I was hoping some pictures my bubble up from last weekend’s CYC-Seattle Small boats regatta, but alas none have (So I’ve resorted to using last year’s). But there was some good racing across several classes this year. The Hobie 18s had a nice 5-boat fleet, with Ethan Salkind showing his winning touch extends to the 2-hulled vessels he sells, with straight bullets. There were two Hobie 16s as well. It’s great to see the multihulls in the CYC events, and hopefully those classes grow at major events.
505s, Stars and J/24s all featured small fleets but a dominant performance in each. Results. Jay Winberg was the lone Laser out there as others in the fleet were off traveling.
The biggest and most competitive fleet was the RS Aero fleet, which now boasts Jonathan McKee as one of their own. We have a report from one of the original fleet members, Jacques Garrigues:
PSSR was a challenging first regatta. The Seattle Aero fleet has some of the very best sailors and now Jonathan McKee has joined us to add to class acts like Dalton Bergan, Carl Buchan and Dan Falk.
Jacques Garrigues in an Aero in 2017.
Top Tasar sailor Michael Karas was sailing our loaner Aero and is a terrific talent.
Saturday was raining, the breeze was 5-7 kts early and built to 9-14 kts from the south running against a strong flood tide. On Sunday thank goodness the rain was gone and the breeze had switched to a northerly, 8-10 its early, building to 15-24 kts late. We had three very experienced new additions in Jonathan McKee, Jim Barrett, and Michael Karas all of whom were fast from the first horn.
The regatta though was dominated by Dalton Bergan who has phenomenal speed upwind, downwind, 9 rig, 7 rig, you name it he is showing the other Seattle Aero sailors how it is done. Congratulations to him. As usual, other consistent performers were Todd Willsie (second) and Eric Becker (third) despite some “kissing” by them at the leeward mark followed by a swim to cool off!! The swimmer will remain nameless.
We were on the water for about four hours each day with full on hiking and gathered at the end for well earned drinks and food.
All in all a really good start to the season in the Pacific Northwest for our very competitive and growing Seattle RS Aero fleet.
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.
As Key West Race Week is relegated to the history books, Charleston Race Week seems to have become the go-to East Coast big-time regatta. And the Pacific Northwest even has a top finisher to brag about as Mike Goldfarb and the War Canoe team duked it out to third overall at the very top of the Melges 24 class. Goldfarb has put several successful teams over the years here in Seattle in classes such as the 1D35, Olson 30 and Farr 30, so it’s no surprise to see his success in Charleston.
Also on the War Canoe crew were Seattle’s David Brink and professional sailor Mark Strube. Strube’s impressive resume includes several America’s Cup campaigns and Star sailing, most recently crewing for Paul Cayard at the Bacardi Cup. Strube sent along this review of Charleston:
“Charleston was a great regatta for the War Canoe team. We arrived early to train on our Melges 24, and it really paid off. The tacks, gybes, roundings and tactics were crisp as we learned the venue. We won one race and earned three second place spots, finishing the regatta third only one point behind second. Charleston is a very challenging place to sail with big tides and currents that come out of the two rivers. We had 31 boats in our class with 246 total boats in the in multiple classes. It has grown to one of the great regattas in the US. Next up for the War Canoe team will be in Portoroz, Slovenia next week. We hope to improve and sail well against the Europeans.”
War Canoe (825) in the thick of things at Charleston. Photo Melges 24 class association.
The Melges 24 remains at the top of the list of serious racing classes, and the level at which they’re sailed is quite astounding. It will be interesting to see how War Canoe does in Slovenia.
And for those who want the class insider view of Charleston, check out this report.
Here’s one of the slick videos produced for Charleston Race Week by videographer Mauro Melandri (zerogradinord.it) Looks fun.
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.
For this week’s Wet Wednesday we have an eclectic collection. First up nothing gets wet, at least until the end, and then not very much. It’s the new Fast 40 Ran in a slick presentation by the Carkeek design offices. This hull shape isn’t quite new, but it’s rare and dramatic. It’s fun to see designers trying to hit a sweet spot of a measurement rule – there’s innovation to be had. Following that we’re replaying a video from the windiest day at RS Feva Worlds. The PNW’s Dieter Creitz and Conrad Miller finished third for the series – here’s the report. Finally, a couple of training videos from the folks up in Vancouver. Looking good in those skiffs! I’d love to present some videos from PSSC if anyone gets some this weekend.
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.
We won’t have Victoria, BC to kick around any more. At least with regards to dumping their raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Yep, despite a few mutters remaining about lack of scientific evidence warranting a sewage treatment center, it shall be done. I saw a major piece of it on a visit over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house in James Bay, the quaint neighborhood just to the south of the Inner Harbour.
A nearly 1 kilometer pipe bisected James Bay for several weeks as the city was readying for the great pull, when the pipe will be fed underground under the outer harbor seabed from Ogden Point to McLoughlin Point. For those interested in the details, there’s a great Times Colonist article on the topic.
My mother-in-law and others have paid a price. For several weeks the buses stopped running in front of her apartment, so she’s had to walk a distance, traversing a rickety temporary staircase over said pipe, with her wheeled grocery cart in tow. The good news is that the pipe will go to its permanent home this week and the street will be clear! The treatment plant isn’t scheduled to be operational until 2020, but the project is moving along.
A local artist took the opportunity to provide a little art that will likely be buried forever.
Kudos to Victoria for getting this done. It’s the right thing to do. And it’s a great way to get out from under a whole lot of jokes.
Click image to enlarge.
Sewage art.
Sewage art.
Total length, 940 meters the residents will enjoy seeing the last of.
The business end of the sewage pipeline
Lift and roll near the business end.
Residential stairs but no buses.
UPDATE
The job was completed Friday, and an unknown sailish reader contributed these photographs. That’s the end of the pipe in the launch pit, an amazing bit of engineering to get that pipe from Ogden Point to McLoughlin Point.
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.
Resolute on the Seattle waterfront. Watch for some new, tough and very happy crew members on her.
Looking for crew? Someone who shows up on time, follows directions and is tough? Naw, nobody needs those kind of crew members. Sailish reader Dan Tedrow would like to toss out an idea, and it’s a good one: veterans. Tedrow is going to host some vets on his Cal 34 Resolute, and invites other sailish.com readers to do the same. The organization is Mission Outdoors, which connects vets with activities and people who are established in a given area. Until now they’ve been more focused on things like fishing, marksmanship, biking and camping, sailing is finding its way onto the agenda as well. Here’s what Tedrow has to say:
Mission Outdoors is a local non-profit organization that helps veterans transition back to civilian life via the outdoors. The organization does this through veteran fishing trips, outdoor activities, and soon…Sailing. The group is very interested in getting veterans onboard sailboats. These folks are strong, willing, work great as a team and most of all love hard work and being outdoors. If you need crew, rail meat, folks to help with a delivery reach out to Mission Outdoors and see if they can pair you up with a veteran or twelve. Imagine having a 6’ 4” Marine yelling “STARBOARD” at your competitors…They’ll tack, even if you’re on Port. The organization is going to start hosting veteran’s cruises onboard our Cal 34 this summer in the Puget Sound. However, they want to get onboard something a little faster…Hoping you can help with that.
In addition, the Mission Outdoors has a Gala scheduled on April 21st in Tacoma to support the cause. This is a great opportunity to meet the men and women that run the program, and understand the positive impact they are having on veteran’s lives. Did I mention dinner is Surf and Turf?
For volunteering with Mission Outdoors, individuals can reach out to Matthew Houston directly or fill out the Volunteer form. Matthew’s contact information is below.
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.
Rerun with permission from our friends at Pressure Drop. Seattle’s I14 fleet is well represented with Kris Bundy/Jamie Haseler, Kris Henderson/Martin Fabianssen and Matt Pistay, Leith Shenstone.
The Kaneohe Yacht Club played host to 22 teams of International 14’s over the past 4 days
for the 2018 Pacific Rims. Conditions varied from light and rainy to semi sunny with 15 -20 knot over 4 days of racing.
The RC managed to squeeze in 9 races on the 1st 3 days and concluded the regatta with the Hawaiian State Championship
Pursuit Race today, the boats at the bottom get a head start o help level the playing field.
The Aussie duo of David Hayter and Shaun Thompson claimed top spot, edging out Dalton Bergan and Evan Sobsted with a tiebreaker,
with Garrett Brown and Alex Throop taking 3rd.
The 14’s pack up and head to the San Francisco Bay now and will compete in the i14 Nationals at the St Francis at the end of May
and then the Richmond Yacht Club for the Worlds in August!
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.
The idea of designating Puget Sound a No Discharge Zone has been floating around for a long time. So, now it’s been done. We’re officially the nation’s largest NDZ. And I gotta say, part of it stinks.
Folks, and particularly non-boaters, should know that dumping untreated sewage into the Sound was already illegal. This only changes the rules for vessels that are discharging treated sewage, stuff that’s already been cleaned by a marine sanitation device at least to a certain degree. The decision in itself is not too upsetting. I certainly hope that smarter minds than mine have figured out that cleaning up the already partially cleaned-up sewage is worth the added burden of enforcement and the administrative costs. It seems to me there’s probably more pollution sources to focus on. From a recreational boater standpoint, it affects a very few boaters who will have to swap out their USCG approved marine sanitation devices and replace with holding tanks. It’s going to affect commercial operators the most and some of them are going to have some serious plumbing projects coming up.
One thing I don’t see in the announcement was any effort to increase or improve pumpout facilities. Hey, you want boaters to use their holding tanks – make it easy for them to pump. And if the folks behind desks wonder “what’s the big deal, don’t we have plenty?” then rest assured they’ve never tried to cruise with a family of four and an 18 gallon holding tank on a sailboat that motors along at 6 knots. Commercial mobile pumpout services may benefit, but I’m not sensing any momentum for the state to make it easier for vessels to comply. In my experience, the decision to be responsible about pumpouts has a lot less to do with the law than with what the skipper and crew think is right, and what is practical. Convince them, then give them the tools. I’m a born-again pumper myself.
You can access this map of all the pumpouts in Washington at www.pumpoutwashington.org.
The part of this that irks me is the tacit implication that boaters are responsible for a large amount of pollution and that the state is fixing it. In listening to the local radio station gobble up and regurgitate the press release, I could see how a non-boating listener might get the impression that finally, those boaters won’t be able to pump their poop into the Sound. Our marine industry and we boaters have been at the forefront of environmentally responsible policies for a long time. I’d suggest when your friends bring up the topic at the next environmental fund raising dinner you attend, just chuckle and say, “It’s fine, but that move had a lot more to do with the Department of Ecology wanting to look good rather than do good.” Then shift the conversation to wondering if King County will invest in some new float switches for the waste treatment facility or risk another 235 million gallon spill off Seattle’s Discovery Park.
And regarding the 10s of thousands of comments they heard in support of the proposal, if you frame something like “Wouldn’t you like to protect shellfish, public health, and water quality” it’s easy to gather support. It’s also that easy to perpetuate a myth that boaters are wanton polluters.
Here’s the official press release from the Washington Department of Ecology:
OLYMPIA – It’s official, Puget Sound is now off limits to vessel sewage.
Washington State Department of Ecology Director Maia Bellon signed into law the Puget Sound No Discharge Zone on Monday, April 9.
“This is a historic day for the protection and restoration of Puget Sound,” said Director Bellon.
“Puget Sound is an icon of the Pacific Northwest. Its cultural and economic importance cannot be overstated. It’s the lifeblood of our renowned salmon, shellfish and orcas. Stopping the release of vessel sewage into our waters is absolutely the right thing to do,” Bellon added.
The new rule takes effect May 10 and bans the discharge of any type of sewage (blackwater), treated or untreated, within Puget Sound. There is no change to graywater requirements. Vessels looking to empty their loads will need to use a pump-out station or wait until they are out of the NDZ.
In establishing its first no discharge zone, Washington joins 26 other states and more than 90 no discharge zones in the U.S.
The new rule also establishes geographic boundaries, how to close marine sanitation devices, effective dates for certain commercial vessels, and enforcement authority.
The NDZ boundaries include all marine waters of Washington State inward from the line between the New Dungeness and Discovery Island lighthouses, to the Canadian border, the fresh waters of Lake Washington, and all the water bodies that connect Lake Washington to Puget Sound.
“Making Puget Sound a no discharge zone for vessel sewage connects a missing piece in our strategy to clean up and restore the Sound,” said Heather Bartlett, the water quality program manager at Ecology. “Our shellfish beds, swimming beaches, and protected areas are especially vulnerable to bacteria and viruses in vessel sewage. This will prevent pollution from impacting these areas and protect human health and overall water quality.
The Washington Department of Health expects to upgrade or open approximately 1,000 acres of commercial shellfish beds for harvesting near marinas with the establishment of the NDZ.
The rule comes after a robust five-year public outreach and evaluation effort, including multiple public comment periods. To put the no discharge zone in place, the Department of Ecology had to submit a proposal to the Environmental Protection Agency. In 2014, the draft proposal alone drew more than 26,000 comments, of which more than 25,000 were in support and about 525 expressed opposition or concerns. In 2016, EPA received more than 40,000 comments in support of Washington’s proposal. EPA approved Ecology’s no discharge zone proposal in February 2017.
Ecology’s website contains information on pumpout options, including locations, for boaters and vessel operators. For more on the Puget Sound No Discharge Zone, visit Ecology’s website and for additional information, visit pumpoutwashington.org.
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.
Last year’s NWISA Team Race District Championship. Photo by Jim Skeel.
If anybody says ever says “watching sailboat racing is like watching grass grow,” just tell them they’re watching the wrong kind of sailing. No, I don’t mean everybody run out and watch re-runs of two 40-knot foiling America’s Cup cats. In fact I mean quite the opposite. Team racing is out of the “mainstream” racing and is done mainly in the college and high school ranks, and it’s quite the spectacle. As two three-boat teams race on extremely short courses, the points are constantly being recalculated in the head and the teams do whatever it takes to have their teams points come out on top. That means slowing down the other team, sometimes circling back to do it. It means very aggressive use of the rules, and several of the rules have been adjusted to allow for that. Boat handling skills are high demand (imagine circling back on your competition, sitting on one boat’s air to set up for leebowing another. Or perhaps going downwind claiming leeward on one boat, gybing to claim starboard on another. Then doing that 30 times in the next two minutes. That’s what it’s like. It’s way more tactically complex and interesting to watch (way more confusing) than 40 knots on foils. And, surely, it’s a lot more interesting for the sailors.
It’s great to see our high schoolers enjoying this kind of racing.
Anyway, that’s a long way to share stories from last weekend’s Northwest Interscholastic Sailing Association (NWISA) Olympia Team Race Regatta. First we have a quick report from the NWISA web site (here’s the original along with the results), followed by a special report by Maggie Toombs, a varsity skipper with Orcas. We don’t have any photos from the event, but if any of you spectators were taking pictures, please send them to me and I’ll add them to this report.
This coming weekend’s events include the NWISA Islands Cup at Roche Harbor and the silver fleet is at the Mt Baker Open.
From the NWISA Site
Saturday, April 7:
Wind! Rain! And lots of team racing!
A low pressure system off the coast of Washington brought with it high winds and April showers, making for challenging but great conditions for getting off many races. The most notable challenge was the draining of Capital Lake at low tide each day, creating a river like current in Budd Inlet. Saturday saw a complete round finished with 36 races. One redress request was granted. Other than a brief yet strong 20+ knot squall that knocked a number of competitors down, the sailors handle the conditions well, and managed to have engaged team racing.
Sunday, April 8:
The rain and wind did not let up, but the racing continued swimmingly!
After a scrumptious breakfast at the Olympia Yacht Club, competitors sailed to Port Plaza (the regatta venue) and races were under way before 10:30am. Due to the redress granted Saturday, race 13 (Round 1) was re-sailed, prior to the beginning of Round 2. While the wind was just as strong, and the rain endless, the weather was “better” in terms of no sudden squalls or puffs, making for efficient races and rotations (the 300 yards to the start line from the rotation dock helped too!). The 2nd Round was completed before the cut off time, and after coaches discussed, all teams agreed to see through the completion of 1 top 4 round, and 1 bottom 4 round – making for a satisfying end, of a rigorous but awesome weekend of team racing.
Congratulations to Orcas, Sehome and Olympia for placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively.
Thank you to Bainbridge and Sail Sand Point for bringing travel boats.
Thank you to the wonderful race committee who braved the conditions, especially Casey Pruitt, PRO. Thank you to all the OYC members and Parent volunteers who provided food, warm drinks, and shelter!
Lastly, thank you Norm Smit for being the head Umpire, and prior to the event training up volunteer umpires. The interscholastic sailing community would not be as successful without volunteers and professionals like you.
Maggie Toombs’ Report
The Orcas sailing team has done it again, traveling to Olympia for a win this past weekend. We were faced with heavy rain and heavier, shifty wind on Saturday morning, fighting to stay warm with an abundance of tea and adrenaline.
This weekend was a different style of racing, called ‘team racing.’ This means we race each team 3 on 3, using rules and maneuvers to get into stable combinations. The goal is to cross the finish line, with the combination of our scores less than the combination of the other team’s scores. We practice team racing together and push each other to our limits, so we felt very prepared and communicated well this weekend.
As racing went on, we were quickly realized to be one of the stronger teams on the water.
As we went head-to-head with the other strong teams, our communication, boat speed and teamwork proved to help us into the first place spot. We finished one ‘round robin,’ similar to a bracket where we race each team once. Coming back on Sunday morning, we were again faced with the same wind, and even more rain. As our faces began to freeze off, we began racing again. After finishing a second round robin, we broke into the top half and the bottom half of the teams, racing each other in a ‘final four’ lineup.
We raced the other 3 top teams, and managed to finish strong with a nail-biter against Olympia’s varsity team. We secured our top spot with 17 wins out of 18 races this weekend, and with a bit of skill and careful observation. We look forward to our next regatta in Roche Harbor this weekend. For full results of this weekend, go to
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.
Nearly 100 boats were signed up for the Blakely Rock Benefit Race on Saturday, but a large number of skippers were scared away by the dire wind forecasts. A really healthy fleet still made the trip from Seattle to the Rock and back and while it blew hard, it wasn’t on the “really scary” side of windy. As Doug Frazer from OxoMoxo said, “We had one knock down, but the salt is good for the teak. I was a little disappointed we didn’t need to put in a reef.” The sailish.com weather guru Bruce called it correctly, however (and my apologies) theBriefdidn’t get out until 1932 on Friday. For those who didn’t see the Brief, sorry I didn’t get it out sooner. No word yet on how much money was raised for The Sailing Foundation, but every bit of it will be well used. Results.
Jan and Skip and Mocha Anderson were out and once again caught the mood of the day. Here’s a sampling, click on any image to enlarge. To see the rest of them, check out the full gallery. Jan credits the ferry captain for what I’d call not just considerate, but highly seamanlike, decision to go south of the Rock to avoid conflict with the fleet. If any of you know that captain, buy him a beer.
Here’s Jan’s thoughts: “There was certainly plenty of action at The Rock this weekend, with gusty conditions and rain squalls. The good news is that the potentially-race-canceling-gear-busting conditions forecasted for Saturday never arrived … hooray! That means we were left with a real race that challenged competitors, not a survival exercise that challenged logic. Well done, Mother Nature, and many thanks to Bruce for an accurate forecast that surely encouraged more boats to come out and play anyway. All in all, a win-win-win day! Enjoy the photos!” She added, “The ferry skipper was an absolute gentleman, that dissolved a potentially huge challenge in its interaction with the sailing fleet. Had he not done what he did, the result would have been an absolute mess. Bravo Zulu!!”
Airloom
Fixing…
Apparently fixed, hooray!
Lady Too
Grayling
More Grayling.
The wise captain’s course/
Blue Fin, winner of Class 2, non flying sails.
Tahlequah at the Rock
Jolly Green and Corvo 105
Kiwi Express, winner of Class 7 and overall.
Ben Braden and the happy More Uff Da crew
Bruce Hedrick’s Race Report from onboard Tahlequah
Once again, a great event. Too bad so many people got freaked out by the advertising-driven doom and gloom forecasters. I have to say that we pretty well nailed it and we had a great time. We agreed beforehand if that it was blowing 25+, we weren’t going. The riggers got down to the boat at 0930 and it was 8-10 with a puff to 14 from 147°M. By 1030 it was 5-8 from 190°M and we were putting on sunblock and sunglasses.
We left the dock at 1115 with the pole rigged and the #1 genoa on deck but with the caveat that we reserved the right to change our mind. The foredeck was shocked! By 1135 we were seeing puffs to 16 and signs that it was going to increase, ie the lower clouds were moving faster from the SW. So we decided to go to the #3. This was the right call. The baro had quit rising and when that happened the wind went back to ESE. So two starts in front of us boats were able to port tack start. The start in front of us no one figured that out so we decided the boat end, on port, was a winner. It was and we won the start and sailed easily into the lead holding off the Schock 35 and pinning them in our dirty air.
Wind speed vs Air Pressure at West Point
As usual, our main competition was the C&C115 Elusive who got a horrible start and ended up sailing low and slow off the line. We were able to hold port tack almost all the way to Bainbridge where we started to run into traffic from the slower starts ahead of us. We weren’t able to sail as far as we wanted into the Bainbridge shore so we tacked to starboard to stay in clear air and stay ahead of Elusive. In doing so we let the J-109 get ahead of us.
We rounded Blakely Rock in second place and knew that we could never hold the C&C 115 off going downwind: longer waterline, more sail area, etc etc. We held the port pole until we were about halfway to Winslow and then gybed to end up being aimed perfectly at West Point. The J-109 gybed and crossed ahead of us while Elusive gybed early and sailed about even with us until about ½ way to West Point when the breeze built and they just took off.
We knew the wind would go forward at West Point so we had everything rigged for the final run to Meadow Point. Elusive had to gybe and come out to us but they crossed us and went too far to the West. The other C&C 115 Fortuna was just sailing up our tail pipe but when the wind went forward at West Pt we were able to handle that better and just sailed directly to Meadow Point. In the meanwhile, Elusive who had gone too far to the West had to drop their kite and go to their headsail to make Meadow Point. So we were inside with the kite up, making the mark and you would think that would be an advantage. No such luck, bigger boats with more waterline and more sail area are simply faster.
We rounded Meadow Point in clear air with plenty of congestion behind us and when we could tack and get back into the beach we did. Elusive beat us, as they should, but we still had a great time.
Peak true wind speed as recorded on the Garmin was 22 knots, minimum wind speed was 12 knots. Peak boat speed was a very brief surf to 9.1 knots.
Those who believed the sailish.com forecast had a great time and anytime you can sail in those conditions, you learn something.
Carol Pearl and a Look Behind the scenes
Sloop Tavern Yacht Club Commodore Shannon Renner oversaw this great event and shared her thoughts.
The Race Committee
I had a lot of requests from skippers to cancel this race based on the warnings. It was tough as some folks were coming from other areas and had to get crew together. Because it was a benefit regatta (beginners and experienced both racing) some crews (and skippers) had a lot of angst about participating. Due to the fickle weather here there was no way I could make that call until the day of race. Turned out to be a great day. An amazing day!
In the end, we had 100 boats register and 60 race. The committee boat was s/v Copacetic with Mike DeMan was the skipper. Mike Cain (STYC Vice Commodore) and I headed up the committee boat with a crew of 10. There were some pretty tight and competitive starts with a few near misses, but in the end we only had 1 over early. The finish was just as exciting and there were a lot of cheers from folks. Everyone was off the water in record time really. Even the vessel traffic was making way for the fleet as they rounded the rock and headed back north.
We held the trophy awards and huge raffle event (all proceeds donated to The Sailing Foundation) at the Sloop Tavern after the race. The tavern was packed, as always, and lots of stories swapped for sure. I do not yet have the total amount raised as it usually takes us about a week to get all those numbers in, but I will let you know once we get them.
The Sloop Tavern (business) sponsored our breakfast as usual this year (they always do) and CYC provided the venue this year for both breakfast and the skipper meeting. This was a change for us this year as breakfast is usually held at the Sloop Tavern but CYC wanted to help The Sailing Foundation and offered the breakfast venue this year.
Carol Pearl is who we named the Blakely Rock Benefit after this year. Carol was our club historian and had been a past commodore of STYC in the early 90’s. She truly embodied the STYC spirit. We had all of our board meetings at her home. She passed away on 2/14/2018. Carol is who usually managed the BRBR race each year. It was harder for her the last couple of years due to her health but she still had her organizational lists, etc to make sure all details were handled.
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.
Dieter Creitz and Conrad Miller finished third in the RS Feva Worlds in Clearwater, Florida. (results) They had a blistering series and were in the hunt for the championship until the last, tremendously windy, day. Their remarkable effort broke the stranglehold the Brits had on the podium and there was only one other US team in the top half (13th). I’m planning on doing a detailed report when Dieter’s home. Our rising youth scene, Dieter and Conrad’s talents, and great support from Seattle Yacht Club and West Coast Sailing are all factors in this achievement. As I said, more later. In the meantime check out these stills and then a video from yesterday’s conditions:
(click on a photo to enlarge)
Dieter, George of West Coast Sailing and Conrad.
SYC Coach Cameron Hoard, Conrad Miller and Dieter Creitz.
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.
