattle comes through with Saturday’s conditions. Puget Sound was carpeted with whitecaps, and you can see from Jan Anderson’s photos the day made for some great sailing. A total of 56 boats actually sailed the event, with three PHRF classes and five one design classes, four of which made up the south course right off Shilshole Bay Marina. Once again, CYC somehow set the courses in the deep water and waves and got in 9-11 races for all the fleets. Kudos.

Results for the north course. Results for the south course.

If Saturday was a day for the boats that could plane, Sunday was sailed in equally perfect, if somewhat more sedate sunny conditions. In PHRF 2 the Melges 32 Wicked Wahine won, and in PHRF 3 the Sierra 26 Uno suffered the slog to windward only to plane past its fleet downwind, usually ending up winning on corrected time. The 9-boat J/105 reveled in the conditions, with Erik Kristen winning. Pat Denney’s Here And Now and John Cahill’s Gaucho were back at it in class 5, with Here And Now coming out on top.

Jan Anderson’s photos from Saturday. For the rest, check them out here.

The four one design fleets on the south course enjoyed solid racing. The Melges 24s lit it up downwind while the J/80s and Moore 24s put on a show of their own.

And what about the definitive non-planing one design, the San Juan 24. Well, they had fun too. Class stalwart Ken Johnson said, ” I’m not sure I’ve been in that much wind and those kinds of waves in a San Juan 24 before.” There were no spinnakers on Saturday. “All four skippers out there are very experienced in San Juan 24s and all knew better than to try!” Like all IOR designs, the little SJ 24 made it’s way upwind just fine, even if the comfort factor wasn’t very high. On Sunday the San Juans enjoyed some great racing in more sedate 10 knot winds, with Mark Bradner finishing up a very successful year with the win.

 

A Cowboy from Montana wins the 2018 J/24 District 19 Championship

Kurt Hoehne Racing , 0 Comment
A Cowboy from Montana wins the 2018 J/24 District 19 Championship

By Jakob Frederik Lichtenberg

The J/24 fleet sailed the yearly District 19 championship this past weekend of Oct 6th and 7th 2018. The District event was held under the larger umbrella of CYC Seattle’s Puget Sound Sailing Championship that runs over the first two weekends in October. The regatta, the venue and the time of year offers a fantastic framework for an epic “end of year” one design competition. With good reason to expect breeze of varying strength, oscillations and a bit of tide. All of this with the expectation of a dash of October Pacific Northwest rain and a cold beer from the club house after racing. As part of the larger regatta, we raced among 505s, Snipes, lots of Aeros and much to everyone’s surprise a single Laser racing a single Hobie? But the CYC Race Committee was up to the task, and the fleets were well sorted and well organized.

Twenty J/24s signed up for the event, and at stake was the championship as well as a World qualifier spot for next year’s 2019 World Championship in Miami. Friday night offered extra focus on preparation, inspections of boats and rigorous review of eligibility of boat (class certificates and a ton of other stuff that we tend to forget in between these big regattas). Good news: We now all have tight lifelines and paper work on file with the club.

Saturday: Started out with breeze and we all had to feather a bit to hold the boat flat.  We got three good races in and as expected had to balance our strategy: On the inside we found a bit more tide relief, but the pressure on the outside was just a bit better overall.  Over the day the breeze died down and at the 4th race we ran out of wind and had to abandon after a 45 minute upwind.  Dinner and drinks at the club house was great. Pete Sauer won the day in borrowed boat Self Abuse with a solid 1st, 2nd, 1st.  Michael Johnson in Pearl 2nd and finally Mark Laura’s Baba Louie in third.

Sunday: Again good breeze.  Everyone wearing their best genoas and fully hiked. Lots of races and lots of drama with tons of boats called back for OCS (the “around the ends” rule became routine for the day), and the usual compression at both windward and leeward marks leading to even more drama. And finally the tug boat that decided to run a 600 ft floating dock over the top mark.  The competition remained tight and before the last race Pete in Self Abuse found himself ahead by just one point to Scott Milne’s Tremendous Slouch and the boats in 3rd, 4th and 5th were all within striking distance of the trophy – which lead to a dramatic last race!

Results:

  • Team Self Abuse with Pete Sauer, Key Jeffcock Alex Simanis, Joe Greiser and Joe Wilderman went on to win the last race and secure the 2018 District 19 trophy.   Well done and well deserved.
  • Scott Milne’s Tremendous Slouch finished just two points behind and in the process secured themselves a berth for Worlds in Miami (as Pete already had a berth from earlier in the year winning Western Regionals). Also congratulations for crawling back from a tough start Saturday and winning Sunday overall.
  • Mark Laura’s Baba Louie finished third and just three points behind Slouch.
  • Sailed: 8, Discards: 0, To count: 8, Entries: 20.
  • Reference: http://racing.cycseattle.org/results/2018_specific/psscsb.html

 Additional notes from the author:

From our perspective on Hair of the Dog it was just a fantastic weekend.  It is a privilege to race against a number of the top J/24 boats.  Boats that have not just participated, but done well at Worlds. Here is what we learned: It sucks to rig a boat in the rain. The hoist is still out to get our windex. Port gives way for starboard, unless port is absolutely dead in the water and on the mark.  Also, it is cheaper to hit an inflatable mark than a fellow J/24.  It sucks to have to return under spinnaker to restart under an OCS recall a good minute up the first leg.  That a full day of sailing followed by a haul of the boat and de-rigging makes for an exhausting day.

Thank you everyone for a great weekend. To the traveling boats that made it to Seattle. To the strong class measurers and registration team Michael, Noel, Christa, Kelly, Alice, and Melanie. The entire CYC organizing authority lead by Matthew Wood. And of course the on-the-water RC team lead by Geoff Pease that got a ton of races thru in tricky conditions (with lots of sailors him offering “advice”).  A personal thank you to the protest committee that twice listened to our ranting and correctly (and mostly gently) explained why our cause did not ‘stand up in court’.

–Jakob Lichtenberg

Ed. Note: Thanks for the report, Jakob, with the “additional notes” certainly adding some color!

 

The Positive Energy Pumpkin Bowl This Weekend

Kurt Hoehne Dinghy Racing, Laser Sailing, Youth Sailing , 0 Comment
The Positive Energy Pumpkin Bowl This Weekend

West Vancouver YC’s Pumpkin Bowl is an amazing event geared primarily at youth classes, and Bruce Hedrick and Sailish.com are giddy to be able to help out. Bruce will be providing a look at the weather and Sailish is providing a bit of promotion, not that it really needs it. The event features youth classes, the Laser District 6 Championships and lots and lots of positive energy. PRO Stewart Jones, a rigger in the area and one of the driving forces behind the regatta, explains what makes this event so special.

So what is this Regatta?

We try and fill the Club with Youth Sailors and volunteers to create the greatest energy level you can imagine.

Here is a link to  Regatta Tool Box for the event you can see the numbers of sailors. https://www.regattatoolbox.com/eventDetails?eventID=F2eOyWPXGe – There is much more on Facebook as linked on Regatta Tool Box.

With coaches and racers we have 189 boats registered through the classes. Over 200 sailors plus  over 70 volunteers on the water and over 30 more in the club area helping with launching, parking, lunches and all the other administrative functions that go along with the logistics.

There are four race courses in the area inside Passage Island, down to the lighthouse and up to the Whytecliff Park. We put a volunteer mark set team of boat and two workers on each mark and have safety, spectator boats and media boats all on the water.

.The on water volunteers all attend a safety briefing one evening. They meet their fellow course workers and receive assignment sheets so all know their roles for the day of the event as well as all the safety and crisis scenarios to help the event overcome obstacles. The onshore and on water volunteers are all recognized with a Club hosted BBQ after sailing on Saturday.

We are very proud of our event. Last year in two days we completed 63 races for the Pumpkin sailors.

We have many financial supporters from our membership and others that help to allow us to provide great features to the regatta.

The classes initially include:

  • Opti Green
  • Opti (White, Blue & Red)
  • Laser (4.7, Radial & Full Rig)
  • 420
  • RS Fevas
  • 29er
  • X Class

Other facets and freebies include:

  • Free Technical shirt all logoed up
  • Mercedes toques to all
  • Make your own lunch both days
  • Chilli, soup and hot chocolate after sailing each day
  • Two sittings for dinner, close to 350 meals, maybe more
  • Desert, Ice cream bar
  • Movies for the Opti kids, face painting and pumpkin carving
  • Older kids have a roaring quiz evening with prizes
  •  Many door prizes
  •  Medals for first year Opti kids and Harken plaques for placing in the fleets
  •  A very realistic Witch attends every year as well
  •  A billeting service with members is also well used
  •  Lots of fun as the dinghy season is coming to an end for another year.

So that is Pumpkin, lots of fun and people working together. We have good partnerships with the Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue 01 who provide one or two large vessels on the water for the whole regatta if not tasked to a call. Vessel Traffic Services continually reports to mariners of the large number of boats in the area. One deep sea vessel transited on the west side of Bowen Island when leaving Squamish after traffic  ‘filled him in’ on what he was going to encounter at the mouth of Howe Sound.

Please do your best on letting people know about our regatta that will have over 300 people on the water and close to 250 boats going in every direction.

We sent a link to the competitors to look for your  Salish.com posts to get your call on the weather for the regatta.

Thanks for helping Pumpkin Bowl, a weather briefing adds an extra touch, you do it so well.

Regards

Stewart Jones, PRO Pumpkin Bowl

Ed. Note: I don’t know about anybody else reading this, but I’m sitting here at my computer wondering why I’m not headed north with a trailer full of Lasers and Optis.

RS Aeros and J/24s Enjoy PSSC Small Boats

Kurt Hoehne Racing , , 0 Comment
RS Aeros and J/24s Enjoy PSSC Small Boats

Five classes enjoyed CYC-Seattle’s small boat version of PSSC (Puget Sound Sailing Championships) last weekend. 18 J/24s made the trek out from Lake Washington to sail on the Sound, which provided great racing. The RS Aeros were out in force with 20 on the line for at least one of the races. A half-dozen 505s were out, as were three Snipes. Jay Winberg, the lone Laser, won the class with three straight bullets! (My apologies, Jay, for not being out there. I blame lead poisoning from keelboats.)

We have a short report from the top of the RS Aero fleet. Derek Bottles won it over Dan Falk, Dalton Bergan and Scott Malone with consistency. Falk and Bergan spent race three together toward the back of the fleet, which really hurt their final scores in the no-throwout regatta. Here’s Derek’s report

The RS Aero fleet is now well established in Seattle, 21 boats having sailed PSSC. The Aero is still a relatively new boat but mature enough everyone is sailing the boat well making the racing close. For this year’s event the tricky part was the conditions. Saturday started out with a solid 8 knot wind falling off to 3 knots while at the same time a major flood current built. It was easy to get caught in a hole or adverse current. Sunday saw the wind build from 8 knots to approximately 12 knots over the day, the last race was sailed in the most wind of all weekend. Staying in the right wind, current and shift was not easy as seen by how mixed up the finishing order was race to race. In these conditions I focused on not taking big risks and letting others make errors I could capitalize on. -Derek Bottles

Looking at the J/24 results, it’s pretty obvious that the racing was tight. Just about every boat had a great score and a regrettable score, with consistency winning out in this fleet as well as Pete Sauer sailing Self Abuse came out on top. (photos courtesy of the Pearl Racing Team and Joy Okazaki Facebook pages). I don’t have a report, but I do have the photos! For more information on the Seattle J/24 fleet, check out its web site.

Wet Wednesday Paul Elvstrøm and Why We Sail

Kurt Hoehne Wet Wednesday Videos 1 Comment
Wet Wednesday Paul Elvstrøm and Why We Sail

It’s been a long time since our last Wet Wednesday video – I’m always looking for DIY ones from our region.

While this video has nothing to do with the PNW, it’s well worth the 12 minutes! It’s as much about why we sail as about the Great Dane Paul Elvstrøm.

Narrator Richard Creagh-Osborne tries to explain the draw of sailing – I assume in Elvstrøm’s words but clearly speaking for us all: “There’s something in the true sailor that drives him to the water. You can’t really define it. It’s like loving a person. When you really feel at one with someone, absolutely everything else goes by the boards. And that’s how it is with sailing.” That pretty much sums it up for a lot of us. We can no more stay away from the water than turn our back on a loved one.

Check out the high tech gear: wool sweaters, sneakers and rope hiking straps. Click the image to go to the Danish film site.


Credit where credit is due – I found this video while perusing the Sailing Anarchy forums.

 

 

Jeanne Socrates Circumnavigating Again at Age 76

Kurt Hoehne Adventure Sailing, Cruising, PNW sailors around the world 0 Comment
Jeanne Socrates Circumnavigating Again at Age 76

She’s got nothing to prove, and I really don’t think that’s why Jeanne Socrates is sailing around the world solo, nonstop, again at age 76. I’ve had the good fortune to speak with and correspond with Jeanne, and while she’s proud of her accomplishments it’s pretty clear her offshore voyaging is much more organic than that. She likes to see the world, and she apparently loves being offshore, so it seems natural. If she succeeds, she’ll be the oldest person (any gender) to sail solo around the world. Currently she’s the oldest woman to have done it at age 70.

She left the dock at Victoria on October 3 on her Najad 380 Nereida.

Everyone from the youngest Opti sailor to the oldest offshore cruiser should take heart from her spirit. She’s optimistic and indefatigable, having had to turn back twice in 2016 because of extreme weather and having to cancel last year’s attempt due to broken bones. All healed and out of her neck brace, Socrates was ready for casting off last week.

There’s a good Times Colonist (Victoria) article here. I’ll check in on her progress periodically. You can check on her current position here. The keepers of her website have already increased capacity to keep up with the demand. It seems everyone’s pulling for her – and should!

Anything But Foul Weather Bluff

Kurt Hoehne Racing 0 Comment
Anything But Foul Weather Bluff

Sometimes in a drifter of a race it’s best to just look around and say “What a great day to be on the water!”

Then sail into another wind hole, watch your fleet sail away and say again “What a great day to be on the water!”

This year’s Foul Weather Bluff Race was one of those. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, a reminder of why we love to live here. It was the winds that were fickle. Sometimes coming from here, sometimes from there, sometimes not at all. There were plenty of winners, and no doubt they all deserved their pickle dishes as it took a great deal of concentration and fortitude to keep focused until the finish line. A Melges 24 owned by Evan Walker and the 40′ Martin designed Gray Wolf, owned by Evgeniy Goussev were a very close first and second overall. Results here.

The most excitement came, as is often the case, at the Scatchet Head Buoy. A flooding tide made getting to the buoy and around it a bit excruciating. It’s just sooooo easy to leave a bit of gelcoat behind in that situation. On approach to the turn, the boats that played the Whidbey shore escaped the worst of the current and got some puffs, while those that stayed further south were swept back when the wind died completely at times. But no worries, there were several restarts later in the race.

Photos by Jan Anderson. Click to enlarge. See (and purchase) the others here:

Even the mighty Crossfire couldn’t generate her own wind in some of holes. Nigel Barron took a trip up the rig (with a camera) and got the following shot of Nefarious. In return, Genevieve Livingston got a shot of Nigel hanging near the hounds. For good measure, Rick Donahue supplied Crossfire’s track. According to Barron, Crossfire “led the fleet into at least three holes.” 

Will Sailing be part of Green Lake’s Redevelopment?

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Click to enlarge.

Quite frequently I come across some history about sailing on Seattle’s Green Lake, which is just down the street from my house. Just in the last few months I’ve learned that there used to be active Pelican, Sea Scouter (a purpose built Sea Scout dinghy) and El Toro racing. It sounds like the city was even supportive, or at least didn’t try to stop it. Rumor has it that it all kind of dried up when the city took over sole management. From what I can tell, a private company offers boat rentals there now – mostly SUPs and kayaks.

Even more frequently, I think “what a great place for people to sail.” Yeah, the winds there might not be steady, and it won’t be long before you bump into shore but a lot of great metro sailing happens around the world on lakes just like that, and worse. Over the years I’ve seen city owned Toppers, Zumas and now I guess Hunter Xcites, and they’re occasionally rented. I saw lessons being conducted on the lake this year but can’t find a web link for any future ones. Once in a while a Windsurfer or Laser makes its appearance. Not surprisingly, the City of Seattle doesn’t seem to recognize that recreational sailing is a vital part of our community and it should devote at least some support. There are three major rowing regattas there each year.

Here’s a chance for sailors to have their say on what happens on Green Lake via the Green Lake Small Craft Center Redevelopment program. No doubt the rowers will be on hand. We should be too. By all appearances sailing is pretty much an afterthought except for the Mount Baker Rowing and Sailing Center. Click on the following headline to be taken to the original post on the Phinneywood.com website.

Community asked for input on design for Green Lake Small Craft Center

improvements

by DOREE on SEPTEMBER 27, 2018

in PHINNEYWOOD NEIGHBORHOOD

Seattle Parks and Recreation is asking the community for input on the preliminary design for potential improvements to the Green Lake Small Craft Center.

Parks is holding an information session from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the Green Lake Small Craft Center, 5900 West Green Lake Way N. Meet the design team, Schacht | Aslani Architects, learn about the site opportunities and constraints, and offer input on what a new small craft center might look like. This is a follow-up to the initial design idea meeting in June.

Initial funding is coming from the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods’ Neighborhood Matching Fund Program. The Green Lake Rowing Advisory Council is looking for more funding from the Seattle Park District Major Projects Challenge Fund, State grants, and private fundraising.

Northwest Harvest Benefit Race had it all; Sun, Breeze, No Rain and a Good Cause

Kurt Hoehne Community 1 Comment
Northwest Harvest Benefit Race had it all; Sun, Breeze, No Rain and a Good Cause

Seattle Singles YC’s Northwest Harvest Benefit Race turned out to be a good one. The best turnout in some time, good competition and fundraising for a great cause. Thanks to Sue Weiss and Mark Philiposian for getting the photos and the report. 

By Mark Philiposian

Breeze, sunshine, no rain…if we’re lucky on Puget Sound, this is a “pick two” proposition. For this NW Harvest Benefit race, we got all three! Bruce Hedrick’s forecast and advice turned out to be a winner, although thankfully, the expected convergence event didn’t materialize during our race. We elected to start at the nicely favored pin-end. A tough proposition for the trimarans in our class. This helped us to be first to West Point. With breeze in the 18’s with puffs to the low 20’s, it was a magic carpet ride to Spring Beach.

We watched the trimarans pass us as we struggled with all hands looking for the mark, only to watch Trillium sail a little extra distance past it and Freda Mae go bareheaded. A little schadenfreude on board, but we also felt sorry for them and were grateful that their course helped us locate the mark. The beat back to the start/finish was an exercise in keeping the boat on its feet, but the nice weather kept the occasional splashes from chilling our bow union down too much (in violation of their contract.)

We enjoyed the final go around Meadow Point where the challenge was to call the final tack…we got close to the heavily favored boat end and shot up to finish.

All in all, a very fun race with sporty conditions. Thanks to race committee and Britt Larsen for running the show!

CRASH Regatta Wrap – 40 Entries and a Cruising Class

Kurt Hoehne Racing 3 Comments
CRASH Regatta Wrap – 40 Entries and a Cruising Class

Here’s another of the highly organized and enthusiastic Vancouver Island Racing Series races. A good mix of boats and clearly a balance of racing and shoreside activities. Of particular interest is the Martin 242/Hotfoot 27/Moore 24/Hotfoot 24 class and the 6-boat cruising class. 

The Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club’s 2018 Challenging Racing And Social Happenings regatta (CRASH for short) was held on September 14-16 in a perfect mix of wind conditions from 2-22 kts, with boats from Schooner Cove to Esquimalt and from Vancouver to Point Roberts and Orcas Island testing their skills against the international competition.

Photos by Nat Klein. Click any to enlarge

We had a record entry of over 40 boats racing from 13 sailing clubs and associations including a large and spectacular multi-hull fleet, a highly competitive Round the Buoys fleet of Martins, Moores and Hotfoots, two well balanced PHRF divs, and this year we also introduced a true Cruising Class that ended up being highly competitive.  Cruisers were given a 5 minute start window and individual start times within this window were entered into SailWave, thus “de-stressing” the start box for those beautiful big multi-purpose boats.  The results can be found here: http://crashregatta.com/results/

International Race Officer John Abel lead our well-trained race management team and over 70 Sidney North Saanich Yacht Club volunteers came out in support, supplemented by our friends at RVYC.

All Social Happenings (craSH, remember) were held in the Port Sidney Marina hospitality tent.  Entertainment included almost real-time drone racing videos of the day’s racing, live music and dancing, a high-quality meal Saturday plus free first night dinner and all breakfasts.  Our second emergency top-up of sponsor’s beer just lasted til the end of the well attended prize-giving on Sunday. Perfect?

Planning for 2019 has started, put CRASH in your calendars!

–Heather Richardson